Staff Writer
In you were to watch students entering a school today or if you were to observe the functions of a classroom you would see children dressed in bright clothing, sporting name brand sneakers and carrying insulated lunch bags advertising a popular television character or an adolescent heart-throb music group.
You would see the students enter their classroom, talking and laughing while they checked out their neighbor’s new i Pod, or hurry to get a book from the room’s library shelf. Their day in school is governed by rules, the teacher is their leader, respect must be and is shown, they speak of homework done on a computer and look forward to physical education and a hot lunch served in the cafeteria. Somewhat different than being a student in the McIntosh one-room schoolhouse in Fort Fairfield in the year 1858.
The McIntosh School house built in 1848 at the junction of routes 1A and 16 , a large white one-room structure is exactly what most of us would envision it would be like. Upon entering the school, which once stood on Jim Everett’s Fort Fairfield property, was hauled across the potato fields in 2002. The town of Fort Fairfield was incorporated at this school, which was also used as the town hall, on March 29, 1858, at its first town meeting.
Upon entering the school, if you stand quietly and take in the sights of the low wooden desks, the high ceilings, long windows, the schoolmarm (or master)’s podium in the front, the woodstove and the cloakrooms, you can hear the voices of young children as they entered for their school day, in 1858 and hear the unison of voices, reciting their lesson or singing their verses.
The school has all the amenities of the original classroom, a long chalkboard, square wooden-framed slates placed on the desks (long enough to hold three students) with the rigid low backs on which lesson were done, with a tiny thin charcoal pencil; quill pens and ink bottles (with small square of material used as blotters) with which the students did their penmanship lessons. There is even a ‘two-holer’ in a private closet in the very back of the classroom.
The students desks were made my members of the Fort Fairfield Highway Dept., who, once they became aware of what the plans were for the old schoolhouse wanted to become involved. The classroom slates were made by the Fort Fairfield Middle School shop students.
Earlier this spring, prior to the Fort Fairfield schools’ summer vacation, students were treated to a very intense lesson in history. With the organization of some retired teachers, the Fort Fairfield Frontier Heritage Society and volunteers, the McIntosh school was once again filled with voices.
Rayle Ainsworth and Sarah Ulman, together with Debbie Bird, Larry Plante, Sandra Cormier and Mary Schneider made up the team of teachers who headed up the research to make this project become a reality. The actual curriculum of a class during 1858 was pieced together and upon approval of the Fort Fairfield school district, classes were in session., with two sixth grades, one second grade and one third grade introduced to “education in 1858.”
Rayle Ainsworth said the response from the kids and their parents was amazing. “They really got into the way things were to be done, although it took quite a bit of adjustment, on every ones part,” she said.
The students walked from the Fort Fairfield Elementary School, single file for each session at the old schoolhouse. When the bell was rung (a large hand bell) for entry into the classroom, the students had to line up, boys on the left and girls on the right and “make their manners”. The teacher would greet them with “good morning” and the children would reply “good morning” to their teacher; wiping their feet before entering . Boys would bow while girls would curtsy as they greeted their teacher.
Once in the classroom, the girls would place their hats and bonnets in the cloakroom and don their aprons hanging on the wooden pegs. The boys would place their hats and lunches in their own cloakroom.
“Probably the most difficult part of this venture for the students, other than having to raise their hands and stand up to speak, when called upon, was what to bring for lunch.”, said Ainsworth.
In following the exact lifestyle of that period of time, the students were told that for their lunches, they must bring only those items which could have been available in Fort Fairfield at that time in history.
Items suggested for lunch, which could not be brought in an insulated lunch bag, but rather in cloth, or a tin can with a handle on it included: rhubarb, dried meat (jerky), chicken, beef, pork sandwiches, cornbread b, fiddleheads, potatoes and nuts; grains, turnip, dandelion greens, pickles, small dried apples, raisins and molasses cake or cookies. Sandwiches were wrapped in a damp cloth and the cloth wrapping could be used as a napkin.
Items not acceptable at the school were plastics, paper products, beverages, sneakers and wristwatches.
The correct items for the children included for boys: knickers or overalls, flannel shirts or white shirts, hats, boots or clunky shoes, neckerchiefs, tin pail, brown bag, box, or bundle on a stick, rag ball, marbles, jacks, and frogs in a box, etc. For girls: long dresses, skirts, ribbons, hats or bonnets, basket, pail, bo , brown bag, or bundle on a stick, boots, clunky shoes, dolls, cat’s cradle, marbles, jacks, etc.
Classroom rules included silent work time and soft voices. Manners, a very stringent part of every school day included: bowing, curtsying, standing to be recognized, being courteous to all, and a proper sitting position.
When performing their “Declamation” a sort of open house displaying their school work, the students were encouraged to memorize their verse using manners, decorum, articulation, voice projection, good eye contact, proper hand and feet positioning and bow or curtsy once they completed their part.
Ainsworth, as the schoolmarm, stated that when doing mathematics, problems were done on the chalk board and the scholars used their slates to do work, create an answer column then check their work once finished. In teaching oral math problems, the teacher would pose the problem and students would stand to answer.
“Once they got used to the words used, you could see the light come on, they really did understand it,” said Ainsworth. For example the method of saying, “since 4 plus 2 is 6 and 3 plus 6 is 9, consequently, and 6 plus 9 is 15.
Through these sessions held at the one-room schoolhouse, from the time they entered until the end of their day, everyone stayed in the role they were playing. The children were even given the names, corresponding to their own age, of those who had actually attended the school in the past.
It was a huge and in-depth undertaking to recreate this time in history, but how beneficial to everyone involved. This community, once again worked together, ensuring that yet another piece of their heritage is restored.
In celebration of Fort Fairfield’s 150th birthday and its annual Potato Blossom Festival, the McIntosh School will be open and the site of a feature event on Friday, July 18 from 8 a.m. – noon.
Photos by Barb Scott
RETIRED EDUCATORS, Sarah Ulman, left and Rayle Ainsworth demonstrate the proper way to play the 1858 version of “Hoop” at the one-room McIntosh Schoolhouse in Fort Fairfield.
Photos by Barb Scott
HISTORY FACTS and daily lessons were neatly printed on the old blackboard in the McIntosh School.
Photos by Barb Scott
THESE DESKS certainly didn’t allow for slouching during school days at Fort Fairfield’s McIntosh School in 1858; Not only are the backs of the seats quite low, there isn’t a lot of leg room under the desk either.
Photos by Barb Scott
BUILT IN 1848, the one-room McIntosh school/town meeting hall in Fort Fairfield, bears witness to the town’s 150th birthday celebration.
