Freehold Township History Day!

Freehold Township had a historical open house on April 30, 2022. The Historical Commission opened up all the historical houses and museums to the public for free. I passed the Georgia Road Schoolhouse a million times and never saw it open until that day.

According to the information they gave out, the school was erected in 1808. Then they built a new one in 1842 but fire destroyed that one. This one that I visited was built in 1862. It later became a house of worship for various religions in the 1950s. It ceased being a school house in 1957.

I went in to the school house and walked into that early 1900s past. The wooden desks had inkwell places. Way back when pens didn’t come with the ink inside the pen, you had to dip the pen point into an inkwell and get the ink to write with. These desks were made at that time. Hard hard wood desks.

The school house was one room with a different chalkboard on three of the walls. The floors were solid wood. It wasn’t creaky or full of holes. They really maintained the structure over the years. If you watch “When Calls The Heart” you’ve seen a schoolhouse like this.

The Commission put out school books from the early 1900s on the desks. The pages were discolored and stiff, yet the typeface could still look good. I was allowed to open a book and read the pages. it didn’t fall apart at the binding.  It was a textbook so I can’t tell you anything about it.

In the front of the room was a huge heater. Picture a tub on metal legs that stood ten feet high. The heater opened to a smaller heater and water holding tub. It must have worked by steam heat.

I’ve seen the small building outside the school all the times I’ve driven by. This time it was pointed out to me that this was the outhouse. Of course it was, but didn’t think they would keep the out house all these years later.

The Commission sent a request to have the school house named a national historical site. As of this writing it hasn’t happened.