Pinehurst School District 94’s history dates back to 1908 when it served the local ranchers and pioneer families of the Greensprings plateau, before the influx of the logging industry in the early 20th century. In 1926 a timber barron from Lincoln, NH sought greener forests out west and found the Greensprings to be a goldmine of old growth pine, fir and cedar. With the building of the milltown of Lincoln and populating it with mill workers and their families, it became clear that a school was needed for the growing number of mountain children. Several locations, including the Beaver Creek School, the “White School Building” near the old Box R Ranch, the Spring Creek School, and one of the Lincoln cabins, had all served to house the school at various times, but in 1930, with the donation of wood from the Lincoln mill and the use of its water, a group of community members constructed the school building we have today, designed by local architect Frank Chamberlain Clark. The cost of construction was $21,000. A stable – which still remains – was erected to the east of the building for students who arrived on horseback.

The passage of Measure 5 in the early ‘90s brought the specter of diminished funding, and was followed by state legislation proposing the consolidation of smaller schools into larger districts. Pinehurst School District was able to stave off this effort to consolidate with Ashland, which would ostensibly eliminate our local community’s voice in our children’s education. Multiple visits to Salem to testify on behalf of the independence of our school resulted in the ratification of a 20 mile distance exemption. We are grateful for our partnership with Ashland and the bus they send up the mountain for our 7th-12th graders, and are equally grateful that we remain a locally controlled k-12 school district serving our k-6th graders here at Pinehurst.

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the District, students and staff throughout the 2007-2008 school year conducted interviews of current and past students and staff. The results of their research and efforts, masterfully spearheaded by middle school teacher Jim Impara, were compiled into a definitive historical book: Pinehurst School: 100 Years of Growing up on the Greensprings. Copies are available for $20 each from the Pinehurst school office.