East Haddam was his first assignment and for a young man who had just come from the excitement of New Haven, the rural atmosphere didn't have much appeal. He wrote to a former Yale classmate about "remote life in the wilderness called Moodus". It probably explains why he only stayed for five months and moved on to an assignment at Union Grammar School in New London. Perhaps, he might have lived to be an old man if he had stayed away from the influences that got him into the spy business but I guess we will never know.
He was a popular teacher here in Moodus, He was only 18 years old when he arrived fresh from Yale. Life as a teacher in rural Connecticut in 1773 was not easy. He had 33 pupils aged 6 through 18, all attending the one-room schoolhouse from seven in the morning until nine in the evening, with only one free hour at lunchtime.
School in this time period was coeducational and Nathan was popular with boys and girls. "He was a happy and faithful teacher, everybody loved him. He was sprightly, kind, intelligent and so handsome."
If he had not become a spy and come to a horrible end, his time here would have gone unnoticed no doubt but he became our first American hero and luckily the school where he taught has survived.
When we visited on a Thursday in September the school was not open but we were able to walk the grounds and to read about the schoolhouse and Nathan on the plaques. We have gone into the school before and it has desks that would be correct to the time period.
In addition to the schoolhouse, there is an oak on the property that was grown from an acorn of the original Charter Oak.
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