The Castle Haven Schoolhouse

The Castle Haven Schoolhouse is an outstanding example of a Victorian one-room schoolhouse. It was listed as School #5 in the Neck District of Dorchester County. Built in 1870 by John Anthony LeCompte Radcliffe, owner of nearby Spocott and also the builder of the original Spocott Windmill, the schoolhouse operated from approximately 1871 to 1923.

Radcliffe constructed the building on Castle Haven Rd., about ¼ mile from its present location, for $566.33. He was only paid $500 but was committed to the project because he wanted a local school for his children and those of the local community. His son, George L. Radcliffe, a future US Senator, would later briefly attend the school. George was primarily home-schooled because his parents thought him sickly. The school closed in 1923 when the County reorganized schools, and students were moved to nearby Hudson School.

On June 6, 1924, George L. Radcliffe purchased the building and its ½ acre lot, wanting to preserve not only the school he attended but a building constructed by his father. In 1930, Radcliffe moved the building to the Spocott property, and then, in the fall of 1983, the Spocott Windmill Foundation moved it to the Windmill village, where it was restored.

School class, 1914, with current windmill builder
Jim Richardson sitting 4th from right

The Spocott Windmill Foundation has collected records and photos of the 53 years the school was in operation. Known teachers at the school included Belle Radcliffe (John’s sister), Mary Wheeler, Rita Cator, Sophie Kirwan, and the last teacher, Lena Reid Wilson. We have the recorded remembrances of both Sophie and Lena. They remember a school that housed grades one through eight, with as many as 35 students in the one room. 

Mary Wheeler

Separate outhouses were located behind the school, and water had to be obtained from a nearby home. Most children walked to school, some from as far away as 3 miles.

A coal stove heated the building, had three rows of double desks for individual student work, and included a corner bench and blackboard for work with groups.

The schoolhouse in its original location on Castle Haven Road, 1914