Summers County students have class in one room schoolhouse

LOWELL, W.Va. (WVVA) - Students at Talcott Elementary School took a trip back in time on Wednesday and had class in the Saunders One Room School Museum in Lowell. The building was constructed to house a collection of memorabilia from one room schoolhouses in Summers County.

It was named after a long time educator in the county, Charles Saunders. The Saunders One Room School Museum in Lowell is located on the same property as the historic Graham House.

It’s modeled after a typical school house from the 1800′s. The Talcott students learned what being a student during that time was like, and they even dressed the part.

“It’s a little bit different but to be honest we’re usually just doing the things sometimes that we do in school. It’s really not that different but it is different because it’s tinier. The fact that they don’t have like a cafeteria and all that stuff is kind of different,” said first grader, Mckinley Tabor.

The museum was built in the 1970′s after it was discovered there were no functional one room schoolhouses in the county. The teacher who organized the trip says the building was perfect for the students to learn about history.

“Today we’re so full of technology and it’s hard for kids to understand unless they actually physically do it. It’s hard to understand that you have to use chalk. It’s hard to understand that you don’t have a bathroom in your school. It’s hard to understand those things until you actually live it,” said first grade teacher, Linda Boyd.

Boyd says this is the first time she has taken students to the one room school house museum for class but says she would like to do it again next year.

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