Inlet’s former school is supporting a sustainable future

Leaders work to transform space into community hub, with co-working space, gardens, electric vehicle chargers and more

By Chloe Bennett

A pair of small white buildings on Route 28 in Inlet look and sound different today than five years ago. Inlet Common School, where hundreds of youngsters studied from 1906 to 2019, now hosts remote workers instead of children and vegetable gardens instead of active playgrounds. 

The school transformation is an example of how communities are repurposing historic spaces with the environment in mind.

The Inlet changes came about after the tiny school district became non-operational following low enrollment. The student population topped 50 in 1970 and declined in the years after, a 2000 report shows. Proposals to close the historic schoolhouse began as early as the 1990s. In 2015, the school board voted to send the children to the Town Of Webb Union Free School in Old Forge.

Christine Holt, who spent 25 years at the Inlet Common School, is still the superintendent. The Inlet resident was also a teacher and principal before her current role. 

“There was kind of a grieving process when the kids left for sure,” Holt, 63, said. “I felt like I had to do something to make this viable for the community, just to fill that personal void.”

That process led Holt to join the Inlet Area Community Task Force, formed by Jeremiah Best in 2021. The group set out to transform the buildings into a community center for all ages. First, the task force created a room with free Wifi to attract remote workers. Then came the community gardens and electric vehicle chargers. 

“When we opened up the lower garden, there were 12 beds and within just a matter of days, they were all spoken for,” Holt said. 

Garden plots in the front of the school and its backyard are stewarded by locals, growing vegetables and flowers. The parking lot holds a pair of chargers for electric cars. Demand for the plug-ins was higher than expected, said Holt. 

The projects were part of an overall push for climate change mitigation in the small town by Connie Perry, a task force member. The garden is a positive for the environment and may help feed the rural community, she said.

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“It’s a wonderful place to live, but we have our challenges with trying to protect the environment, but also making it livable for people because food is very expensive here,” she said. 

“It’s not exactly a big gardening area, which is why we started the garden at the school and just getting people to work together and really respect our climate and make some positive changes rather than abusing nature,” Perry added.

The repurposed property is not alone in its transformation. Keeseville High School, built in 1936 and closed in 1971, will soon be a community center with rentable office space.

Both properties house a mix of local businesses and hobbyists. A pizza shop, government office and mushroom grower occupy the Keeseville building. In Inlet, a farm stand took root at the central school and gardeners took advantage of the indoor space to grow strawberries, herbs and mushrooms.

Now, the task force is weighing proposals for a rooftop solar installation. Holt, who still shows up at the schoolhouse for work at least once a week, said the solar panels would be a showcase for the town. But funding remains a barrier.

One proposal would cost about $5,000 while another could be $20,000 after grant contributions. Holt said she is confident there is more funding available, it’s just a matter of finding it. 

Most of the task force is employed in full-time jobs on top of the community work. The future of the schoolhouse is unsettled, Holt said. Still, the former teacher hopes to form more programs inside the repurposed buildings, particularly for children. 

“You can’t compare the energy of youth to anything,” Holt said. “They’re just so raw and fun and enthusiastic and forthright. I definitely would love to bring that back.”