The Historic Oakton Schoolhouse
Oakton Schoolhouse History
The old Oakton Schoolhouse, originally built in 1897, stands today in Oakton Community Park at 2841 Hunter Mill Road in Oakton. This structure was the third schoolhouse in Oakton. The first, named Flint Hill School, opened in 1848. That building burned down during the Civil War. A second schoolhouse was built in 1873 at the corner of Hunter Mill Road and Chain Bridge Road. Classes were held there until 1897, when the building was relocated to Jermantown Road to become a private residence.
A third schoolhouse, the one we see in the park today, opened at that same location in 1897. It served the community as a place to gather and a religious meetinghouse as well as an all-grades school for white children (black children were educated in separate schools in Fairfax County at the time). Although expanded twice to accommodate the increasing numbers of children it served, in 1912 the school closed, with classes moved to a nearby church, eventually to be moved to a fourth schoolhouse located on the grounds of the current Oakton Elementary School.
This photograph, taken around 1875, shows the second schoolhouse built in 1873. It was originally called the Flint Hill School.
The Schoolhouse’s Many Lives
Following its closure in 1912, the school building had many new lives over the following decades. It was converted into a private residence, then a hardware and garden shop, and finally a well-loved camping store, Appalachian Trail Outfitters.
The third Oakton schoolhouse, with extensions, as it looked when housing Appalachian Outfitters from 1972 to 2003. The building began operation as a store in 1934.
The camping store closed and, in 2007, the main schoolhouse building, without its 20th century additions, was preserved and moved down the street to the newly-established Oakton Community Park. The move was made possible through the efforts of a public/private partnership. This same partnership funded the school’s substantial restoration, returning the building to its appearance at the turn of the century. Interior renovations were performed in accordance with national standards for work on historic structures.
The schoolhouse loaded on a truck for transport to its new home in Oakton Community Park.
The schoolhouse today.
The historic Oakton Schoolhouse is a member of the Historic Schoolhouses of Northern Virginia (HSNVA), whose mission is to increase awareness and appreciation of the historic schoolhouses of Northern Virginia. If you'd like to learn more about HSNVA, please visit Historic Schoolhouses of Northern Virginia.