The Old Lonedell School House
Last week, our middle school summer school students had quite an adventure. Along with their teachers, the students visited Bob Williams' property on a small creek fed by the Little Meremac, known as Little Marriack in Lonedell. This property is the site of the original one room school house that served our area. The school was first called the Sycamore School and later named Lonedell School. While the school house has long been lost, there are several objects on site that were used in the school still standing. This includes the ancient Sycamore tree for which the school was named, the well pump, and the school bell that was rang to call students into the classroom. When Mr. Williams took over the property, it had essentially become a dumping ground. He worked tirelessly to clean up the land and restore all of the relics possible.
As part of the lesson Mrs. Vollmer has been teaching about the Great Alaska Gold Rush, Mr. Williams allowed the students to "pan for gold" in the creek, although they caught more crawdads than the shiny metal. The students explored in the creek looking at types of rocks, tadpoles, and crawdads. During their tour of the property, Mr. Williams explained the history of Lonedell including the old school house. At the culmination of the trip, the students were able to ring the original school bell.
After getting their feet wet, the students travelled to Finish Line Cafe, who treated them to ice cream. We are so grateful to Finish Line Cafe for the ice cream donation, BK Bus for donating transportation for this trip, and for Kim Long for donating her time to drive the students.