Children learned to read and write in the Little Red School House near William Miller’s farm in Whitehall, Low Hampton, New York. When belief in Christ’s soon return splintered the local Baptist church, religious meetings were also conducted there.* An excerpt of those events and drawings of the school are shown in the sidebar. A drawing of the school is shown, along with pictures of the deteriorated school house today, on page 43.

The Little Red School House Restoration Project is supported by Seventh-day Adventist university presidents and institutions. Your support will bring the historic Little Red School House back to life! It will help to restore it from top to bottom. On the outside, there will be a new roof and new siding. Old beams will be replaced to stabilize the structure. New floors will be installed, and the walls and ceiling will be completely restored. All the windows will be redone. A little woodshed, which was original to the farm, will be restored and added to the front of the entrance.

Tradesmen and volunteers will restore the School House in such a way as to preserve its historical integrity. Visitors will be able to step back in time. When it is finished, the Little Red School House will proudly take up its role of teaching a new generation! Your generous support and prayers will make this dream a reality so that both young and old will experience history firsthand and learn about the importance of education for eternity.

The restoration budget includes the following:

  • Historical restoration of the Little Red School House and reconstruction of the woodshed: US$45,000
  • Furnishings (historical desks, etc.): US$10,000
  • Landscaping: US$5,000

There are four ways to contribute:

  1. Send a check or money order to the General Conference. Write “AHM 137035/Miller Farm School” on the memo line, and mail it to: General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Attn: Donation Cashier, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904, U.S.A.
  2. Make a credit-card contribution to the General Conference (AHM 137035/Miller Farm School). Contact Linda Alinsod at (301) 680-6229 or [email protected] if giving by credit card. The merchant service provider charges a fee of 2.5 percent, which we will ask the donor either to add to his or her contribution or agree that the net amount (less the fee) be sent to AHM.
  3. Send a credit memo from the division to be credited to Adventist Heritage Ministries (AHM 137035/Miller Farm School). General Conference institutions (e.g. Andrews University, Loma Linda University, AIIAS, Adventist University of Africa) may send a credit memo directly to the General Conference. Division institutions may send a credit memo to the General Conference via their base division.
  4. Donate online directly to Adventist Heritage Ministries: https://www.adventistheritage.org/index.php/support.

Individuals who need a receipt to support a charitable contribution deduction on their United States Federal/State Income Tax form may provide the mailing address where they prefer the receipt to be sent.


Lisa M. Beardsley-Hardy

Lisa M. Beardsley-Hardy, PhD, MPH, is the Director of the Department of Edu­cation, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A.

Recommended citation:

Lisa M. Beardsley-Hardy, “Little Red School House Restoration Project,” The Journal of Adventist Education 82:1 (January-March 2020): 42, 43.