Salem School Students Head to Naugatuck History Museum

By Nancy Sasso Janis

Two classes of students at Salem Elementary School took a field trip on Thursday to the Naugatuck History Museum at the Tuttle House. The students had the perfect weather to travel to the Tuttle House, which is an easy walk from their school building.

Kris DiMaio, a second grade teacher at Salem, joined forces with fourth grade teacher Kim Jones to arrange the field trip for their students. Ms. DiMaio explained that the trip was an effort to make connections with local educational opportunities and encourage other schools to take advantage of the engaging local history museum.

I was honored to be asked to be part of the field trip in order to take photos of the relatively new museum. I took advantage of the opportunity to tour the museum with the groups of students and experience the historic building that once housed the Board of Education central offices. It was very interesting to see how the dedicated Historical Society volunteers had transformed the various rooms on the first floor from offices to a well-designed museum that documents the history of the borough.

Upon their arrival at what Naugatuck educators referred to as “Tuttle,” the fourth grade students were given a copy of the museum’s scavenger hunt, a clipboard and a pencil by a helpful docent. Here are their instructions:

Take a look around the museum and see if you can find the objects pictured in our scavenger hunt. You may also have to do some reading to answer some questions about the objects and other places or events from Naugatuck’ history. Please talk to a docent if you have any questions.

The Salem students were told to work with their second grade partner to complete the hunt as groups rotated through the museum and everyone took their assignment very seriously. The students were fascinated by the detailed woodwork that was included throughout the historic home and the beautiful fireplaces that graced every room.

Some of the items that the learners needed to check off could be found throughout the museum, while others were photographed in specific rooms, including the reception hall, the parlor gallery, the dining room gallery and the butler’s pantry. Although I had been to the Tuttle house many times when I worked in the Naugatuck Public Schools, I had no idea what each room had been in the original house. I had just as much fun trying to guess as the very engaged students did.

While the young people enjoyed viewing all of the documentation of their hometown’s history, some of the items were clearly more kid-friendly. All of the groups delighted in finding the display of a certain Naugatuck candy company; one second grader told me that “there is candy over there.”

The students learned that the bedrooms for the Tuttle family of three were located on the second floor, which is currently closed to the public. I once had the opportunity to go up to the top floor of the house with former superintendent Dr. Bob Cronin to retrieve some books when I worked at Salem School a very long time ago.

The docents working in the various rooms of the museum were all knowledgeable and helpful with the well-behaved students. One very tall one was a first grade student in the classroom next to mine and was especially good with the students.

Thank you to the Salem School faculty for allowing me to be part of their field trip.

The Naugatuck History Museum at the Tuttle House is now open with exhibits and programming. The museum is open to the public each Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and admission is free.

Naugatuck History Museum is located in the historic Tuttle House at 380 Church Street in Naugatuck, CT, right across the street from the Naugatuck Senior Center, which is housed in the original carriage house of the Tuttle home.

The Naugatuck Historical Society is looking for donations of Naugatuck High School yearbooks in good condition for their archives. They are missing the following years: 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2010, 2011, 2013-2024. If you have one of the years we are missing, please email the Society at naugatuckhistory@gmail.com so that they can arrange for your donation.