Although the 1861 school house bears the plaque to denote the designation under the Ontario Heritage Act, the designation actually applies to all aspects of the Buxton National Historical Site and Museum property, including the museum building, the school house, the restored original log cabin (typical of the sort built for each family of refuge slaves as the arrived at Buxton), restore wood frame house, and even the baseball diamonds.
The following excerpts are from:
Registration of Heritage By-law 267-2008
Buxton National Historic Site and Museum
21975 A.O. Shadd Road, Community of Raleigh
SCHEDULE ''A'' REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
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Description of Property
The Buxton National Historical Site and Museum property municipally known as 21975 A.D. Shadd Road, on Part Lot 10, Concession 8, Community of Raleigh, is comprised of 7.98 acres. The property contains a restored 1861 timber frame house, wood sided school house, a restored log house, a c. 1967 museum interpretation building, numerous federal and provincial plaques, a reproduction freedom bell, and a park area with baseball diamonds, playground equipment, and a covered open sided pavilion.
Description of Heritage Attributes/Character Defining Elements
Key elements of the property include:
Raleigh SS #13 School House
Exterior:
• Brick single stack chimney with heavy built out cornice
• Steep pitched roof clad in cedar shingles
• Projecting eaves
• Plain soffit
• Plain frieze
• Five sided cupola including
-wooden vents
-decorative brackets
-conforming conical cedar clad roof
-decorative ball finial
• Window placement
• Window casement/exterior surround with low pitched moulded headers
• Plain wood lug window sills
• Double hung wooden four over four window sash
• Window boxes
• Double tongue and groove front doors
• Door casement/surround with low pitched moulded peaked header
• Decorative centre wooden medallion bearing the wording ''SCHOOL SECTION No. 13 AD 1861''
• Front portico including
-raised wooden landing and steps
-four wooden Doric support columns
-heavy entablature
-extended and moulded soffit
-decorative surmounting railing
• Wooden vent on upper eastern exposure
Interior:
• Room layout/floor plan
• Tongue and groove wood flooring throughout
• Terrazzo floor in entrance hall
• Tin ceiling, cove and wall covering throughout
• Wainscot and chair rail throughout
• Window casements/surrounds and interior sills throughout
• Five panel wooden doors including hardware throughout
• Interior door casement/surrounds
• Black boards including decorative surrounding trim
Colbert-Henderson log home
Exterior:
• End gable gently sloped 'salt box' shaped roof line
• Cedar shingle roof cladding .
• Single stack brick inset chimney with built out cornice
• Large exposed brick chimney (northern exposure)
• Plain soffits
• Window placement
• Window casements and plain wood sills
• Wood six over six pane window sash
• Dovetailed square log walls
• Cedar lap sided second floor exterior cladding on gable ends
• Door casements
• Cedar hip-roof veranda