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Pupils learn about Ohio life during 1800s
The schools visit has become an annual event.
111Lauren and classmates Andrea Doe, Kali Klein, Katie Corso, Laura Miller and Alexis Kolesar got a firsthand lesson on the use of a scrub board in a pail with water heated in a fireplace to wash clothes.
Most of the young girls found the method fun, but not Lauren.
“I don’t really like this,” she said. “I don’t know how they could do this all day.”
The fourth- and fifth-grade St. Rose pupils visited the Barnhisel House last week. Pupils from Girard, Liberty and Hubbard elementary schools visited the historic North State Street house throughout the week.
The Barnhisel House, built in the early 1800s by the Barnhisel Family, once stood as an example of how the well-to-do lived but later fell into disrepair and almost was demolished before being restored by the Girard Historical Society.
Mike DePaul, historical society member, said the restored home can now be used to inform and educate new generations of people who might otherwise have no idea how different life was for those living in this area more than 100 years ago.
“We are just trying to introduce the kids to history — live history — and that is what we have here at the Barnhisel House,” DePaul said during the early afternoon visit.
Society members, dressed in period clothes and using utensils only available during the period, set up seven stations representing various aspects of life in the 1800s. The washing demonstration was conducted in the home’s summer kitchen with real clothes and homemade soaps.
Outside the house, pupils witnessed a demonstration of Civil War soldiers complete with weapons used during the era and period-correct Union and Confederate uniforms. Pupils were made to stand in formation and take in a lesson on the strict regimen of Civil War troops.
A short distance from the Civil War demonstration, smoke could be seen rising as participants gave a blacksmith demonstration. Using a bellows and coal, metal was melted and shaped into salt spoons, hooks and toy swords.
Robbie Siefert, a fourth-grader at St. Rose, took a great interest in both outdoor exhibits.
“This is awesome. I love this place. [The blacksmith station] is my second-favorite thing, but I like the Civil War stuff because you can see the history and everything that went on in the war,” he said.
Catherine DiRubba, fourth- and fifth-grade history teacher at St. Rose, said the high level of interest is what teachers hope to see.
“Our students in fifth grade studied Ohio history last year, and this is a culmination of all they studied,” she said. “This tour helps us to understand what life was like in Ohio in the early 1800s. The kids get a firsthand experience of that. How many kids actually see what early trunks used to move to this area really looked like?”
Other stations along the tour included a demonstration on kitchen care where pupils were assigned mock chores and learned all that went into preparing a meal on a wood-burning stove, a demonstration on tatting and other areas of daily life such as an 1800 bedroom and living area.
The Girard Historical Society’s Barnhisel House will be open for tours from 1 to 4 p.m. the second and fourth weekends of the month through November. For additional information, or to schedule tours at other times, call Colette Chuey at (330) 545-6162.
jgoodwin@vindy.com