By Robert Kanehl

“We were very lucky,” Craig Johnson of the East Hartford Historical Society stated this week. “The limb could have come down on top of the school house, but it was a near miss.”

Johnson was referring to a large maple tree limb which fell next to the 1821 Goodwin School House located near the front of Martin Park off Burnside. The structure is the oldest surviving school building in the town, and has been a fixture of East Hartford’s three-building ‘mini-Sturbridge Village’ (as the late East Hartford historian Doris Suessman proudly called it) since 1975. The collection of buildings includes the so-called Hugenot House and an old blacksmith shop that was moved from Roberts Street to Martin Park. The three buildings are overseen by dedicated members of the society who, despite their small numbers, safeguard East Hartford’s living history by offering tours on weekends. The schoolhouse and blacksmith shop are opened only on rare occasions.

This week, during one of the recent wind and rain storms, a limb just about as long as the school building itself broke off from the large, overhanging sugar maple east of the schoolhouse. It fell between 20 to 30 feet before crashing to the ground.

“There may have been a slight glance off the school, but it appears to be alright,” Johnson noted as he survey the damage – and the building. The roof of the quaint schoolhouse is covered with a brown tarp, with tarp also taped around the chimney. The all-volunteer East Hartford Historical Society has been trying to get someone to re-shingle the structure using cedar shingles it has already obtained, and has in storage. Now the Society could use some younger volunteers with an interest in preservation and history – who also know how to climb a ladder safely. The weathered siding also needs a new coat of whitewash, and repairs to small holes might prevent squirrels without internet access from sneaking in to get an unaccredited East Hartford education.

Johnson discovered the limb on the ground next to the school when he came to the park Sunday afternoon to open the nearby Makens-Bemont House for tours. The one-room schoolhouse was originally located near Burnside Avenue on land owned by the Goodwin family. It was constructed by paper manufacturer George Goodwin in 1821 and used as a private school for the Goodwin family and neighboring children until 1855.

After local public schools replaced the need for the building, the structure was maintained by the Goodwin family as a guest house and playhouse – depending on the family’s needs.
It was donated to the historical society by another George Goodwin, grandson of the builder, in 1975, and moved to Martin Park.

“He was a hundred years old when he gave the school to us,” Johnson noted. The structure at that time was behind the family mansion, the building which became home of The Data Institute, then to Stone Academy which recently closed.

Johnson added that many of the original one-room-school features remain intact. Inside the fascinating building one can see the benches where children sat over 200 years ago. The Society also displays toys, books and maps from the 1800s and early 1900s along with one-room schoolhouse oriented furniture. Johnson hopes to have the wooden building further checked out for any damage this week.