Of Readington's three completed museums, Cold Brook School posed the most challenging task to the volunteer restoration team. Found as a stone ruin covered with vegetation and rubbish, the structure's remarkable reconstruction and restoration is a tribute to the vision of the team's leader, Historian Stephanie Stevens. Begun in May of 1993 and opened in 1997, the restoration was a long but satisfying process. Cold Brook School is home to the Readington Museums' fourth grade living history program, presented in partnership with the Readington Township Schools.
Long before there was a state law requiring public education, there were schools in Readington. Cold Brook School is really the second of three schools located in the village of Potterstown. The first was located somewhere near the current school, but the exact site and date of construction are unknown. Cold Brook School, built in 1828 is the second school. At that time there was no central Board of Education and no school tax levied by the municipality. Each school elected its own Trustees to oversee the educational and financial matters of the institution. In the 1830s there was a teacher shortage. Frequently, young men and women not long out of their teens would teach for a year or two to earn enough money to continue their own education at a University or Normal school. The teacher would often "board in" or live with families of their students. Each family was expected to take its turn housing the teacher.
Cold Brook School is furnished much as it would have been in the 1830s. There are no individual student desks. Instead, slab benches and board desks, built with a grant received from QUESTORS, line the perimeter of the school room. This arrangement took advantage of the light from the windows. The school master or school marm's desk was in the middle of the room. Good manners and good behavior were expected at all times. The "rod of correction" was prominent on the school master's desk to deter any mischief.
A typical day at Cold Brook School would begin with the school master or mistress starting the fire in the woodstove before the arrival of the students. Families were responsible for providing firewood - a kind of tuition. If you brought firewood, you had the privilege of sitting close to the woodstove in the winter. The older boys were responsible for keeping the fire going throughout the day. The schoolmaster would ring the bell to signal the start of the school day. Students were expected to "make their manners" to the teacher - the boys would bow and the girls would curtsy to the master. Once inside the school, students would hang up their coats, take their places at their desks and "toe the line", meaning that they'd stand straight in front of their benches with their toes aligned along a designated floorboard. Now the school day could begin.
The school day opened and closed with a prayer. The "three Rs" of mid nineteenth century rural education were "Reading, 'Riting and Religion" with a healthy dose of ciphering (math). Recitation was an important part of education in the 1830s. The students would memorize bible verses, famous quotations or poetry, and would recite these individually or as a group for the master. Subjects studied included reading, ciphering, orthography (spelling), geography, history and penmanship.
Boys and girls of all ages, from the very young to teenagers, would all be educated in the one-room schoolhouse, which presented quite a challenge to the teacher. Add to that the fact that books were rare and treasured possessions, and each child brought his or her own books, so that it was unlikely that any two children were studying from the same book. Penmanship was a subject taught to all students. Students wrote on individual slates with chalk pencils, or on parchment with a goose feather quill dipped in ink. Boys were excused from school during the spring planting and fall harvest seasons. All of the students walked to school, some traveling several miles each way
