Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 8/25/2021
HUNTINGTON – The Huntington Historical Society is inviting the public to an open house for the Norwich Bridge School Museum from 1 to 4 p.m. on Aug. 29.
The one-room schoolhouse and museum is located at the intersection of Worthington and Littleville roads, next to the parking lot of the Huntington Country Store.
The Norwich Bridge School was built circa 1800, and classes were conducted for students in grades 1 through 8 in the building until 1919. The record suggests the Norwich Bridge School never contained more than 16 students during any one term.
Over the years, the little schoolhouse was utilized in many non-school capacities, often for club meetings, bridal and baby showers, art classes and various organizations’ general use and meetings, as well as for storage.
There were different efforts to save and preserve the building and create a living museum beginning in 1971. In 1976 a Bicentennial grant was used to more fully restore the schoolhouse to its original condition as a one-room district school with desks and blackboards.
More restorative work was undertaken in 1981, and in 2017, a new roof was added with funds from the Pettis Fund and the Huntington Historical Society. The last reunion of still-living former students from the Norwich Bridge School took place in 1985.
Open houses are planned for the last Sunday of each month through the fall, after being closed for the past year because of COVID-19. There will be no formal program, but society members will be on hand to answer questions about the history of the schoolhouse and the town.
David Norton, president of the Huntington Historical Society, said there were about 20 visitors at the first 2021 open house in July.
“We were very busy that day answering questions and showing various artifacts,” he said.