Abandoned Ozarks II: Forgotten Schoolhouses

The Ozarks' forgotten schoolhouses reveal how education once shaped isolated communities and enduring identities.

Abandoned Ozarks II: Forgotten Schoolhouses is another nostalgic trip through time with acclaimed regional photographer and author, Robert A. McCormick. In his first book, Abandoned Ozarks: Southwest Missouri, McCormick focused on a wide array of abandoned and decaying structures from farms and rural communities in the mountainous Ozarks region of Southwest Missouri. This time, McCormick centers on abandoned schoolhouses from the entire Ozarks region of Missouri and Arkansas. In this new volume, he explores the history of early education in the remote rural areas of the beautiful Ozark Mountain country and the sociological impact of these forgotten gems of early America. McCormick's research is paired with expertly rendered photographs of these abandoned and mostly forgotten buildings that were once the social centers of far-flung outposts from a time when the roads weren't paved, electricity was a far-off dream, and education was often a luxury for the hardscrabble mountain folk of the Ozarks.
In his evocative photos, you'll explore the many different styles of old schoolhouses, from simple log structures to giraffe-stone vernacular to sturdy stone buildings built by the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression. McCormick has researched and photographed hundreds of abandoned schoolhouses over the last twenty years, and this book features some of the most architecturally and historically significant schools from the period still standing.