Field trip: Historical museum and mansion

The group tour of a local historical museum and Civil War-era governor's mansion was lovely but too long. The best part was the one-room schoolhouse at the beginning. Kids just seem to dig the idea of a one-room school. Plus there were the little chalkboards to write on! Also high on the list were the root cellar and old farm tools and the smokehouse and the outhouse. But after two hours and counting, not a nine-year-old alive could care what fabric the parlor furniture is made of. (Horsehair. Very durable stuff.) Afterward, we chilled at McD's with chicken nuggets and nice, modern WiFi toys. (Wunderkind says the twenty-first century is much better than the nineteenth. I tend to agree.)

Group shot:

Students' families took turns supplying wood for the stove, and the kids in whatever family gave the wood that week got to sit closest to the stove.

Wunderkind's friend M. saved a seat for him.

Whatcha drawing there?

They did a little math to figure out how old the governor's house was (167 years old). Fun to watch the moms telepathically beaming math facts to their children so they'd call out the right answers. (I knew they were doing that because I was too.)

The punt gun was pretty impressive. Two men had to carry it, and they laid it in a punt (a shallow boat propelled with a pole) to shoot ducks and geese. One shot could bring down 40 or more birds. Eventually the guns were banned because they so thoroughly destroyed the duck and geese populations.

Sharp tools for haying and such.

Spinning wheel and laundry gear.

Laundry day! People wore a lot of clothes then.

Big bellows. And tongs.

Obligatory barn picture. Then I got tired and didn't take one of the root cellar, summer kitchen, smokehouse, or governor's mansion.