The Duette School closed in February, 2016. There were many efforts to shut down the last remaining school house in Florida due to it’s non-conformity with the Common Core approach to organized schools.

The school first opened in 1930 and just served the tiny community of Duette in northern Marion County. Eventually a series of other nearby one room school houses merged with he Duette school.

The school was referred to as s “Strawberry School” in that it held sessions in between strawberry picking season, between April and December.

A nifty series of picnic tables lie in front of the school. The benches have s very interesting design.

The local community was working on turning the former school into a history museum, which hasn’t happened, yet. Though, in 2018, the structure was awarded a spot in the National Historical Registry.

These photos were originally posted live, here, December 30 2017.