When you travel down Idaho Street in Weiser, you come upon this beautiful castle. It seems like you have walked out of a dream and stepped into an Arthurian legend of Camelot and Knights of the Round Table. It’s the Pythian Castle, which used to house the Knights of Pythias, Star Theater, and a mortuary. It seems almost surrealistic. This building at 30 E Idaho Street and another building at 8 E Idaho Street make up the Bee Tree Folk School.

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The Pythian Castle was commissioned by the Knights of Pythias and was completed in 1904. The amazing masonry work is beautiful and seems daunting. Each stone block was quarried from Sand Hollow, Idaho, and carried over in wagons by Roberts and Sheff. The masonry work was done by Hamilton and Reader Masonries of Weiser. This architectural masterpiece will stand the test of time.

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Pythian Castle had been what is now Star Theater, which was moved across the street. Going upstairs into the Grand Ballroom of Pythian Castle, you see theater seats, a movie screen, and a projector room. Many have argued that the theater wasn’t originally at the Pythian Castle, but here is proof positive that silent movies were indeed watched in the Grand Ballroom.

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This is where the Knights of Pythias had their ceremonies and rites. The cub scouts probably met there as well. The Knights of Pythias donated their beautiful Grand Ballroom for silent movies and different community endeavors. There were 3 skeletons found in the Grand Ballroom, a real male skeleton, and a real female skeleton, as well as a plastic baby skeleton. There is some thought that they may have been used in the rites of the Knights of Pythias.

The building is owned by The Weiser Architectural Preservation Committee at this time. Dennis and Sandra Cooper hope to take over ownership of Pythian Castle before their four-year lease agreement comes due.

The Innovators; Dennis and Sandra Cooper

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Dennis is a well-known musician, sound technician, and computer tech. Sandy is an executive director of the Old Time Fiddlers, entrepreneur, and is self-made. They are both art patrons. They have been heavily involved in the Weiser community, supporting the Weiser Fiddle Festival for years. They have been working on the Bee Tree Folk School for about 20 years. It had been in the back of their minds, and circumstances being what they are, the dream was finally brought into fruition around 2017 when they got their NPO set up as a charitable and educational entity by Sandy.

Thanks to endowments from Roderick Emerson Simpson and the Robert Vassar estate, they have a collection of historical music manuscripts, a collection of Nigerian African art, beautiful pianos and organs, and many other wonderful artifacts that will comprise the museum portion of the school. They have also received a beautiful collection of glass bottles and antique furniture that make up the Simpson-Vassar Collection. This huge collection set the school back from opening by about a year and a half due to the urgency in getting the music instruments in place and getting items on display.

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The Simpson-Vassar Collection is huge! When Dennis and Sandy received the endowment, they had no idea how large it truly was. It included 9 inventoried collections and 7 collections that had not been inventoried yet. The inventories had several rare antique pianos, organs, music manuscripts, Nigerian African Artworks, Nigerian African artifacts, antique glass bottles, furniture, paintings by Violet Simpson, as well as rare books. There is no way to put this entire collage on display at one time, so the Coopers, with help from the members of the board, and volunteers, will rotate the inventory of the museum by changing the displays out from time to time.

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A Vision and a Dream Realized

Sandra and Dennis have a wonderful vision of what we would think of as a community college, but nothing about the Bee Tree Folk School is typical. With all of their hard work and stamina, they are seeing the dream become a reality with their soft opening on January 17, 2020. They will host a jam session at the school located at The Hive with musicians from all over southwest Idaho.

The Bee Tree Folk School is based on Frederik Grundtvig‘s theory of a folk school. He was a Renaissance man in the 18th and 19th centuries. He was a very forward thinker, and many embraced his ideologies. While he didn’t open a school of his own, many followed his philosophies of a learning center without tests, without exams, no passing grades, just a simple meeting of the minds where a person can grow and learn different crafts such as culinary arts, sewing, playing music, and learning various other crafts while in a setting with other like-minded individuals. The concept grew and became the folk schools of today.

Sandy and Dennis have a Grundtvig-like concept where people within their community of all socioeconomic circumstances can meet in a center of learning. You may not know what your passion is in life, but you can find it at the Bee Tree Folk School. It is nestled between two different buildings that will host different programs and events. You can become a musician, an artist, a culinary expert, a linguist, or anything you set your mind to do. There are no limits as to how far you can go.

There is a class on conversational Spanish already in place with an instructor and students. The Bee Tree Folk School isn’t going to be one particular thing, not just traditional arts. There will be classes offered that teach gardening, sewing, husbandry, and much more. The entire concept is about enabling people to be creative, doing something with their hands, and seeing a positive result at the end of the day for themselves and the community.

There are scholarships available for people in the community that don’t have the means to pay for classes. These scholarships are sponsored by various members of the Bee Tree Folk School board and members of the community. Bee Tree Folk School is partnering with the local after school programs and offering classes and various programs for different age groups.

They have a full kitchen at Pythian Castle, as well as a full kitchen at The Bee Hive. An individual can learn culinary arts and basic cooking skills. There is also a sewing machine set up where Sandy is teaching sewing skill classes. The concept of getting back to the roots of survival in an age of computers and the internet is endearing and vital. Learning to do something beyond pushing or swiping a button on a phone or computer teaches people that we are not mindless monkeys. We can do something with our hands that is far beyond the age of computers, things that are vital to our survival. These skills also teach us to communicate in a cooperative environment.

The really beautiful thing about a local folk school is that classes are offered at a very affordable rate for everyone and a subsidized rate through scholarships for people that can’t afford to go to such a prestigious school. People of any age can go in and try many different things until they find their niche.

For some, their niche may not be art, it may be culinary art, or it may be crafting, it may be woodwork or pottery. We are constantly reinventing ourselves and evolving. We build something and then completely reinvent ourselves. Every avenue you explore in life gives you a different set of tools that may lead you down a street that you never thought to explore before. The Bee Tree Folk School offers people the opportunity to explore different avenues of thought, no matter what their age, be it 2 or 102. It was surely a vision that Robert Vassar would have greatly approved.

Robert Vassar

When Roert Vassar was sent to Nigeria to integrate IBM computer systems, he probably never realized how beautiful the experience would be culturally and how much it would affect his future endeavors.

His lifelong friend, and companion, Roderick Emerson Simpson took amazing photographs of their life there. He was a lover of life and took great photographs that captured his day in and day out realities in Nigeria and other far away lands.

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The Vision Begins

Dennis and Sandy already have the layout planned for both buildings. In the Pythian Castle, there will be an art studio that will comprise some of the more messier skills such as pottery, jewelry making, ceramics, and painting. These will be at the back of the Pythian Castle on the main floor. At the Bee Hive, there will be individual studios for music lessons and the main stage for jam sessions and performances by local and renowned musicians. Dennis will also be opening a recording studio at the Bee Hive. They also have a huge library at the BeeHive where patrons can come in, relax, and read.

They already have some classes up and running, but bigger and better things are yet to come. There are open jam sessions planned for the Bee Hive, classes of every nature that you can think of at either the Pythian Castle or the Bee Hive, and endeavors to improve the community and the people within that community. If you know of someone who would like to instruct a class or participate in a class please contact (208) 414-2667 and leave a message. They will return your call ASAP. You can also visit the website at Bee Tree Folk School.

No matter what you want to do in life, there are people to assist you on your journey. Whether it’s a path of enlightenment, a path of understanding, or an epiphany. If you look closely, some people have been put in your path for a reason. Dennis and Sandy are exactly those types of people. You have no idea why you met them, how you met them, but one day the light goes on, and it makes perfect sense. Dennis and Sandy Cooper are two of the gems of Idaho. I have a closing photo I want to share. It is the photo I took of the stained glass window. What’s ironic here, isn’t so much the photo, it’s the concept of being on the inside looking out. This is how we should view life. There is beauty outside of us if you only seek to find it. Cheers!