Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: April 1988 Volume 26 Number 2, Page 80

Notes and Comments

Page 80

Diamond Rock School

A recent visitor to the Diamond Rock School was Robert Craig. He is a graduate student at Columbia Univerity, and the topic of his thesis is the octagonal school house, which he has found to be a regional type of building found principally in the Delaware Valley, including southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and eastern Maryland.

So far, he has found and identified upwards of 90 octagonal school houses that still exist or once existed in the Delaware Valley. Of these, only 17 are still standing, of which three are in partial ruin.

After measuring the size of the Diamond Rock School, he reported that it was about of "average" size, with a diameter of 22' 10". Its 1818 date is also about in the middle of the period when this type of building was being built.

Mr. Craig also reported that his survey indicates that the Diamond Rock School was the first such school to be consciously preserved as an early school house, and therefore represents a landmark in historic preservation and interpretation.

[Anne Cook]