September 25, 2002
Fourth-graders take part in living history lesson
Students from five county area attend annual Heritage Celebration in Hannah Park
By LISA PERKINS
Herald staff writer
Rainy weather didn't dampen the spirits of the more than 1,350 fourth-grade students from a five county area who attended the Grand Traverse Heritage Center's annual Heritage Celebration in Hannah Park last Friday.
The celebration, sponsored by the Friends of the Con Foster Museum, featured more than 60 costumed volunteers portraying 300 years of local history in the Metis Encampment recreation along the banks of the Boardman River and inside the newly renovated Carnegie Library.
While students visited a trading post, blacksmith shop and watched as turkey and apple pie cooked over an open fire, they got a true sense of what life was like for early settlers in the region.
"What really caught my attention was the small tents that they lived in. They were so short that their feet would stick out. It must have been very cold," said Brandon Ickes of Cherry Knoll Elementary.
"I also noticed that the way they cooked apple pie was totally different than what we do. They cooked the crust and the apples separately and then put them together," Ickes noted.
Dylan Sundberg of Millcreek Elementary in Williamsburg was also intrigued by the way food was prepared in the encampment.
"They had to do everything for themselves, all their food had to be hunted for. They had to do a lot of hard work," Sundberg said.
The Heritage Celebration also marked the opening of the Con Foster Museum inside the Heritage Center. The museum's collection includes exhibits that illustrate area history including railroads, maritime, Native Americans, cherry agriculture, the State Asylum and one-room schools of the Grand Traverse region.