North Stonington — The story of the one-room schoolhouse near the corner of Main Street and Wyassup Road involves a couple who relocated and restored the building, a beloved local teacher, two sisters seeking to share their grandfather's story of overcoming illiteracy in his 90s, and one sister's 7-year-old granddaughter.

Its new era starts with Alicia Smith driving by the Federal-style home that village carpenter Andrew Baldwin built in 1819 at 63 Main St., and commenting, "I wish this house was for sale."

She turned the corner and saw a for-sale sign.

She fell in love with the sprawling home, the layout of the property and the way the waters of the Shunock River run under the carriage house. She and her husband of 36 years, Tim Smith, bought the property from Frank Limpert Jr. and Kellene Limpert, and moved there this past January. 

"I fell so in love with the outside of this property that I wasn't thinking about the inside," Alicia Smith said, adding it was big change for them to move into such a large, older house.

"I did feel, though, that the house was asking for me," she added. A self-described "zany" person, Smith felt the house was crying out for what it once was. She could feel the dreams and aspirations previous residents had put into it.

But that wasn't the only building on the property she would imbue with the dreams of those who came before.

Next door is a one-room schoolhouse, which was built in 1814 and operated on Taugwonk Road in Stonington until the 1920s, according to a 1987 article in The New York Times.

Frank Limpert Sr. and Alma Limpert moved that schoolhouse onto the foundation of their property, adding old desks and inkwells, the article said. In 1983, after the restoration was complete, they named it the Marcia Thompson Schoolhouse.

Thompson was "a former teacher whose name was synonymous with the era of the one-room schoolhouse," her obituary in The Day reads. She taught in one-room schoolhouses from 1911 to 1950, and then taught at North Stonington Elementary School full-time until 1960.

There's another name Smith and her sister, Marlisa McLaughlin, want people to associate with the schoolhouse: Jim Henry.

He was their maternal grandfather, a Stonington fisherman who learned how to read at age 91 and published a book of memoirs, "In a Fisherman's Language," in 2011 at 98.

His story garnered international media attention, the book was added to the Library of Congress, and Henry received a congratulatory letter from President Barack Obama, which is part of a display about Henry in the back of the schoolhouse.

"I want to get as many schools in here as I possibly can get through the door," Smith said. She continued, clapping between every word, "I. Think. Everybody. Should. See. This."

The first school visit was Nov. 7, with two groups of kindergartners coming from North Stonington Elementary School.

"We had brought them so far back in time that it was something new"

Teacher Sheri Tardiff explained that her students used to visit the schoolhouse every year around Election Day, but it had been about six years since the previous trip. A parent of one of her students knows the Smiths and helped resurrect the tradition this year.

Tardiff said the visit was more elaborate than she anticipated; she hadn't realized the sisters would take as much ownership of the event as they did or be as excited as they were.

The kids "couldn't wait to sit down" to use the templates and chalk, Smith recalled, talking to The Day in the schoolhouse a week later. "It reminded me of how my granddaughter reacts to video games. That's what blew my mind. We had brought them so far back in time that it was something new instead of something old."

Each group's visit involved a lesson from the teacher followed by information from McLaughlin and Smith about Jim Henry.

Lining the walls of the schoolhouse are maps, a reading chart, a chart of birds, a portrait of George Washington and other pictures. Registers of people who attended the school at its original site and ink pots sit in a glass case.

But the students were most struck by the commode, a piece of furniture containing a chamber pot, Smith and Tardiff said.

Smith said before the kids left, they signed the guestbook, got pencils that said "Never give up," and received thank-you notes for coming, which they imprinted with a stamp of Jim Henry's signature.

A vision of learning through Gigi's Magic Schoolhouse

Smith and McLaughlin have gotten others involved in their efforts, such as family friends Pam and Chris Mandelburg, and Tim Dolan, who has helped with the property and dressed in period costume for the school visit.

Chris Mandelburg is working on a video trailer for Gigi's Magic Schoolhouse, a YouTube channel the sisters plan to launch featuring Smith's granddaughter, Giada Sophia Alvarado. Giada is a 7-old-year who attends Deans Mill School in Stonington, has a love of Thomas Kinkade, and is currently reading Chelsea Clinton's book, "She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World," Smith said.

McLaughlin said the YouTube channel will "encourage wellness and self-regulatory behavior." She describes Gigi's Magic Schoolhouse as a "hybrid company we're starting" that will have a presence both online and at the Marcia Thompson Schoolhouse, with Jim Henry's story serving as "the connective tissue."

"I feel like my grandfather is handing the torch off to Giada," Smith added.

The sisters might seek nonprofit or LLC status for Gigi's Magic Schoolhouse at some point, and they're still figuring out issues of zoning and insurance.

In the meantime, they might use McLaughlin's studio in the American Velvet Mill in Stonington for events. McLaughlin referenced a class on making papier-mâché angels with LED lights inside, and said the class will be announced on the Facebook page for Gigi's Magic Schoolhouse.

Once they figure out how to better heat the Marcia Thompson Schoolhouse, Smith would like to see it as a community gathering space for adult events as well, such as grieving groups and book clubs.

e.moser@theday.com