The Freedom School in Heritage Village was one of two schools that replaced Mackinaw City’s original, 1871, log cabin school. This replacement school, built in 1885, was located in the town of Freedom near Mill Creek Park on what is now US-23 southeast of Mackinaw City. There is a small sign on the north side of the highway that marks the site of the now extinct community. Until the 1930s the Freedom School educated many students in the area. The building was sold to private individuals in 1949.

The Historical Society discovered the dilapidated school building in the woods, its floor so rotten that it had “melted” into the mud beneath it. After the owners donated it to the MAHS, an architect advised the society, “Any building can be saved; it is only a matter of the amount of work you want to do.” That was enough inspiration and encouragement for MAHS members to attempt to restore it.

Like the pest house, this structure is another inexpensive building with a shelf chimney. Robert Frost wrote the following poem about his dislike of a shelf chimney.