May. 13, 2006
Historic Forestville and Mystery Cave
Posted in Homeschooling
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Historic Forestville: I've been doing a Unit Study with my two oldest girls on the 1800's in Minnesota and Wisconsin. When I heard about Historic Forestville in Minnesota, I knew that I wanted to take them there to experience it. Forestville is located on a State Park and has just a few buildings left standing from when the area was a town back in the 1800's. In the mid-1800's it was a fairly decent size farming town, but when the trains started moving West, it missed Forestville and the town dwindled down to just over 50 people by 1899. All of the people that were left ended up working for Thomas Meighen, the son of one of the founder's of the town. Starting at the end of May, the Minnesota Historical Society have several people who dress up in the clothes of that era and portray the town as it was 1899. On May 8 and 9 they had Homeschool Days and we decided it sounded like an interesting, educational, and fun thing to do with our four kiddos. We actually left earlier than we needed to, not knowing for sure how long it would take us to get there. We ended up on the wrong County Road, but still arrived 30 minutes early. This is so unlike me. I'm trying to get better about this, but promptness has never been something I excelled at. I'm sure it helped that my husband was the person driving. When we arrived at the parking lot in Forestville, we were greeted by a man in late 19th century clothing who told us where to start our journey into the past. All of the homeschooling families/groups were directed to a large barn where one of the guides shared about Forestville. At one point he asked if anyone knew why so many people in Forestville had moved away. I was proud of my oldest (7 years old) when she said, "Because the train didn't come!" We had gone over the information the day before, and I had them narrate back to me what they had learned (and reminded them too). They divided us up into groups and I was pleased to find that the other family in our group was from the same area of Minnesota that we are from. The mom and I chatted quite a bit as we experienced the town. The first stop that we made was to the livery where a man showed us all the different equipment that was kept in that building. He stayed in character most of the time, but occasionally would slip out of it when we asked questions. The actors encouraged the children and adults to be interactive, which my husband and I loved. My second and third oldest loved participating, but my oldest had to be prodded a bit. I think she was a bit embarrassed. Our next stop was to the general store, which was the original store that Thomas Meighen owned. It looked authentic inside and the lady "waiting on us" in the store stayed in character the whole time. She was very entertaining and informative about how the store was run and general information about people during that time period. Next we visited the home of Thomas Meighen where his "wife" and their "housekeeper" entertained us. We only saw his office, the entryway, and the parlor, but learned quite a bit about Thomas and his family. My favorite place was the kitchen, which was our fourth stop. There was a real, working, wood stove there (which looked like a miniature one I had as a child) and the "cook" was actually using it to bake cookies. My three oldest got to help take the cookies from the baking pan and slide them on to a plate. She also offered to let them wash the cow's tongue she was preparing for supper, but they declined (with rather green looks, and one muffled, "Nasty!") Our last stop was the kitchen garden where they had veggies and herbs starting to sprout. Onions and rhubarb were already growing so our guide let my girls pick some to take to the "cook". They have been begging to pick the rhubarb that is in our yard (planted by a former renter), so that just added fuel to the fire. Our guide also let them grind corn for the chickens and then feed them. They loved that. My son (aged 4) decided to hurl the corn and had a hard time not interupting the poor man, but really liked the experience. I had told them that they could ask questions and interact, so my boy took me at my word and plagued the actors the entire time with his, "Excuse me..." Thankfully, he was polite. Unfortunately, he rarely asked a question that had to do with what the man or woman was talking about. Sighhhh. Mystery Cave: This whole experience lasted about an hour and a half. We could have probably gone home then and would have been satisfied, but, "Noooooo," I had signed us up for the Mystery Cave tour also. Mystery Cave is about 5 to 10 minutes away. Unfortunately, I had forgotten how much my children dislike caves (we've only been in one once before). There were lights along the way, but I spent most of the time with my 6 year old's hand clutched in mine and the sounds of her slight whimpering (which she bravely tried to stifle) in my ears. My son wasn't much better, but a little. After 30 minutes he seemed to get over his fear until the tour guide intentionally plunged us into complete blackness for what seemed like an eternity. Can I just say that I found it very hard to comfort my little ones. To their credit, none of them screamed or cried. And, yes, I did feel guilty (way back five minutes into the cave and for the remainder of our journey). I kept asking them, "Who made the cave?" To which my son would shout out, "God did!" My daughter's voice quavered as she said, "Jesus?" The guide pointed out cute little bats, and rocks shaped like an ice cream cone, a mouse, and other things (which I reminded them wasn't an accident - God knew that we would be there looking at them!). That seemed to pick up their spirits. Our guide had said it would take approximately an hour to go through the cave. It was more like two! During this time my husband and I took turns with our two year old daughter either carrying her or holding her hand. That's a long walking trip for a little one. She fell asleep, at one point, in my husband's arms. Overall, it was really interesting. I just wished we had brought a stroller and it was a bit shorter. Our guide liked to embellish his stories and tell about all the times people slipped down the stairs in the cave and bashed their heads; getting lost in the cave; getting stuck in the cave; and the floods that have happened outside of the cave. The day we were there, there was a chance of the river above the cave flooding again. If he hadn't been quite so graphic and in depth, the trip wouldn't have lasted quite as long. He was wonderful to listen to as an adult, but hard for the younger ones. Later that night, my son prayed about Mystery Cave. He's at that age that when he prays, he isn't necessarily thanking God or petitioning Him - just telling. I love it. Even though God was with us, I think it's really neat that my son tells God about his day. So he gave the Lord a breakdown of Forestville and Mystery Cave and the lights going off and the deep pool that was really cold and the rocks that look like ice cream and a mouse and the bats and the.... You get the idea. After everyone else was asleep, my six year old came in to the living room and told us she was having a hard time going to sleep because she kept thinking about the cave. The Lord put it on my heart to talk to her about how King David had to stay in a cave before he was king, because Saul was chasing him. But that God was with him, even in that dark place. Then we read Psalms 91 (which I told her many of the psalms were written by David). I pointed out verse 1, "shall abide in the shadow of the Almighty" and reminded her that for her to be in my shadow, she has to be right next to me. I said, "If you are in God's shadow, where is He?" With a smile she said, "Right next to me!" We also discussed vs. 5, "You shall not be afraid of the terror by night..." (which I interpreted to be bad dreams for her) and how they wouldn't harm her. Then my husband and I prayed for her and sent her back to bed. Within minutes her gently snoring was all I heard from her room. Epilogue: Two days later we finally picked some rhubarb to make a rhubarb pie. I prepared the dough and rhubarb that night, but didn't make it until the next morning. Yummm! The girls took one bite and decided they didn't like it, but my son and I each had two slices. To solidify the trip, I had the girls draw pictures of what they liked best about Forestville in their scrapbooks, add embellishments (fabric cut out and pasted to the dresses); and write or dictate something they had learned. We also read three chapters in Kirsten's Surprise (American Girl book). For science that day, we looked up rhubarb on the internet to find out what part of the plant is poisonous (the leaves) and why. Then they drew pictures of that in their scrapbooks and colored them. It was really fun for all of us. Yep, I like Unit Studies and interactive learning, but now they want to learn how to can. By the way, the Minnesota Historical Society has a list of events that is worth checking out if you live in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, or if just plan to be passing through. |
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May. 14, 2006 - Loved your trip!
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