Helen Duchesne Shared Her Memories at Schoolhouse

At the Tucker Mountain Schoolhouse on September 11, Helen Duchesne (left) of Bristol, a native of East Andover who attended the Dyers Crossing one-room schoolhouse in the late 1930s and early 1940s, shared memories of what it was like to be a student in a one-room schoolhouse and read from her book about East Andover's Hersey family, "In Our Time." Her sister, Rita Norander of Andover (right), took part in the conversation as well. Photo: Donna Baker-Hartwell — At the Tucker Mountain Schoolhouse on September 11, Helen Duchesne (left) of Bristol, a native of East Andover who attended the Dyers Crossing one-room schoolhouse in the late 1930s and early 1940s, shared memories of what it was like to be a student in a one-room schoolhouse and read from her book about East Andover’s Hersey family, “In Our Time.” Her sister, Rita Norander of Andover (right), took part in the conversation as well. Photo: Donna Baker-Hartwell

At last month’s Tucker Mountain Schoolhouse open house, held on September 11, Tina Cotton graciously agreed to videotape one-room schoolhouse alumni. Helen Duchesne, author of In Our Time, shared her memories of attending the Dyer Crossing one-room schoolhouse in East Andover. Her sister Rita Norander, a trustee of the Andover Historical Society and contributing writer for the Beacon, also attended.

Helen’s description of the school and of her experience as a student was marvelous. Among her many memories is one of her teacher dampening paper towels with water for the students to hold over their noses and mouths when the woodstove was too smoky for comfort. The video of this hour-long conversation with Helen and Rita will be preserved in the archives of the Historical Society.

Among the other visitors to the Tucker Mountain Schoolhouse on September 11 were Susan Fineman of Nashua, a representative of the Country School Association of America (CSAA), and her colleague Mary Yannetti, also of Nashua. Susan is the chair of the annual CSAA conference for 2017 and is planning to bring a bus-full of members to the Tucker Mountain Schoolhouse in June 2017.

Our little schoolhouse is among the best in the country, according to Susan, and she is very excited about bringing her group of one-room schoolhouse preservationists to tour the Tucker Mountain Schoolhouse.

Susan first heard about our schoolhouse through the reenactment video produced in 2010 and posted on YouTube. The video has had more than 10,500 views. Readers may view the nine-minute video at YouTube.com/watch?v=hFQE0qw828w or simply google “Tucker Mountain Schoolhouse.”

Last Open House of 2016

Sunday, October 9, is the last scheduled open house at the Tucker Mountain Schoolhouse for the year. Other visits to the school may be made by contacting the Andover Historical Society at Pres@nullAndoverHistory.org or calling Donna at 735-5586. The Andover Historical Society’s 2017 calendar, From Our Collection, will be on sale as well as greeting cards of the schoolhouse. Refreshments will be served.