Students Are Visiting Alna's One-room Puddle Duck School To Better Connect And Understand Local History

A group of students gathered in front of a vintage chalkboard at Alna Puddle Duck School with historic signs mounted above.

Alna's Puddle Duck School was built more than 150 years ago, and students at Wiscasset High School are getting the opportunity to visit and understand the one-room schoolhouse's rich history in rural Maine.

Doreen Conboy, a historian and archivist, taught a history lesson to Wiscasett Middle High School Juniors at the one-room schoolhouse -- one of six that operated in Alna until the early 1960s.

"My experience was somewhat eye-opening to the struggles of a country/urban life for the children of the 1900's and the lack of the luxuries we have today such as heating and basic plumbing things we take for granted now," said student Gabriel Cadwallader. "The fact that such a small school was considered modern for its time is astounding."

"The idea of a one-room schoolhouse is interesting as well," said student David Valliere. "It's intriguing that the classes have both 3rd graders and high schoolers together in a small group.”

Part of the discussion involved Lydia Keene’s, a K-12 schoolteacher for Puddle Duck School who circumnavigated the world in 1899 and survived a shipwreck at the Falklands Islands, near South America. Student reflected on photos from the 19th and 20th centuries, observing the

demographic and cultural changes in Alna.