History, it turns out, still matters. So do local stories that historians uncover and share. Which is why we are pleased to announce that The Hartford Courant ran an op-ed by our own Town Historian, Nora Howard, online on September 16, 2026

You can read the full story online here or the synopsis below:

Learning history has been under fire lately. On September 8, Smithsonian secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III resigned, saying he was “weary of the fray” in what the New York Times, on Sept. 8, called “withering attacks from the administration” on the Smithsonian's independence.

Taking aim at history on the exact 250th anniversary of the United States, the White House Domestic Policy Council released a report on July 4 that discredits the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The report was titled Saving America’s Story: How Ideological Capture at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History Erases Our Heritage.

According to the watchdog group Citizen Historians for the Smithsonian, founded by two history professors at Georgetown University, the Policy Council demands that the Smithsonian eliminate certain stories about the disagreements, conflicts, and people who brought this country into being.

David W. Blight, Yale University Sterling Professor of History, testified before Congress and refuted the Council’s findings. He stated that historians are “storytellers,” “keepers of memory,” and “essential for any society’s need for self-understanding.” Dr. Blight warned that without knowing history, we are ignorant.

Hartford has a distinguished tradition of standing against ignorance by supporting public education. Established in 1638, Hartford Public High School is the nation’s second oldest public high school. It’s a proud heritage, but budget cuts at Hartford’s public high schools recently led to the loss of librarians.

The public library in Alex Haley's Tennessee hometown banned his book “Roots” for a short time earlier this year. Colleges are cutting costs by eliminating humanities departments. In Massachusetts, Hampshire College is closing. That’s where documentary filmmaker and historian Ken Burns studied his craft.

In the midst of such diminishments, and many more against the study and practice of American history, I take heart from a historic 1865 one-room schoolhouse in Avon, Connecticut, that still stands.

Pine Grove Schoolhouse was one of seven one-room schoolhouses located throughout Avon. It was built at a time when children attended an estimated 1,800 one-room schoolhouses in Connecticut. The Civil War had just ended, and these children were the hope of the future.

The schoolhouse opened to the public in 1976, and renovations have continued, with major work this year. It’s all because of professionals and volunteers wanting to showcase the story of public education for children. They are broadcasting history to the visiting public – not erasing it.

The historians of Avon have ambitiously put local history under the microscope in the past year. Avon’s America 250 Committee, the Avon Historical Society, the Avon Free Public Library, the Avon Senior Center, and their partner organizations are presenting a remarkable lineup of events, exhibits, programs, artwork, readings, publications, and music.

Local historians have conducted original scholarly research. Lectures by CCSU Distinguished Professor of History Dr. Matthew Warshauer have drawn packed houses; descendants of signers of the Declaration of Independence read it aloud on July 8. Upcoming in October is a historic quilt show at the Avon Congregational Church — which proudly celebrates its heritage as a church of local abolitionists.

These events and many more have filled venues with people of all ages. Children at a Declaration of Independence program lined up to sign a giant copy, as parents lined up to take their photographs. Historians and the public dedicated an Honor Roll of local soldiers in the American Revolution — the result of new research that identified 80 additional names, including that of Abel Dego, a Black soldier. The newly planted Liberty Tree is part of a nationwide program.

Participants in these programs show a grassroots love of learning history and a fascination with the past. Audiences are hungry to understand how the Declaration came about, what it meant, who fought the world war that was the American Revolution, why Connecticut as the Provision State was critical for victory, and the responsibilities of living in a democracy.

From 1865-1949, Pine Grove Schoolhouse educated students in grades one through eight in one room. Architect Thomas A. Teft designed the school as part of a movement to modernize one-room schoolhouses for the benefit of students and teachers. The effort was led by school-reform promoter Henry Barnard, Connecticut’s first education commissioner, the U.S. Commissioner of Education (1867-1870), and author of School Architecture, a Contribution to the Improvement of School-Houses (1854).

Students at Pine Grove studied reading, grammar, math, geography, art, music — and history. Even in this one small room, the teacher prioritized shelf space for a library, and students could take books home. The official Little Free Library cabinet outside the schoolhouse today recognizes this heritage.

The 1865 Pine Grove Schoolhouse will unveil its renovations of the one-room schoolhouse during a ceremony on Sept. 26.

Avon’s one-room schoolhouse carries a mighty message. It symbolizes Thomas Jefferson’s progressive view that only an educated public could help prevent corruption and abuse of power. In 1786, he sent a letter to his friend and law mentor George Wythe. Jefferson wrote about “the diffusion of knowledge among the people,” saying that “No other sure foundation can be devised for the preservation of freedom, and happiness.”

History, it turns out, still matters. So do local stories that historians uncover and share. Avon’s programs for the 250th and its restoration of Pine Grove Schoolhouse are a triumph for our small town. For those adults and children who are so vigorously taking part in Avon’s America 250, I know we are making a big difference.

Nora Oakes Howard is Avon's town historian and a member of the Avon Historical Society. A documentary about the Pine Grove Schoolhouse renovation, “A Coat of History: Preserving the 1865 Pine Grove Schoolhouse,” directed and produced by documentary filmmaker Adriana Davis of D-Squared Media, will be released in 2027. The public unveiling of the renovated schoolhouse will be Sept. 26