Would the Southermost School have been witness to the early skirmishes in the Battle of Rhode Island?

Southemost School before restoration

The Southermost School traveled up and down Union Street. Where was it located at times?

With the coming celebration of the 300th Anniversary of the Southermost School, I am revisiting the information I have gathered in the past. Maps, histories, and documents help us to answer those questions.

According to Portsmouth historian Edward West in his History of Portsmouth 1638-1936, in August of 1716 a school won approval at the Town Meetings. It was to be located on public land between Child Street and Church Lane. The other was approved on September 10th. It would be build on land donated by William Sanford. This was a small triangluar shaped parcel granted to him in 1713. West’s land grant maps help us visualize the location.

I have placed an arrow pointing to this piece of land Sanford Donated. It was labeled as 1. It is on the south side of Union Street and just past Middle Road.

The Portsmouth Historical Society today would be in part of the land of John Cook.

It took nine years for the school to actually be built. The Portsmouth Historical Society has a copy of the bill.

This document gives us some interesting details about what the schoolhouse looked like in its original form.

It had an oven made of 200 bricks. It had a stone hearth. Adam Lawton and a “negro” worked for 8 days on the building. It was completed in March 1725. It is listed as 24/25 because of the change over in the calendar. There was a porch. Lots of lime was used in the building. It took 2 days to paint. Some of the boards were as long as 30 feet.

More about Southermost in coming days.