Historical Preservation docent Constance McCart speaks to Wedgwood Elementary School students at the Olde Stone House Historic Village.
Second-grade classes from the township’s Wedgwood Elementary School took a trip to the Olde Stone House Historic Village in Washington Township on Oct. 7 to learn about local Colonial history.
Tour guides in costume met the students and classes took turns visiting the historic buildings. At the George Morgan House, docent Ted Stout told students about the Morgan House and family, while others learned how to churn butter. At the old Blackwood Railroad Station, Jason Klein described South Jersey’s railroad service in the 1800s, and docent Brittany Kaizar taught the children to make a corn husk doll, according to a press release through the Washington Township Historic Preservation Commission.
At the Bunker Hill Church, folk singer Valerie Vaughn led the students in song and explained how the music tells stories of the past. In November, Vaughn will visit Wedgwood Elementary classrooms and extend the experience by having the school’s students create their own song about local history.
At the end of the day, students left with small jars of butter, their corn husk dolls and a coloring book about the historic village. The program is a pilot to bring students back to the village, a custom well remembered by attendees in past years.
“The (preservation) commission is pleased to be bringing class trips back to the village, something which hasn’t happened since the ’90s,” said the organization’s chair, Nick Appice.
According to Wedgwood teachers, “Kids were excited and asked great questions.”
The program was a joint event sponsored by the preservation commission, Music at Bunker Hill and the Friends of the Olde Stone House Historic Village. A number of volunteers from those organizations contributed to the outing and the day was funded by the Gloucester County Cultural and Heritage Commission with a grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
