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BHA offers Colonial Thanksgiving
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NEWS-TIMES
CHERYL BURKE
BEAUFORT — From dressing in Colonial attire to hauling buckets and churning butter, county kindergartners and first-graders got a taste this week of how Colonial residents prepared for Thanksgiving during Beaufort Historical Association’s Kindergarten Thanksgiving.
Dressed in period costume, Beaufort Historic Association (BHA) volunteers took excited children on a living history journey through Colonial life Wednesday through today, with events again scheduled Nov. 12-14.
Kindergartners from St. Egbert Catholic School and Harkers Island School converged on the BHA grounds Wednesday and were shuttled between four stations; each designed to share a different aspect of Colonial living.
Kindergartners were treated to a visit with Mr. Leffers, the real-life Colonial Beaufort schoolmaster, planter and merchant who long ago lived in the circa 1778 Leffers Cottage now located on the Beaufort Historic Site grounds.
Portrayed by volunteer Joe McCammond, Mr. Leffers taught children on the cottage porch how to write their ABCs the old-fashioned way — using chalk and slates. The youngsters also learned how to stuff pillows with straw and use an old-time straw broom.
The youngsters were then ushered inside to meet Mrs. Leffers, who explained how Thanksgiving meals were prepared over an open-hearth fire.
Colonial children spent a lot of time helping in vegetable gardens, a volunteer dressed in Colonial costume explained. They were then whisked outside to a garden next to the cottage to help with chores such as watering the plants using a gourd ladle.
Children visited the old Beaufort Courthouse, which had been transformed into a station that featured a lesson on how Colonial children dressed. They were even allowed to try on outfits, complete with aprons and mop caps for the girls and knickers and hats for the boys.
Harkers Island kindergartner Ellie Fulcher said she liked dressing up.
“I loved it because they wore skirts and aprons,” she said.
But some of the boys weren’t so convinced.
“I don’t look cool,” said Harkers Island kindergartner Tommy Nelson.
Children then made their way to the butter churning station to learn the process of making butter. They first learned how to milk a makeshift cow, then experienced how children would have hauled the milk in wooden buckets attached to a wooden yoke placed across their shoulders.
Once the milk was placed in a churn, children found out getting butter in the 17th and 18th century wasn’t as simple as going to the grocery store. Each child grabbed the wooden handle and churned the cream inside the butter churner.
St. Egbert kindergarten teacher Farrah Stacy said Kindergarten Thanksgiving provided a valuable lesson to her kindergartners.
“You can’t teach history in a classroom at the kindergarten level, it’s hands-on experience that they remember,” she said.
Harkers Island kindergarten teacher Renee Koegler agreed.
“This time of year we talk about Thanksgiving and in the classroom we look at pictures, but here they get to see it and it brings it more to life for them.”
BEAUFORT — From dressing in Colonial attire to hauling buckets and churning butter, county kindergartners and first-graders got a taste this week of how Colonial residents prepared for Thanksgiving during Beaufort Historical Association’s Kindergarten Thanksgiving.
Dressed in period costume, Beaufort Historic Association (BHA) volunteers took excited children on a living history journey through Colonial life Wednesday through today, with events again scheduled Nov. 12-14.
Kindergartners from St. Egbert Catholic School and Harkers Island School converged on the BHA grounds Wednesday and were shuttled between four stations; each designed to share a different aspect of Colonial living.
Kindergartners were treated to a visit with Mr. Leffers, the real-life Colonial Beaufort schoolmaster, planter and merchant who long ago lived in the circa 1778 Leffers Cottage now located on the Beaufort Historic Site grounds.
Portrayed by volunteer Joe McCammond, Mr. Leffers taught children on the cottage porch how to write their ABCs the old-fashioned way — using chalk and slates. The youngsters also learned how to stuff pillows with straw and use an old-time straw broom.
The youngsters were then ushered inside to meet Mrs. Leffers, who explained how Thanksgiving meals were prepared over an open-hearth fire.
Colonial children spent a lot of time helping in vegetable gardens, a volunteer dressed in Colonial costume explained. They were then whisked outside to a garden next to the cottage to help with chores such as watering the plants using a gourd ladle.
Children visited the old Beaufort Courthouse, which had been transformed into a station that featured a lesson on how Colonial children dressed. They were even allowed to try on outfits, complete with aprons and mop caps for the girls and knickers and hats for the boys.
Harkers Island kindergartner Ellie Fulcher said she liked dressing up.
“I loved it because they wore skirts and aprons,” she said.
But some of the boys weren’t so convinced.
“I don’t look cool,” said Harkers Island kindergartner Tommy Nelson.
Children then made their way to the butter churning station to learn the process of making butter. They first learned how to milk a makeshift cow, then experienced how children would have hauled the milk in wooden buckets attached to a wooden yoke placed across their shoulders.
Once the milk was placed in a churn, children found out getting butter in the 17th and 18th century wasn’t as simple as going to the grocery store. Each child grabbed the wooden handle and churned the cream inside the butter churner.
St. Egbert kindergarten teacher Farrah Stacy said Kindergarten Thanksgiving provided a valuable lesson to her kindergartners.
“You can’t teach history in a classroom at the kindergarten level, it’s hands-on experience that they remember,” she said.
Harkers Island kindergarten teacher Renee Koegler agreed.
“This time of year we talk about Thanksgiving and in the classroom we look at pictures, but here they get to see it and it brings it more to life for them.”
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