Elizabeth Edwards School

This old brick building which once stood along Route 9 in Barnegat originally served as the town's first high school. Many locals will remember passing the structure, which opened in 1931. 

 By 1957 the Barnegat Regional High School opened, rendering the original building obsolete. However it wasn't long before the structure reopened as an elementary school. The new school was renamed in honor of Elizabeth Edwards, who was a beloved local educator. 

 The Elizabeth Edwards School lasted for 47 years, but as the newest iteration of Barnaget High opened it fell out of use once again. The building continued to be used by the town for various administrative purposes. A theater group also used the old auditorium. 

One day the town decided to cut the utilities, rendering the building entirely uninhabitable. The school achieved momentary fame once again when it appeared on an episode of Ghost Hunters (S.9 Ep.24) in 2014. The team concluded that the school was indeed haunted by their standards. 

Nearly 20 years after the last class was held inside the school, the town announced the building would be demolished. They determined the building was too far gone to save and that the long vacant building was a hazard. After several items of historical significance were salvaged from the building, the structure was cleared out and demolished in 2022. I had been trying since around 2016 to get inside the old school. It was in sort of a tricky area though, which limited the amount of mornings I could dedicate to trying to sneak in.

When the news of demolition was first mentioned I put it on the top of my to do list. After getting up early one morning my partner and I ventured over to the school before daybreak. She hung out in the car while I made a desperate final attempt to find a way in. Under the cover of darkness I made my way up to the front of the building. I knew all the back entrances were well sealed, so my only hope was that I could get a window open. Fortunately it didn't take long for me to find one.  

I popped inside and walked over to the doors to see if I could get them unlocked. Sure enough it worked, so I ventured back over to my car to get my camera gear and my partner. After timing our moves to avoid the gaze of the early morning elderly speed walkers, we slid back in through the front doors like so many students had over the decades. We were fortunate enough to be able to spend a good amount of time inside, making sure to appreciate the details of each room. The most impressive space in the building was definitely the auditorium, but the whole structure was filled with relics of the past. I'm grateful we were able to get inside the building before anything was removed. The school didn't last much longer.

I'm sure people will continue to tell stories of the structure for years to come though. School buildings generally hold a special significance in the hearts of those who used to attend classes inside them. It's part of what makes them one of my favorite structures to document and write about. Unfortunately when I do it generally means they've been demolished, but at least the photos will be around long after the buildings.