The Goose Green district – District #8 – served the area between the South Hollow and Pleasant Valley. A schoolhouse, located near where today’s Goose Green Road meets Ripley Hill Road, existed in the early 1800s. Tradition has it that the famous abolitionist John Brown, who was born in Torrington, attended school here periodically when he visited his Barkhamsted relatives. Brown was born in 1800, and went to Ohio when he was five, so the school of his youth would have to have been in place prior to 1805. “The Green School” (shown above) was built about 1836 replacing that earlier one. This school served the district until 1887. At that point it was closed and the students reassigned to the Pleasant Valley School. The old Green School building sat abandoned for many years and was gone by the late 1920s. A large oak tree that was near the school was known as “John Brown’s tree.” Apparently Brown had a great affection for the tree, and made it a point to visit it whenever he was in this area. A memorial plaque that once hung on the tree is now on display at the Barkhamsted Historical Society. The tree is no longer there.
District 8 - Goose Green School
Class Photos & Schoolhouse Memories Archive
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Please note that there are images of school groups in this collection about which we have no current information. Also, not every student in every picture is identified: sometimes the handwriting is too hard to read. So, consider this a first step in locating the available pictures of your ancestor. There may be more in the collection if you dig a bit deeper.
Feel free to add additional information and/or pictures to the collection. We are always interested in acquiring digital scans of relevant pictures: you don’t have to part with what may be a cherished heirloom photo. Come visit or email us at bhs@barkhamstedhistory.us.