Cookstown Shcool
Most of Antonio and Concetta Algiere's children attended the Cookstown School in Charlestown, Washington, Rhode Island. Built in 1838, it was a one room school house located at 426 Cookstown Road (now Klondike Road). It had three windows on each side and a wood stove in the middle of the room. The children brought in the firewood each day. Durning a typical year, there would be around ten students of various ages all taught by a single teacher.287
A photo of closing exercises at the Cookstown school circa 1923 shows 21 children: six Algiere children, seven Bliven children, four Crandalls, two Hurdles, one Green and one Mosena child plus the teacher, Tessie Burkman.288
The school's proximity to the woods led to many pranks. In one instance, two of the boys put a snake in the teacher's desk. When she opened it, she fainted and fell backwards! It's likely the boys received a paddling but had a story to tell for the rest of their lives.
The Cookstown School closed around 1933. The building still exists but has been converted to a private home.289
