School Days In Shelton, Late 19th Century Style

Regina Misercola of Trumbull may be still be in grade school, but she knows a lot about education in the late 19th century.

She was giving tours of the Trap Falls School House on Ripton Road, dated 1872.

In the one-room schoolhouse, students learned reading, writing and arithmetic. And if they got it wrong, they could expect their desk or themselves to be hit with a stick.

And summer was not for vacation. Students actually spent spring and fall away from school, helping on the family farm, Misercola said. Teachers also lent a hand with the farm chores, because they usually lived with a family.

The school still has some of the original books with original writing from the school's active days. It's next to the Shelton Historical Society on Ripton Road.