The other day, I had a senior portrait session in Nanticoke, Maryland at the farm owned by the client's grandparents. As it turns out, I know her grandmother because we lease my daughter's horse from her, but I didn't find that out until the morning. As I drove down waaaay down Nanticoke road, a large wooden building caught my eye. The siding was missing on most of it, the roof had collapsed, ivy had overtaken most of the entryway, and the building was in terrible shape. I slowed down and thought, "what a perfect location for a senior portrait!"
The farm I was going to was just down the road and we had already planned to use the farm and finish at sunset on the Nanticoke River. Since I didn't know who owned the old building I passed, there was no way for me to try to squeeze in some pictures there and there really wasn't time anyway. Had I seen it before, I would have planned on taking the senior there for some pictures!
As we were wrapping things up after the sun went below the horizon, I asked the family about the old building. It turns out that it's an old schoolhouse. The school where my senior's grandfather, Darryl, went to school in the 1960's! I told them what I thought about it and how I would love to do some portraits there, but he told me that it is going to be razed within a few days! I JUST found the place and now it's going to be gone. Just my luck.
As I drove away, I slowed down as I passed the old schoolhouse, trying to get a look at it in the dark. The whole way home, I was thinking about who I photograph there. I only had a couple of days to work something out. Not enough time to find a new client. I thought about contacting one of my former senior portrait clients to see if they wanted to "model" for me. I know a few girls who are always willing to have pictures taken, but I also wanted someone different.
Then it hit me. The perfect subject would be someone who went to school there! Darryl, the grandfather of my client that night! I contacted his wife and we made plans to do pictures of Darryl that Saturday, the night before it was to be burned to the ground. He cleared it with the owner of the property, made sure the fire department wasn't doing anything to the property in advance of the burning, and asked a couple of his classmates to join him.
We met at the old schoolhouse and I relished in the stories that were told. From the punishments handed down in the cloak room, to pointing out where they were when JFK was assassinated. The owner of the house, Galen, said that many people have stopped out to take pictures there.
One story in particular was rather funny. There used to be an old tub in one of the rooms. He noticed it had been moved to the middle of the room one day and pushed it back. A few days later, it was in the middle of the room again, this time with ivy all around it. He pushed it back again. One day, there were several cars parked in front of the building and he went inside to find a photoshoot going on! There was a young woman in the tub, "barely dressed", and studio lighting all around with a few people there as well. He said to them, "Can I help you?" to which they replied , "no, we're good"! Galen then pointed out that that he OWNS the property and that they were trespassing. They thought that the building was just abandoned and that nobody owned it. This is why I always try to get the owner's permission before taking pictures on a property. No matter how abandoned something may look, it DOES belong to someone and they may not like me going onto their property!
The schoolhouse was built in 1913 and served as Nanticoke High School and then as an elementary school. At one time, it was the largest wooded structure in Wicomico County. Bricks were too difficult to bring onto the location, so wood was brought down the river by boat for the construction. The current owner had plans to continue the renovation process that the previous owner had started, but the weather worked faster than he did for various reasons and the building became unsafe to be worked on. They made the decision to raze the schoolhouse for safety reasons.
Here are a few pictures I took to preserve the memory of the schoolhouse that served many people in rural Wicomico County over the years, as well as many photographers!
Darryl and the schoolhouse, my main subjects for this shoot.
Darryl on the steps of the entrance that have been overtaken by ivy.
The second floor was for the older grades.
An old desk is one of the few remaining elements of the old schoolhouse.
Galen, Cheryl, and Darryl discuss the history of the place and shared MANY stories of their childhood experiences there.
A lone desk sits in the back doorway of the old Nanticoke Schoolhouse. Beaten down by weather, vandalized, looted, and falling down, the building is being burned down. It's probably already gone by the time you read this. I am glad that I got to photograph some of the former students here before it is only a memory.
