This year’s 16th Annual Maple Fest offers a unique opportunity for both residents and visitors.  Two of Hebron’s historic schoolhouses will be open to the public, and an official ceremony will mark the addition of a third schoolhouse, Center School, to Hebron’s list of designated historic properties.

All events will take place on Saturday, March 11, 2006, the first day of Maple Fest.

Members of both the Hebron Historic Properties Commission and the Jones-Keefe-Batson American Legion Post 95 will place the official local historic designation plaque on the Center School at 10:00 a.m.  Other local officials will also be participating in the event.  The public is cordially invited to attend.  The schoolhouse is located on Main Street in the Village Green area, next door to the Douglas Library.

The Center School is one of Hebron’s eleven early schoolhouses, nine of which are still standing.  The school burned down in the Great Fire of 1882, and was rebuilt as a two-room schoolhouse in 1883.  As some of the smaller one-room schoolhouses were closed in the 1930’s, the students were moved to the Center School.  It remained open until the consolidated school in Hebron was built.  Now owned by the Legion, the Center School recently underwent significant renovations performed by Legion and VFW members.

Alexander Breiding will be conducting tours and a program at the Gull Schoolhouse from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.  Breiding’s Eagle project included extensive exterior renovations to the circa 1790 building.  A member of Hebron’s Troop 28 Boy Scouts, Breiding has entertained many children and adults with his historical programs since his project was completed last August.  The Gull is located on Marjorie Circle, next door to the Horton House. 

Matthew Siok will hold an open house from 2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. at the Burrows Hill Schoolhouse.  Siok, also a member of Troop 28 Boy Scouts, targeted exterior renovations and landscaping of the schoolhouse for his Eagle project last October.  Since then, he has conducted tours for small groups and a Colchester historical group looking to build a replica one-room schoolhouse.  The Burrows Hill Schoolhouse, the oldest one room schoolhouse in Hebron, is located on Burrows Hill Road approximately 1½ miles south of Route 66.

Donna McCalla, written in 2006