Drayden One-room Schoolhouse
1890 - 1944
School # 2; District # 2

Drayden One-room Schoolhouse, circa 1999; photo courtesy of Elmer Brown

Located about a mile south of Drayden Road on Cherryfield Road, Drayden Schoolhouse is currently owned by St. Mary's County and is under the watchful eye of the Department of Recreation and Parks - Museum Division. After many years in the hands of a private citizen, the building and one acre was gifted to the county in 1999. Plans for interpretation are currently not funded.

Badly needed maintenance on the property was administered in 2000 funded by DynCorp Range Technical Services Inc., Christmas in April, and the county. Although exterior paint was not found on early schoolhouses, the building was painted in order to preserve the original siding planks and because the building had already been painted in years past.

Drayden Schoolhouse, 2002; photos courtesy of Bob Lewis

UCAC informants and oral histories gathered by local resident, Ruth Dilliner, indicate that the school yard was entirely dirt (mud on rainy days). Comments on the actual experience at Drayden School can be heard or read from former student Clarence Smith.

The Planning and Zoning Historic Survey (1994) states:

The Drayden Schoolhouse stands on a one-acre lot . . . purchased by Mary Ellen Gross and Daniel A. Gross in 1889. This simple frame one-room schoolhouse appears to have been built on the property soon after their purchase. The Gross family owned the property until 1944 suggesting that the Board of Education rented the school building from them. . . . In 1944 the Drayden Schoolhouse was closed and students were bused to Jarboesville. . . . Once the building ceased to serve as a schoolhouse, it was occupied as a residence.

Drayden Schoolhouse, 2002; photo courtesy of Bob Lewis