Despite the considerable amount of space the courtyards  take up, the three on the main floor at North stay unused and unkempt, raising the question of why they are even there. As it turns out, the original purpose of the courtyards was simply to avoid structural complications when new additions to the building were made. As a long time teacher at FHN, Kim Coil has an in-depth understanding of this idea.

“They are basically an area between where the building was and where a new part of the building became,” Coil said. “It’s easier structurally sometimes to not have all of those contact points, because every contact point you have is another chance for a leak.”

Recently retired FHN teacher Steve Willott recalls the courtyard’s uses when he first began at North in the 1994-1995 academic year. During that time, the Glass Wall Courtyard, nearest to the science wing, was almost entirely unused. On the other hand, the Senior Courtyard, behind the snack table near the commons, was a place for students to eat lunch during the warmer months of the school year. The Senior Courtyard still holds the memory of that time in the form of eroded hand prints that were once part of a senior tradition.

“Up until about 2000, the seniors would go out on one particular day or week and put their hand prints on the walls out there and they would sign their names with them,” Willott said.

The Main Office Courtyard, which can be seen from the front lobby, was once used by most students daily, as a means to avoid the Butterfly Hallway traffic that today’s FHN students know all too well.

“The really unusual thing that a lot of people don’t realize is that [the Main Office Courtyard], that actually was used for a long time as a pass through,” Willott said. “The students during passing periods could walk through there and it was open and unlocked and provided a kind of shortcut; while Darlene Jones was there as principal, they closed it off.”

Nowadays, the courtyards are only used for sporadic gardening projects, by office staff during their lunch breaks and by science teachers for demonstrations. But otherwise, the courtyards remain barren and desolate. A little over a year from now, the courtyards will be gone entirely, along with their complicated yet charming history.