Criterion A: Education
Criterion C: Architecture
Period of Significance: 1874-1962
Local Level of Significance
Village School at Puddle Dock is located in the north of Alna, Lincoln County, Maine. The gable front vernacular schoolhouse is significant at the local level under Criterion A for its association with patterns of rural education and under Criterion C for its distinctive architectural characteristics of a one room rural schoolhouse. The building represents a typical form for an 1874 schoolhouse and Alna's response to evolving educational practices which were often mandated by state law. The school is an intermediary step between the often autonomous nineteenth century district system and the mid-twentieth century full consolidation of town and regional schools. The building was altered in 1923 to accommodate evolving trends in education. These alterations are significant as they occurred during the period of significance and reflect the evolution of educational best practices and the efforts of the State of Maine to enforce them. The period of significance is from the 1874 construction date to 1962 when the building was last used as a school. Of the six one room school districts four school buildings are extant. This building and the 1795 Alna School (NRIS # 75000101) retain integrity. The other two extant schoolhouses have been greatly altered in their conversion to residential use. The 1795 Alna School represents a very early rural one-room school while Village School at Puddle Dock reflects the evolution of one room schools in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.