Mason Street School, San Diego

Among the wonderful attractions to see at the Old Town State Historic Park, the first publicly built schoolhouse in the county, dating to 1865, is a rather modest structure, having just one room. Made of wood and with a roof of shingles, it measures 24 by 30 feet, and has a 10 feet high ceiling. Now imagine that grades one through eight (about 35 students) were all taught in this tiny space at the same time, and you'll agree that it was a "Little House on the Prairie" kind of school experience!

On going inside, you may see the wonderful potbelly stove that heated the entire building, as well as replicas of the wooden benches used by students before having personal seats and desks. Eventually, after seven years, the school was considered too small, and a larger, two-story one was built. The original one-room building was moved to a new location in the 1870s to serve first as a home and then as a tamale factory. In the 1940s it was about to be bulldozed to make way for a highway overpass when the Historical Days Association arranged to have it brought back to its original site and restored.

A free 'tour' of the whole place takes about 10 minutes, and you can stop by at the bookshop, too.