Cumberland Township
S.S. No. 1 Cumberland - French Hill School
2940 Montreal Rd., Cumberland
The Cumberland Heritage Village Museum is now the home of S.S. No. 1 Cumberland, previously located at the northwest corner of Dunning and French Hill Roads. Built in 1900 to replace an existing log school, it served the French Hill community (just south of Cumberland village) for nearly 40 years. This wooden balloon-frame structure with yellow shiplap and brown end-boards has a gable roof with a small lantern at the front. John Douglas Ferguson taught there from 1924-1925. French- and English-speaking students received a British education with French taught as a subject. It closed as a school in 1936 when R.C.S.S. No. 9 Cumberland opened, and the small group of remaining students went to S.S. No. 10 Cumberland. It was moved to the museum in 1977 and most furnishings and artefacts date from its last year of operation.
S.S. No. 9 Cumberland - Beckett’s Creek School
1657 Beckett’s Creek, Cumberland
The first school was located on the north side of Old Montreal Road just west of Beckett’s Creek. In 1875, a new log school on the east side of the creek, ½ mile south, was built on land owned by Sam Lough. Miss MacDonald was the first teacher and Mr. Garrett the inspector. In 1901, a foundation was built and the school was sheeted with lumber on the inside, clapboard on the outside, and freshly painted. In 1910 a well was drilled. In 1901 there were 57 pupils, but according to records, by 1930 only seven remained. The school closed in 1952 and students were bused to S.S. No. 5 Cumberland in the village of Cumberland.
