District #10 Schoolhouse
Why it's listed
Built around 1845, this one-room cobblestone schoolhouse sits at the corner of Seaman and Carmen Roads in rural Hartland, Niagara County. Its walls are made of smooth field cobblestones about three to four inches across, laid in horizontal rows with limestone quoins at the corners and plain stone lintels and sills around the openings. The gable end faces the road, and the front has a central recessed doorway. The school served farm families and operated until 1947, when a private owner converted it to a house and added a rear kitchen wing. Those changes left the cobblestone walls and the building's form largely intact. The nomination counts about 45 documented cobblestone school buildings statewide and calls this one an extremely rare intact survivor. It was listed for its architecture and its link to local education. The town now owns it, and the local historical society hopes to reopen it as a schoolhouse museum.
Significance in brief: It is a substantially intact, representative example of cobblestone construction from the Middle Period (ca. 1835-1845) in Western New York. It is also tied to rural education in Hartland, where it served as a one-room school until 1947. The nomination calls it an extremely rare surviving cobblestone building built for education.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 00001467, listed December 1, 2000. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 9713 Seaman Rd., Hartland |
|---|---|
| County | Niagara County |
| Listed | December 1, 2000 |
| Reference number | 00001467 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1845 |
| Architectural style | Mid-19th Century: Greek Revival |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Education, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Listed current function is vacant. The building was recently bought by the Town of Hartland on behalf of the Hartland Historical Society, which plans to turn it back into a schoolhouse/museum. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Coordinates | 43.28163, -78.48853 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For a publicly owned building or structure, listing mainly matters when federal funds, permits or licences are involved: projects then go through Section 106 review so effects on the property are considered. Listing also strengthens applications for preservation grants and, for leased income-producing uses, can enable the federal rehabilitation tax credit.
Noted as vacant in the nomination. Nomination documents can be decades old; current status may differ. If you are considering buying an empty listed property, read the due-diligence checklist.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 00001467.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q5283228
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.