Throughout America, the one-room schoolhouse was a lively place and the educational mainstay for many years. This school was built in 1908. Children in the community of Bunker Hill, in northeast Manatee County, attended the school from first through eighth grades. One teacher presided over the class of 10 to 25 students, ages 6 to 21. Pay was poor and teachers were changed quite often.
School days were from 8 AM to 4:30 PM, August through December. The school year eventually increased to seven, then to ten months. Students brought their lunches in an enameled lunch pail, usually consisting of a staple food that was served at the family dinner table the night before.
Benjamin David (B.D.) Gullett, who was a teacher and Supervisor of Education in Manatee County for 37 years, acquired the building in 1929. He dismantled and moved it to his property near Duette. It served as his home, and later as a home for his daughter, Sallie Gullett Bradley, for 60 years.
The Gullett family donated the structure to Manatee Village Historical Park where it was restored with volunteer labor.
Image:
Bunker Hill School House, 2021