W-O-O-D-F-A-I-R-E wikipedia

We were talking spelling bees last night. Bill and I joined my sisters and mother at Slate's for a Sunday night dinner. The subject of Farmin School's annual spelling bee came up because this past week I accepted an invitation to participate in the bee as the pronouncer of words.

I've got a couple of lists of words for third/fourth grade and fifth/sixth grade contestants, and the new assistant principal has actually suggested that I make up sentences for all those words on the third/fourth grade list. She still wants me to do it after I tried to get out of the job by zeroing in on "d-u-m-b-b-el-l" and suggesting a sample sentence: If you can't spell this word, you're a real dumbbell.

I can see the headlines now: Spelling bee official sued for harassment. Note the one 'r" in harassment. I could think of a really good sentence for that word, but I'll refrain and get on with what I was going to tell you, assuring you that I do have a little more sense than to pick on little third graders.

After we discussed Farmin's spelling bee, a Sandpoint High School spelling list came up for discussion. It seems my sister Barbara is using the list I compiled and used for my students for several years. It includes a list of Bonner County place names, including "Woodfaire."

"No one seems to know anything about Woodfaire," Barbara told me. "We can't find any information about it anywhere."

I immediately reacted with the certain knowledge that Woodfaire did, indeed, exist cuz I was pretty sure there used to be a Woodfaire correspondent for the Sandpoint News Bulletin back in the days when we read every week what rural families drove to Spokane and which farmer bought a new bull. I was sure that Woodfaire was duly represented among the weekly reports which also included Grouse Creek, Morton, Oden, Edgemere, Selle, etc.

Then, I realized that I didn't really know where Woodfaire was. All these decades I'd just accepted it as a place somewhere in Bonner County. So, I gave a stab at it and said, "Isn't it out past Sagle somewhere?" Bill, the consummate map man in the family, intervened with the suggestion that it might be out there in Morton or Clagstone. I did not argue his point, but I assured Barbara of its existence.

Well, we never stop learning, so I went to my sources this morning. A Google search indicated that the county commissioners had a "Woodfaire Mountain Estates" final plat approval from planning and zoning listed for review in August, 2005. That sickened me almost immediately and made me even more curious as to what part of rural Bonner County had been destined for yet one more heavy equipment onslaught.

Then, I searched the Beautiful Bonner history books and found the "Woodfairie" School. Please note the spelling change, and I've got to check with Barbara to see how my list spelled the location. My mind has always thought of it without the final "i." Then, again, one needs to just check the evolution of spelling for "Pend Oreille" to note that there is room for discussion on place name spellings.

As a digression, I recall back in the late 1980s when I spent a year writing features for the Spokesman-Review, my editor finally called up and screamed at me to quit putting the apostrophe on "Pend Oreille." I would send him a draft. He would remove the apostrophe. I would check the draft and return the apostrophe. He would remove it, and I would change it back. He was never kind when I did stupid things in my stories, so his irate "Pend Oreille apostrophe" admonition definitely stuck with me.

Anyway, back to Woodfaire or Woodfairie, however you want to spell it. The Woodfairie School was located near Jewel Lake, which is located near Dufort, which is located west of Round Lake, which three miles west of HWY 95 north of Westmond and Cocolalla. Those are south of Sandpoint for all you out-of-towners. Woodfairie is out there in Jasmanville, Clarkville, Dawsonville, Hulquistville and Bob Hamiltonville.

According to the report filed by local historian Virginia Overland, the Woodfairie School operated from 1909 to 1943 in two different structures. Some people called it the Sawyer School because of the closest post office at Sawyer on the Spokane International Railroad alongside Hoodoo Creek. When the first school burned down, a Len Arnett built the second with tile and stucco.

Virginia writes that Nellie Hulquist, a school district clerk, saved Woodfairie's records, which show that the 1942-43 school year was the last year students attended the school. After that, the youngsters attended Seneacquoteen School (another word on Barbara's spelling list), which operated until 1952 when Bonner County consolidated and closed many of the outlying schools.

In her article, Virginia also states that most county schools were destroyed soon after their closure but Woodfairie lived on because a Charlie Schneider purchased the school and teacherage.

"Woodfairie schoolhouse is being used as a residence and was extensively remodeled in 1996," she writes in her 1999 history book submission. "This schoolhouse is one of the very few that has survived. Fifty six years have passed since a teacher rang the bell at Woodfairie!"

So, yes, Barbara, there IS a Woodfaire or a Woodfairie. The only challenge now is to determine which spelling is correct, and I'll bet that's easier said than done.

Since today's posting is a "Woodfaire Wikipedia," in the spirit of Bonner County's Centennial year, I welcome corrections or additions to the Woodfaire story or its spelling.