Summer Term Time Travel

Time Travel: Exploring and Celebrating our Community Heritage. This is the summer term curriculum theme for the Vermont Global Campuses that everyone has been raving about! Participants have enjoyed field trips, special events, and presentations, discovering what life was like for folks in their communities during the 1700's and 1800's.

Global Campus St. Johnsbury decided to meet every other week for the Summer Term 2009 and hold Self Advocates events on the opposite weeks. The group had a few projects in mind for the summer, which fit nicely with the theme of cultural heritage and exploration. We kicked-off the term with a tour of Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, led by the Fairbanks Museum staff. We listened to stories of many St. Johnsbury families, and learned about crime, deception, love and good humor in the community. A scavenger hunt in historic downtown St. Johnsbury showed us the houses of many of the families we had learned about in the cemetery. We saw the architectural style of Lambert Packard, St. Johnsbury's most famous architect, and viewed the intricacies of the “painted lady” house. Global Campus St. Johnsbury also planted their first garden this summer. Tomatoes, peppers, lettuce and potatoes are in pots in front of the agency, tended and eaten by anyone in our Global Campus community.

Global Campus Newport spent an afternoon brainstorming activities that they wanted to complete for summer term 2009. We tailored the brainstorm session around ideas of community, history and culture and came up with lots of good ideas. Activities included a tour of the Old Stone House heritage site, ropes courses and canoeing at Northwoods Stewardship Center, a beach BBQ, a tour of Memphremagog Artist Cooperative, a tour of Butterworks Farm and more. Some of the experiences we gained during summer term have already begun to shape fall term classes. A few participants have chosen topics on history and Northeast Kingdom culture to study in the fall.

Global Campus Hardwick and the surrounding communities are full of culture and tradition, which made summer term full and exciting. There are so many small farms and projects going on in Hardwick, that GC participants had no problem brainstorming activities for the summer. We visited a number of unique farms and communities, including Jasper Hill Farm, where we visited underground cheese caves, Vermont Glass, where Diane Tanguay tried her skills at glass blowing, Agape Hill farm for llama training, and more. We also spent a few days at Caspian Lake, playing wiffle ball and enjoying the sun.

Global Campus Springfield began our Summer Term by creating our own Quests at the Spring weather Nature Area near the North Springfield Lake. This gave us a chance to learn about the history of this area and also enjoy the beautiful fields and woods.

The Springfield area is rich with history! Our time travel continued with learning about some utensils and artifacts from the 1800's and how to make Journey (or Johnny) cakes. The following week we were visited by living historians Amanda Page and Jon Soule who shared about life in the 1800's in and around the area of Fort No. 4. Our next stop was the Eureka schoolhouse and then a visit to Billings Farm in Woodstock. At Billings Farm we learned about farm life in the 1890's and were able to see the animals and many farm tools. Several hard-working participants were able to help with doing laundry and churning butter by hand! St. Gaudens Historic site was the next stop on our time travel tour. Despite the cool weather, we enjoyed the beautiful gardens and art and had a history lesson about the Civil War! Our time travel will soon take us into some local berry fields and will end with a visit to the Calvin Coolidge homestead.

Global Campus Bradford celebrated our cultural heritage by hosting the Old Fashioned Craft and Game Day on July 21st. Many members of our community came to participate and share their favorite crafts, hobbies, food, and games from yesteryear. Folks set up little booths in our large Outback Room with crafts like stencil printing, candle making, wood burning, needlepoint, crocheting, knitting, weaving, card making and more! Everyone floated around to the different tables, trying their hand at the various crafts. There was also an old-fashioned lemonade stand and a butter making activity! We experienced what people dressed like in the late 1700's as our campus coordinator dressed up as and reenacted Aaron Hutchinson, a famous preacher who lived in Woodstock and spoke at the constitutional convention.

This summer we have also enjoyed a few Upper Valley Quests, including the Fairlee Glenn Falls Quest and the Magnificent Tree Quest. The Fairlee Glenn Falls were a spectacular sight to see and we really enjoyed our time in the forest by the cool stream. The Magnificent Tree Quest was also fabulous. We had the opportunity to measure the diameter of several very old and large trees including a white oak, hemlock, birch, ash, and even a very large and rare American chestnut! We are looking forward to continuing our summer term by building a time capsule and attending the Campus-to-Campus Connections Conference at Champlain College.

Global Campus Randolph has enjoyed a busy and exciting travel schedule this summer term! Our first adventure took us to the Roxbury Fish Hatchery where we learned all about how fish are raised and then released into Vermont's rivers, streams, and lakes. On a very rainy Thursday afternoon we settled in at Pleasant Street House to enjoy a time travel video called “Time Bandits”. The sun came out in full force for our trip to Quechee gorge where we explored the walking paths overlooking the gorge, the dam, and the river far below. Another afternoon we took a guided tour of the Randolph Historical Society Museum where we had the opportunity to see a replica kitchen, dining room, bedroom, apothecary, barber shop, and more from 17 and 1800's in Randolph. Most of the items were made right here in town! A trip to Hubbard Park in Montpelier led us to the large stone tower at the top of the hill and all through the beautiful forest paths. Unfortunately the tower was under renovation, so we couldn't go up and see the view. Next, we'll be spending an afternoon at the old schoolhouse in Brookfield where Dorcas, one of our resource persons, lives for a potluck and series of mini lessons on turkey calling, bird sounds, native American style drumming, fishing, and a little history of the floating bridge that crosses the pond right behind the schoolhouse!

Global Campus Moretown has been celebrating summer and history by getting our hands dirty in our garden! We spent a few weeks planting seeds, building self-watering containers, setting up a barrel of potatoes, and tending to the plants as they grew. One week our campus coordinator dressed as a preacher named Aaron Hutchinson, who lived in the late 1700's. He showed us artifacts from his home and we tried to guess what the different objects were used for. Traveling back in time like that helped us to brainstorm what we might like to put in our own little time capsule to capture the essence of our campus in 2009. We also went on a few trips. Our first outing took us to the Mad River Glass Gallery, where artisan glass blowers David and Melanie showed us the tricks of their trade. We all marveled at their skills and talent and tried not to break any of the exquisite pieces in their gallery!! Another trip led us to the old Bobbin Mill in Warren. We checked out the crumbling mill and some of the old water powered machines before hiking up the path next to the river for a few miles. There were many beautiful swimming holes along the way, but no one took a dip! We'll be continuing our summer by assembling our time capsule and harvesting our vegetables!