Sunday, June 29 @ 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm EDT
District Schools in Ridgefield: Learn more on June 29
How many former one-room schools do you know of in town? There are several still going strong (one left town for North Salem!) and one is a museum of early education: The Peter Parley/West Lane District School is now maintained and operated by the Ridgefield Historical Society.
It will be open on Sunday, June 29, from 1 to 4 p.m.; we invite everyone to visit and learn about district schools, and West Lane in particular. The schoolhouse is located at the intersection of West Lane and South Salem Road. Admission is free, donations are accepted.
Ridgefield children were educated as a matter of civic responsibility from the earliest days of the town. At first, the Meeting House, in the center of the settlement, was where children learned to read and write, taught by the Congregational minister.
Eventually, Ridgefield had 15 school districts, each independently operated by a school committee responsible for building and maintaining a school and hiring teachers. West Lane District School, at the intersection of West Lane and South Salem Road, was where the famous 19th Century author Peter Parley (Samuel G. Goodrich) was educated, along with his brother, author Charles A. Goodrich, and sister, editor Abigail Goodrich Whittelsey. The school was in operation from 1756 to 1915.
Besides the West Lane School, the Ridgefield Historical Society is also overseeing the restoration and preservation of the one-room Branchville Schoolhouse (used 1873-1939) on Old Branchville Road. The American Legion has its headquarters in the Titicus School, the town’s only two-room district school. Three schoolhouses are now homes: Limestone, Scott, and Ridgebury.
To learn more go to: ridgefieldhistoricalsociety.org
