EHEMS students visit the Lost River Museum
May 21, 2010
For many years each spring, the Lost River Museum has hosted a special program for local students to provide hands-on, fun learning opportunities that highlight local history and culture. This year, a group of second graders from East Hardy Early Middle School came to visit and participated in a series of sessions. |
Museum volunteer Diane O’Callaghan leads a group of second-graders from East Hardy Early MIddle School in an art- and natural science-related lesson during the students' visit to the Lost River Museum. Diane discussed some of West Virginia's most well-known flora and fauna, including the state bird (cardinal) the state insect (honeybee), the state fish (brook trout) and the state flower (rhododendron). After the discussion, the students drew their own versions of the animals and flowers. |
Mary Umstead, dressed in period costume, takes center stage in the gazebo below the museum. In this session students learned about local ghost stories and had the opportunity to compose a ghost story as a group activity. |
Judy Moyer (right) shows a group of students some of the tools used in the kitchen of a pioneer family during a tour of the Lost River Museum. Included in the activities was a scavenger hunt where the students tried to match the old time object with its modern counterpart, e.g., ice box and refrigerator, crosscut saw and chain saw, cobblers bench and shoe store. |
Kathy Welch leads a group of students as they make candles from colored wax crystals. As part of the activity, Kathy discussed the different methods people used to light their homes and streets prior to the discovery of electricity and the invention of the light bulb. |
Margo Pfleger entertains a group of students by telling them about her miniature donkeys. The donkeys live in a field near the Lost River Museum, next to the Lost River General Store. |
In addition to meeting the donkeys, the students also learned about the importance of gardening to the early families of the Lost River Valley. Before supermarkets and paved roads made the transportation and acquisition of foods easier, homesteading families depended upon their gardens for most of their food. |
The students ended their trip with a visit to the Lost River General Store. Here, owner Toni Harvey introduces herself to some of the students. Toni and her husband Ted told the students about the kinds of products the general store had once carried when it first opened more than 100 years ago. Toni and Ted then treated the children with ice cream. |
Photos provided by Tim Wheeler and Bill Powell. |
