This was such a sweet, unexpected find! We were walking toward a few other historic homes we had researched, and came upon this cutie.

One of four identical school houses built in 1847, the West Ward School was built to serve the west section of Winchester, Mass.

Nicknamed the “Little Red Schoolhouse,” the two-classroom school was an active public school for 157 years. After structural problems were discovered in 1994, it was fully reinforced with steel beams and restored to its original appearance.

An 1833 horse trough was relocated to schoolhouse property in 2015. A historic landmark at Oak and Main Streets in Greenwood, it was previously rescued by Aiden P. Ripley and moved to Veterans Field in 1935.

The West Ward School is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A dedication to a former teacher is also located on the schoolhouse grounds.