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Ashwood School rejuvenated
BY MARGO OXENDINE • STAFF WRITER
 | | Clifford Williams was among those who went "back to school" Saturday at Old Ashwood School Antiques. He is convinced that some of the marbles found beneath the old floorboards belonged to him. |
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ASHWOOD - It was a day to remember things past. To touch, to laugh, to recall history, even to purchase a piece of it.
Pat Broyles and Dean Humphries have spent three years of 14-hour days working to restore the old Ashwood School. Now, the place is shiny and new, in an old sort of way.
They threw open the doors of "Old Ashwood School Antiques" Saturday and, while they hoped for a crowd, the throng that showed up was nothing short of thrilling.
"We knew people were waiting to see what we've done," an exhausted Broyles said Saturday night. "But we had no idea that more than 100 people would come!"
The place was bustling all day; for most of the morning and afternoon, it was difficult to find a place to park. Everyone who walked in the door wore a smile of anticipation. A new antiques shop is draw enough; add to that the prospect of seeing one's old school and remembering those times and, well, the day becomes a delight.
 | | Pat Broyles and Dean Humphries spent three years of 14- hour days restoring the old Ashwood School into the attractive antiques shop it is today. Many who showed up Saturday to browse through the shop and relive old school days appreciated the extra touch of stenciled ABCs on the stairs leading to the upstairs schoolrooms. Eventually, Broyles and Humphries will live upstairs, and the schoolrooms on the first floor will feature an eclectic collection from days gone by. (Recorder photo by Margo Oxendine) |
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Broyles and Humphries seem to specialize in taking something old and nearly derelict, and creating an attractive, useful space. They wisely invited a group of school children, led by Highland's Mike Wilke and Christine Hodges of the extension service, to come dig around the grounds to see what they could find. The endearing results are displayed in a case that greets visitors by the front door.
Those kids lucky enough to participate in the archaeological dig last June 29 filled out evaluation sheets when their day was finished.
What did each most enjoy about the project? "Bugs!" one kid answered. Another wrote, "I learned that you can dig anywhere, and you can find something." One child especially enjoyed, "Finding little things and getting very dirty."
No matter what a child's age, there are those with an innate love of history. Such a child wrote, "I enjoyed finding artifacts that people just threw out many years ago. Now these things are priceless." And finally, "These kids did not know that, generations later, someone would be interested in digging up their old marbles."
Almost every child had one thing to suggest about how the dig could be made better: "Let us dig longer!"
That will happen. The dig last summer was the first; at least one more is planned, the date not yet determined.
The artifacts displayed include bits of broken china; pencils sharpened by hand down to less than a nub; a purple plastic toy saw; a tiny steam boat, less than an inch long. There is a collection of rusty penknives that most every schoolboy used to carry in his pocket. A handful of coins includes a 1906 quarter, perhaps lunch money dropped by a high school student when the place opened in 1908. There's a darling little broken china elephant, and lots and lots and lots of marbles, many of them found under the floorboards. There are many bottles and jars, including those now-highly-collectable halfpint bottles from the old Homestead Dairy. School kids used to buy these for a nickel way back when; little did they realize, as they tossed them in the trash after lunch, they would one day be worth enough for dinner at a good restaurant. There's the requisite lost key, and two toy soldiers - one from World War I, one from World War II.
Saturday, many of the visitors who had attended Ashwood School stopped at the display and exclaimed, "I think that was mine!" Debbie Adkins saw a small bracelet with pink hearts. "I think that was my bracelet!" she said. "We'd use our bracelets to mark our spots when we played hopscotch."
Ann Hicks Bird had memories, too, although not all were happy.
"When we started coming to school here, I was in third grade, (brother) Grey Lee was in fourth, and (brother) Lynn was in first grade. We had been going to Warm Springs School, and didn't want to move. I know I cried the first day of school, and I think Grey Lee did, too. Lynn was fine the first day, and then he cried every day for two weeks. It was really neat though; I went here until fifth grade, and then we went to Mitchelltown School."
Bird looked outside, on the south side of the building, and pointed at the great old fire escape - a black metal tunnel sort of affair, which would drop kids straight to the ground.
"I remember that," she laughed. "I went down that old fire escape and, let me tell you, it was a frightening experience! It scared me."
Clifford Williams has the distinction of being the first child in Bath County to actually attend preschool and kindergarten. In a sense. His mother Clara worked in the Ashwood School cafeteria, and his father, Pete, drove the school bus. Clara would take little Clifford to school from the time he was four years old. He'd be left in the care of Brown Hite, the janitor. Mr. Hite would occupy Clifford's time by having him hammer nails into a piece of board. When he tired of that, Mr. Hite would suggest Clifford count the nails in jars and boxes. Clifford would wander upstairs to the cafeteria for some lunch, and then into Mrs. Shaver's first grade classroom, where she'd sit him down with a coloring book and crayons, until he fell asleep at his desk. So, when it came time for Clifford Williams to start first grade, he had a clear working knowledge of the place. When he was old enough, he followed his father's footsteps by driving the school bus.
Almost every visitor commented favorably on the meticulous restoration efforts of Broyles and Humphries. They especially liked the fact that the blackboard in Mrs. Shaver's first grade classroom still stands, ready for chalk to screech and erasers to be dusted.
The building is 8,000 square feet. And every one of those square feet needed to be rehabbed.
"We worked for three years, and not just a couple hours a day," Broyles said. "It was more like 14 hours a day. We didn't work on anything else but this, day and night."
At the grand opening Saturday, Broyles and Humphries heard their share of tales about how things used to be. Most curiosity seekers coming to relive old times told about the fire escape. "And lots of them told us their memories about the playground, and hitting baseballs through the windows," Humphries laughed. "And above all, they all remember their teachers."
Broyles and Humphries won't say just how much they sank into the extensive renovations, other than "hundreds of thousands."
"It's been a lot," Broyles said. "It really needed so much work. We've had contractors in here" for things beyond even their ken. "The roof was a big problem. And we had to put in new floors, all new windows. It was a lot."
While Broyles and Humphries were rather shy about touting their own efforts, friend and colleague, Linda Tennant Weiss, was not. She helped greet guests Saturday, serving as the unofficial public relations maven.
"Did Pat tell you she mixed 30 colors of paint in order to get it right, on these classroom walls?" Weiss asked. "They are such artists. Those two can really make anything that they think of; they are so creative, and meticulous with everything they do. They strive for perfection; it's just amazing and beautiful what they've done here."
Weiss added, "They wanted everything to be authentic. I had an old school desk I offered them, but they insisted on using this one, which actually was in the Ashwood School. All the fixtures here are authentic - the lights, the blackboard, the marbles, the things the children dug up."
One thing that is not authentic, of course, is the antique cash register. That, though, is a valued and valuable piece of Bath County history: It came, Humphries noted, from Hepler's Garage in Mitchelltown. It was one of the few things saved when the garage and adjacent Fitzgerald's Store - which sat where Home Oil is today - were destroyed by fire in 1940.
"This place has such a history, for so many people, Humphries added. "We're happy to make it into something everyone can enjoy again."
Those who would like to stop by, share memories, and pick up a piece of history at Old Ashwood School Antiques can do so Monday through Saturday from 10 until 5, and Sundays "by chance." The phone number is 839-2348.
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