This is one of the caches available on the Wayne County Bicentennial trail! The purpose of this project is to highlight local Wayne County History and share geocaching with folks that may know nothing about it! Your job is to go find this cache and open it and record your name on the log paper inside. You can also trade items that are in the geocache with items of your own if you want. Then put it back in place for the next visitor! Permission has been given to place a cache here. You are looking for a plastic food storage container.
If you're participating in the Bicentennial Passport program, please punch the correct area on the passport for this geocache and leave the punch in the cache container. You can get a paper passport at the public libraries in Wayne County or download it at www.waynecounty200.com
The Passport Program is planned to start around May 1st and go to November 1st.
From the Finger Lakes Times news...
The Wiley School House was built in 1870 at the rural corner of Hogback and Olmstead roads. The land was deeded to the town of Savannah by the Wiley Family. Savannah School District 11 used this one-room schoolhouse continuously from 1870 to 1948. The building is a wooden structure, heated by a large coal stove with illumination provided by sunlight.
There has never been electricity or plumbing to the site. An outhouse sits on the southeast corner of the schoolyard, though it is no longer usable.
The Wiley School closed in 1949 when the district consolidated, closing 12 other one-room schools and sending students to the Savannah High School in the village. It remained abandoned until 1989 when historian John Spellman proposed a fundraising campaign by the Savannah Community Club to restore the building. More than $10,000 was raised to restore it.
When work began, the original books, desks, and school items were still there. The roof needed to be replaced and the west wall had collapsed.
Many volunteers worked on the project, which was completed in the Spring of 1990. Helen Whipple, a teacher at the school for many years, donated the schoolmaster’s desk and the bell; these items previously had been moved to her home to preserve them.
For several years after, the school was opened each spring for elementary students to visit and gain an understanding of early education. Classes were taught by Joseph Kolcynski, who had worked with Spellman and Eva Vreeland to oversee the restoration project. The last of these visits was in June 2002.
Unfortunately, the building is once again in need of repair. The floor collapsed from the weight of the wood stove but was repaired last fall. The interior requires extensive cleaning and the walls are in need of scraping and painting. The woods around the school need to be trimmed to prevent trees from falling on the roof. There is also fear of moisture damage to the walls and foundation. The outhouse has suffered damage from animals as well as natural deterioration.
The Savannah Chamber of Commerce, of which I am president, proposed a plan to clean and paint the interior of the school, repair the stove pipe for the coal stove and do any other repairs necessary at this time. The improvement has been approved by the Savannah Town Board. Work will again be completed by volunteers — beginning with cleaning the grounds and replanting flower beds around the building, a project led by Patricia Stevens. The outhouse will be rebuilt with some reclaimed barn wood that I will be donating.
Future plans may include replacing the current shutters with period-correct shutters to help protect the artifacts that remain at the site. Savannah resident Jesse Ball would like to see the school returned to its original state and has plans to contact the State and County Historical Societies for guidelines to be followed for repairs and restoration.
Funding is pending approval by SOAR (Strengthening Our Area Residents), a community health improvement grant given by the Greater Rochester Health Association. The grant has been offered to the towns of Savannah and Galen and the village of Clyde. Additional donations from the Chamber and Secor Lumber will be used toward the repairs as well.
It would be wonderful to once again share the one-room school experience with area elementary students and set up a regular schedule for visitors.
Palladino, a lifelong Wayne County resident, is president of the Savannah Chamber of Commerce.
More information on the bicentennial:
https://web.co.wayne.ny.us/246/Wayne-County-Bicentennial