Cache Details:
This cache container should be an easy find. A pen is available in the cache and a place for travel bugs. This cache has undergone several revisions, unfortunately as a result of muggles, but we think this version is sure to bring you as much joy as we had while making it. Be sure to check out the free mini library nearby!
Permission to place this geocache was granted by the Avon Historical Society as well as the Town of Avon.
Cache Background:
There were over 1,800 one room schools in Connecticut in the 1860s, seven of which were in the town of Avon. Two of the seven old schoolhouses still exist.
This Pine Grove Schoolhouse opened in December 1865. Miss Francis was its first teacher. English, grammar, mathematics, geography, history, music, and art were the subjects studied. The pupils walked to school carrying books, slates, and tin dinner pails. They took turns building a fire in a bench-type stove. Girls sat on the left and boys on the right. For 62 years the school was known as School Number 7. In 1927 the town officially named it the “Pine Grove School.” It closed as a school in 1949, but remained open as a branch library, a nursery school, and a meeting place for Explorer Scouts. Restoration began in 1975 as a Bicentennial project. Today it is set up as an early 20th century schoolhouse complete with bolted desks (c. 1865), hand slates (c.1900), textbooks (c. 1925), and a potbelly stove. It is on the National Register of Historic Places. Tours of the inside room were available pre-COVID, and will hopefully return in 2021.
Works Cited:
- http://www.avonhistoricalsociety.org/html/sites/pine-grove.html
- https://www.avonct.gov/home/pages/avon-historical-society
- https://patch.com/connecticut/avon/avon-historical-society-presents-one-room-school-house-avon