When friends of hers purchased a former one-room schoolhouse as their home, Mary Nolt began researching the property's history for them. She found a wealth of information, and she'll share her findings at a Maytown Historical Society talk on Thursday, Oct. 16. The program will be held at the East Donegal Township building, 190 Rock Point Road, Marietta, beginning at 7 p.m.

The schoolhouse she'll discuss was the Rock Point Road School, which served students from the mid 1850s until it disbanded in 1928 and the schoolhouse was sold at auction the following year.

"I started with old deeds and worked backwards to verify that it was in fact an old schoolhouse," Nolt recalled. "Once I was able to corroborate the location of the home with old maps that we have at the Mount Joy Area Historical Society, I felt confident in moving forward."

Nolt, who is on the board of the Mount Joy Area Historical Society, began her research this spring and finished it up over the summer.

Her talk will detail her research and provide information on the community at the time of the school's heyday.

"A brief history of the common school movement in Lancaster, the early beginnings of the Rock Point Road School, subjects taught, class trips via sleigh, spelling bees and measles will be a few of the topics covered," Nolt shared. "In addition to deeds, I utilized Pennsylvania's Newspaper Archive database to sift through old newspapers and found an astonishing array of articles on the Rock Point Road School."

She located a school register from 1857 to 1861, which proved to be an informative primary source about the education and students of the time.

"Mary Virginia Shelley's 'Lancaster County's One-Room Schoolhouse and the History of the Common School Movement' was particularly helpful in rooting the origins of schoolhouses in Lancaster, Pa., within a broader context," Nolt said, noting that her talk will extend beyond the building's history. "I will focus on the history of the Rock Point Road Schoolhouse in its education of local children, but also the sense of community it created."

Nolt, who is a social studies teacher at Manheim Central High School, invites anyone who is interested in learning more about the property and the area's history to come to her talk.

"I hope people can expect an interesting and informative discussion on the Rock Point Road School and its role in the community, rooted in primary sources," she said.

Following Nolt's presentation, Jacob Zeigler, the current owner of the home, will discuss the challenges he faced and the restoration process of turning the school into a home.

For more information on the Maytown Historical Society, visit https://maytownhistory.com. For more information on the Mount Joy Area Historical Society, visit http://www.mountjoyhistory.com.