TIFTON – Berrien County Elementary’s 4th grade students were taken on a trip back in time with the Visit to the Past workshop at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College’s Georgia Museum of Agriculture.
This hands-on workshop included educational and fun-filled activities, some of which included operating the hand press at the printshop, grinding corn into meal and grits at the gristmill, washing clothes on a washboard, making a poultice at the doctor’s office, and experiencing a class in the one room schoolhouse.
The Museum’s Director, Garrett Boone summed up their field trip experience, “Through “living history” and immersing students in the historic activities with the docents, we are able to capture their attention in such a way that they, along with future generations, can better understand and appreciate the past upon which today’s agriculture has developed and from which Georgia has grown.”
As participants of a Visit to the Past Workshop, the Berrien County students first visited the Costume Shop where each student was outfitted with a historic costume before proceeding into the Historic Village. Once in the Village the students were greeted by costumed docents that led the students in hands-on, interactive activities. Activities intent on allowing the students to become a part of the learning situation and have fun exploring 1870 to early 1900 Wiregrass region of Georgia.
A highlight of the immersive experience of a Visit to the Past workshop is the authentic farmhouse lunch cooked, either over the open hearth or on a wood stove, by the Village’s costumed docents and eaten within the historic house or cabins of the Historic Village. Of course, the farmhouse lunch would not be complete without students enjoying the delicious homemade poundcake and cornbread.
First Commerce Credit Union, Farmers & Merchants Bank and Bank of Alapaha came together to cover the cost of the educational field trip, which took place over two days. The students were greeted both mornings by Sammy the Squirrel, the friendly mascot from First Commerce Credit Union.
