Southampton Considers Landmarking North Sea Schoolhouse

The former North Sea schoolhouse on Noyac Road is the next building being considered for landmark status in Southampton Town.

The Southampton Town Board will hold a hearing next month to discuss the property at the request of the Southampton Town Landmarks and Historic Districts Board. If landmark status is approved, the property, which is currently used by the North Sea Association for meetings and events, would join another North Sea schoolhouse, at the intersection of North Sea and Noyac roads, as a designated landmark, helping to preserve it and making it eligible for funding to keep it up.

The property was sold for $10 in 1908 by James E. and Sarah C. Jennings to “School District Number 15 of the Town of Southampton” for the purpose of building a new schoolhouse. At the time, the owners hired builder James M. Jagger to construct the one-story structure. The cedar-shingled building features a side-facing gable roof and rests on a brick foundation, with an entryway set in the westernmost bay. It also features a pedimented entry porch with a pair of columns out front, as well as a square bell tower and decorative railing, according to a pamphlet provided by the North Sea Association, which supports landmarking the building.

Since its original construction, the building has since been expanded to include three small one-story rooms.

In October 1934, the formation of the larger Southampton School District made the schoolhouse obsolete, and the property was sold again, this time to the North Sea Community Association.

The Town Board will make a decision on the building following the hearing on October 13 at 1 p.m. at Southampton Town Hall.

“It is a one-house schoolhouse, and there are not a lot of them left today,” Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst said this week. “It has a lot of historic significance.”