3 Harris Road (Route 167)
Listed on the National and State Register of Historic Places

How It All Started

Built at a cost of $1,538.34, Schoolhouse No. 7 opened in December 1865. Henry Barnard, Connecticut’s First Commissioner of Education, called it the “finest school in the state.”

Miss Francis, its first teacher, earned $96.00 for a four-month winter term. In those days teachers had no long-term tenure so they often moved from town to town, usually boarded with townspeople, and were only paid at the conclusion of the term with female teachers earning less than their male counterparts. Usually, there were more female students in attendance over the summer because the males were working on the farms, but the situation was reversed in winter terms.

Later named Pine Grove Schoolhouse by its students, the building served students from several adjacent towns since students walked to school, regardless of the weather, even if it was a distance of several miles. The building served as a school for 84 years until it closed in 1949. Later it continued to be used as a branch library, nursery school, and meeting place for Explorer Scouts. It was even the venue for a local church choir to rehearse in because a one-room schoolhouse was cheaper to heat than the larger church.

Restoration

The Avon Historical Society began restoration in 1975 as a U.S. Bicentennial project. The remaining outhouse was restored in 2012. In 2014, an informational kiosk about the school was added to the site built as a Boy Scout Eagle project. Today the school is set up as an early 20th-century schoolhouse complete with bolted desks (c. 1865), hand slates (c. 1900), textbooks (19th - 20th c.), and more. On display are many photos and stories from former alumni. Come ring the old brass handbells, sit at a small desk, see the old water pump, hold the old sporting equipment, and imagine what it was like to learn in a one-room school with children of all ages.

When to Visit

The Schoolhouse is open seasonally during the summer to early fall months on Sundays from 1:00 – 4:00 pm.

Also available for the public is the Pine Grove Schoolhouse Little Free Library located next to the building on the south side. It is full of books for every age and interest level. Feel free to take or leave a book or two anytime. It is accessible to everyone 24/7.  It is registered with www.littlefreelibrary.org where you can find other little libraries anywhere in the world.

In addition to the Pine Grove School House Little Free Library, there is another attraction on the premises. In 2020 Avon residents, Bill, Agnes, and Emma Brown hid a geocache on the property. Geocaching, like little free libraries, is a worldwide treasure hunt through their website www.geocaching.com. This particular cache, named “Simpler Times” is in a handmade birdhouse. You will have to visit it to learn more!