From left: Sonia Forry, Anne Snyder, Olive Pisani, Dan Clark (seated)

The time is the middle of the l800s. Andrew Jackson is President, and the population of the U.S. is about 13,000,000. Children in the Upper Township area are on their way to school.

The one-room schoolhouse is warm and comfortable, as the teacher, John Stites, who walks from his home early every morning from Beesleys Point, has already begun a fire in the small stove that heats the school. The little room with its neat rows of benches has a portrait of George Washington hanging on the wall near the U.S. flag with 26 stars.

In the room are slates, small blackboards, where the students practice their writing using slate pencils. An abacus, or counting frame to learn numbers, is also there. A hickory stick, a common form of punishment, lies in the corner.

I traveled back in time, when, traveling down Route 9 in Marmora, I stopped in at the Friendship School, built around 1830 and beautifully restored. Recently, the Historical Preservation Society of Upper Township held an Open House at the School. The friendly and knowledgeable members, along with the aroma of mulled cider and tasty cookies, enticed me into spending an interesting afternoon there.

Sonia Forry of Tuckahoe, who is the Historian of the Society, pointed out some of the antiques housed there. “There is an original bench from the Friendship School still in use,” she told me, and the remaining benches in the classroom are replicas of that one. Forry also showed me “The Chautauqua Industrial Art Desk” which was known as the “home teacher.” This had 20 panels to scroll and taught skills such as art, math, weaving, and music.

A collection of books in the school includes a “McGuffey’s Eclectic Primer;” a small (4” x 6”) history book titled “Sadlier’s Elementary History of the U.S.” with a copyright date of 1877; and “Games and Dances,” by William A. Stecher, which contains games still popular today such as Simon Says and Dodge Ball, and the Chimes of Dunkirk, one of the dances popular at that time.

If you would like more information about this historical building, please visit the website at uppertwphistory.org. Links for teachers and students are also shown there.