More than Fourteen Historic Schoolhouses and Thirty Schoolhouse Operators schedule trip to the Brick Academy Summit

As part of the year-long Brick Academy bicentennial celebration, the Historical Society of the Somerset Hills is sponsoring the first statewide Historic Schoolhouse Summit and Symposium on Saturday, April 4, 2009 at the 200 year old Brick Academy in Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

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April 4, 2009 - Basking Ridge, New Jersey

"The inaugural New Jersey Historic Schoolhouse Summit & Symposium is the perfect opportunity to gather area historic schoolhouse curators and operators to exchange ideas and information that’s critical to the future success of these historic New Jersey treasures," stated Brooks Betz, coordinator for the symposium. "It's a fantastic way for operators around the state of New Jersey to commingle and share ideas on how to operate more efficient programs and network ideas."

Why schedule such an event?

"Given a tough economic climate, shrinking municipal budgets, and limited volunteer support, the survival of historic schoolhouse programs and restoration efforts must be conducted with the best possible insight available today," stated Betz. "The Historic Schoolhouse Summit & Symposium offers the opportunity to exchange ideas, expand networks, and share practices for those taking care of historic schoolhouses."

The symposium will include three distinct breakout sessions that were created based on a questionnaire that was initially sent out to schoolhouse operators.

Based on the feedback, the three most requested symposium topics will include: Museum Layouts & Exhibits, Program Creation & Marketing and Financial Grants & Fundraising. The programs are also not limited soley to historic education school house programs.

While all of the historic schoolhouses are involved in physical preservation, their uses, programs, and funding requirements are quite diverse. Some are community centers, while others are homes to historial societies, local museums, and other programs that are merely hosted at a historic schoolhouse property.

Each session will join a host from the Brick Academy, as well as a co-host coordinator from a partnering guest facility. "Each host from the Brick Academy has been meeting with their co-coordinator from a partnering historic schoolhouse, so to broaden the discussion and engage everyone in the discussion," noted Marcella Miccolis, Chair of the Historical Society of the Somerset Hills and co-coordinator the the Museum Layouts and exhibits session. "We're all very excited to have representatives from all of these great schoolhouses here in Basking Ridge for the summit. We're really looking forward to share, and to learn as well. "

Registrants will commence with a guided tour of the three floors of the Brick Academy and a discussion on the history of the structure and the recently completed restoration efforts of the third floor school room.

Deadline for event registration is March 13, 2009. REGISTRATION NOW CLOSED
Check In/Coffee begins at 9:00am, Saturday, April 4, 2009. The guided tour begins promptly at 9:30am.

For additional information on the inaugural New Jersey Historic Schoolhouse Summit & Symposium, please contact Brooks Betz, symposium coordinator at: brooks.betz@historicalsocietyofsomersethills.org.

Historic Schoolhouses in Attendance

Schoolhouses attending the inaugural summit and symposium:

Interactive Directions are also available - Click Here

Documentation:

Mapping historic schoolhouses in New Jersey. A new site dedicated to creating a interactive map of historic schoolhouses. Learn more. Click Here

Also, a new newsgroup has been created to support and network Historic Schoolhouses in and around New Jersey.

Did you get an invite to the Inaugural Historic Schoolhouse Summit & Symposium?

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About The Brick Academy

The Brick Academy (also known as the Basking Ridge Classical Schoolhouse) is a 1809 Federal-style architectural structure located in the center of Basking Ridge in Bernards Township. The Brick Academy has been a boys’ private preparatory school, a public school, a meeting hall for several fraternal and benevolent organizations, and the Bernards Township municipal building. It currently serves as the headquarters of The Historical Society of the Somerset Hills, as well as a schoolhouse and museum to local history. The Brick Academy also celebrates its bicentennial in 2009.

About the Historical Society of the Somerset Hills (THSSH)

Founded in 1928 originally as the Historical Society of Basking Ridge, the mission and name of the society was later changed to The Historical Society of the Somerset Hills, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization including all five communities of the Somerset Hills region: Bedminster Township, Bernards Township, Bernardsville ,Far Hills, Peapack-Gladstone which are all located in Somerset County, New Jersey.

The mission of The Historical Society of the Somerset Hills (THSSH) is to acquire, conserve and share local artifacts and information on matters of local historic interest; cultivate interest in local history; encourage the preservation of local historic resources; facilitate historic research; and preserve, operate, and interpret the Brick Academy.

To further this mission, THSSH sponsors events and activities that promote community awareness and appreciation of the history and architecture of the Somerset Hills. THSSH headquarters is at the Brick Academy in the Basking Ridge section of Bernards Township, where our collections of items of local historic interest are available to the public.