September 24, 2003

Real life history lesson

Thousands of fourth graders attend Heritage Festival

By Gretchen Murray
Special to the Herald

      Combine a unit on local history with the fresh air of a crisp fall day, then add the natural curiosity of fourth graders and you come up with a unique learning experience.
      But whether they had a true interest in history or just appreciated the chance to escape the structured walls of their classrooms, some 1,600 fourth graders from around the region enthusiastically descended on the eighth annual Heritage Festival on Friday.
photo Herald photo by Garret Leiva
Helen Herzberg invites students to try their hand at playing her piano according Friday at the eighth annual Heritage Festival on the grounds of the Grand Traverse Heritage Center.
      The event filled the Grand Traverse Heritage Museum and spilt over into Hannah Park where more than 100 reenactors stepped off the pages of history books to offer students a touchstone to the past.
      "We tried eighth grade down to third grade," said Ann Hoopfer, the festival coordinator. "We used to have two days for the kids, but by the time Saturday came around, the presenters were exhausted."
      And its no wonder. Hoopfer explained that offering a first-person interpretation of historical events can be a tiring challenge.
      "They assume the demeanor, character, dress and vocabulary of a person from the past," Hoopfer noted. "Sometimes they are an identifiable person. Sometimes they are a characterization of a person in society at that time."
      Hannah Park, provided a perfect backdrop in which to explore the 18th and 19th centuries. Groups of students strolled past characters in buckskin, beads and fur pelts who described living in tents, cooking over open fires, trapping, bead trading and firing muskets. Moving through a historical time line, students even took a look at a Civil War military field hospital.
      There was lots of fun things to do, but it wasn't a day off as students were busy completing assignments.
      Sally Thompson's class from Long Lake Elementary was gathering an awareness of continuity through the years.
      "The students have a concept of tools, leisure activities, food and clothing," Thompson said. "We still make applesauce it is how we do it that's changed."
      Children also got some hands-on experience with what might have been their regular chores if they had lived in that era.
      Kyle Mengus, a student at Long Lake Elementary and classmate Geoffrey Blahnik, tried their hands at cutting logs using a double-handled saw. "I probably would have been able to do it, but it would have been a little harder to do it all day long," Kyle said of the experience.
      Perhaps the setting that drew the most interest was Deborah Downey's replica of a Civil War hospital tent where droves of students lined up for some major wound bandaging.
      While maintaining her character of a field nurse, Downey and an assistant, Tyler Putnam of Traverse City, tended a steady stream of mock casualties tainted with "blood" made from a concoction of shampoo and food coloring.
      The students then moved on to a Civil War military camp where Traverse City resident Richard Asher, portrayed the commanding officer of the 26th Michigan Volunteer Infantry.
      "I always try to tell kids that they can learn history many ways," he said. Living history takes it to a different dimension for kids to learn. Hands-on learning puts (history) in a perspective they understand and helps their recall."
      Asher, a former elementary teacher, has an idea of what children want to know.
      "They ask about what kind of food we eat, what we do when we're not fighting and the daily life of a soldier," he said.
      Adding dimension to the history books, Jerry Olson of Dearborn and his son Gerald of Kingsley, sported the uniforms of 1757 soldiers from the British Army. The senior Olson, garbed in the uniform of the 60th Royal Americans, and the younger Olson, dressed as a member of Rogers Rangers, have presented every year at the Heritage Festival as well as at Fort Niagara and Fort Mackinaw.
      For them living history is something the whole family feels is important, and they all participate.
      "To us, we believe that to understand the present and the future, you must understand the past," Gerald Olson said. "So that has been the interest of our family. We have studied history and have become part of it.
      "We like to share that understanding with other children so that they, in turn, will search for their own roots," he said.