Old Sacramento Schoolhouse Museum, Sacramento

Schools were dramatically different in the 19th century. Children were expected to help at home, on the farm, or at the family business, and little emphasis was placed on the importance of formal education. Nowhere was this mentality more true than the rural areas of the old American West. Communities were lucky to have a one-room schoolhouse, where a single schoolmarm taught all grade levels for a few hours every day.

The Schoolhouse Museum allows visitors to look into what school was like in 19th century California. This replica schoolhouse sits in the restored old town area; it's a traditional one-room schoolhouse equipped with a pot-bellied stove, furnishings, and student desks from the era.

The museum is open most weekdays and weekends to the general public. Docents dressed in period-appropriate costumes lead visitors in a lesson as schoolmarms and masters. Kids will enjoy seeing the difference and comparing it with their modern-day experiences.