© 2008 James Hicks
Sometimes things don't work out.
I like to plan out our road trips, but I also like to be spontaneous. And it was a little bit of both that put us at the front door of the dilapidated old Govan schoolhouse. A last-minute change of plans took us off of I-90 for the last leg of our trip to Spokane, and onto a desolate stretch of two-lane blacktop known as U.S. Route 2 (US2). I had barely enough time to check our map for cool places to check into, before we were out the door and on the road.
Once on US2, Diane and I were driving on about an eighth of a tank of Holy Gasoline, praying to roll just a few more miles before we reached Wilbur, the nearest town of any consequence (HOT TIP: On US2, you better fill up when you can, because gas stations are few and far between), when I saw a road sign with a familiar name -- Govan. I checked the notes I'd scribbled before we left home, and found it there in the list. An old ghost town. But the only information I had about the place was a hastily-scrawled "Govan -- ghost town", and I vaguely remembered that I never had much intel on the place to begin with.
We decided to risk the wrath of the Almighty (who had been filling our tank with angel feathers and pixie dust for the last twenty miles or so) by taking a side trip into town, hoping He wouldn't teach Me (uh... me) a lesson in humility by making me walk along the highway with a gas can in my hand.
Govan, WA. Population 4. So they say. The old western Washington ghost town has seen better days. Maybe.
We spotted the schoolhouse right away and made a beeline for it. At one time it must've been one of the most beautiful and impressive buildings for miles around. But today the old school is run down and neglected, with no doors or windows, its red paint peeling away to expose the weathered boards beneath. Still beautiful in its own right, and impressive that it's still standing.
We stopped in front of the old school to take some pictures and get a closer look. Diane wasn't feeling well, so she stayed in the Tracker while I grabbed the camera and headed toward the schoolhouse.
Welcome to "do-as-I-say-and-not-as-I-do"-land. The area around the schoolhouse looks like it's used as farmland these days, which means it's private property. But I wanted to get a closer look. I took a gander around me and didn't see anyone...
Big No-No Number One: Never enter private property without permission. But I wanted to get a few pictures of the old building, and besides... it's only a few yards off the road. If someone was around to ask permission, I would've asked. But this was just a side-trip, and I didn't have time to track down the owner. And east of the Cascades is a different world anyway... I knew that the owner either wouldn't mind as long as I didn't trash the place, or he'd come hauling balls in a pickup truck and stick a shotgun in my face. So armed with that -- and a thousand other lame excuses -- I crossed the property line.
So I walked around the building a little bit, took my pictures, and took a look inside. The doors and windows are gone, exposing the building's interior to the elements.
Big No-No Number Two: Never enter an area that looks unsafe. The old two-room schoolhouse has been derelict for a long time, and it shows. To be honest, I think the place only has a couple more winters left before it collapses. Looking inside, I could see that the place was basically empty. But I wanted to take a look anyway.
The stairs leading up to the front porch are long-gone, but the building's basalt foundation offered plenty of toeholds, and I don't wear steel-toes for nothing. I didn't trust the front porch's old and weathered floorboards to hold my weight, so I stayed on the beams.
I peered through the front door, almost messed myself when a flock of birds flew out of the windows and the belltower, and took a gander into the two classrooms. I walked about ten feet inside. I wanted to go in deeper, but I was sure that the floorboards were in no better shape than the ones on the front porch. And inside, the floor was covered with the droppings of generations of barn swallows and whatever else decided to take shelter in there over the years. Unable to see where the beams were, I decided to be safe and turn back.
Big No-No Number Three: When investigating a location, enter the area with the audio recorder running, and keep it running until you leave. I thought I'd learned this lesson, but apparently not. As I turned to leave, I heard something in the other room. At first, I thought it was birds, but listening closer I realized I was wrong -- it was children! Was someone else in the building, I wondered? I hadn't seen anyone, but the voices of children laughing and playing in the next room were undeniable.
Moving as quickly and carefully as I could, I made my way out of the room and toward the door to the other classroom. And -- in typical fashion -- the voiced stopped when I looked through the doorway. The room was empty.
After leaving the schoolhouse, we took a quick drive around town. A couple of young kids playing in a front yard waved at us as we passed by. Were these the kids I heard when I was in the old schoolhouse? The voices sounded like they were in the next room, but I know how acoustics can be. But I'll never know for sure, because I'd left my audio recorder in the Tracker. So much for learning my lesson.
I've tried to do some research on the old Govan schoolhouse, and haven't come up with much. I've heard that it was built in 1908 and closed in 1942, that one room was used to teach Kindergarten through fourth grade, and the other room was for grades five through nine. But I haven't been able to confirm any of it.
Just like I haven't been able to confirm whether the voices of the children I heard came from the Great Beyond, or from a hundred yards away, carried on the wind.
ADDRESS: School House Rd N Govan, WA
DIRECTIONS: From US2, head south on Govan Rd N and follow it around the corner. Turn left on School House Rd N and the school will be on your right. ~OR~ From US2, head south on Bodeau Rd N. Turn right on Govan Rd N, left on Bruce Rd E, then left again on School House Rd N. The schoolhouse will be on your left.
GPS: N 47° 44.434' / W -118° 49.133' / Elevation: 2085 ft. 
James Hicks is the author of the upcoming book, The Offbeat Path: Strange Destinations in Washington State. He and his fiancé Diane travel the United States in search of the strange, the unusual, and the haunted. Permission is granted to repost or publish this article under the following Terms and Conditions.
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