Hands On History - Militia

On the Ohio frontier, every citizen shared the responsibilities for the welfare and safety of the community. Robert Neidlinger, a Militia Captain, demonstrates the duties, arms, and equipment of the citizen soldier in 18^th century Ohio, explains the dangers and inconveniences of militia calls to the families of the hastily called soldiers, and starts the training of the students in a drill of the time.

Hands On History - Town Meeting

Participate in the first town meeting after the constitution was ratified. Our town must decide one of the many decisions of how we will govern ourselves in our new country. This class contrasts the new U.S. government with the Colonial government system.

Hands On History - Sawing

Students participate in sawing a log with a two man crosscut saw. The focus is on the work within the capabilities of young people in constructing homesteads on the Ohio frontier.

Hands On History - Coopering

A look at the role of apprentices in the trades of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with a focus on the cooper, a maker of buckets and barrels. In this class the students will get a look at the necessity of wooden containers, and how they are made along with the progression of young people into the trades. A hands-on element is included.

Hands On History - Children's Work

A child's life on the Midwestern frontier was vastly different from that of the students that take part in our programs today. In presenting this difference we try to make each visiting student feel as if they were a part of a frontier family. They are introduced to the loneliness, isolation and quiet of a world immersed in a sea of trees, separated from friends and family, not only by miles but by months.

Using the actual tools of frontier living the students are given a small taste of the work of children at a frontier homestead. The real issue is why settlers were willing to undertake these risks and hardships. The students are introduced to the entity of the frontier family, its unity in the face of difficulty and its role in survival.

Hands On History - One Room School

At our One Room School station you get to experience life in the Ohio schools of the 1800's through the early 1900's. You will sit segregated by gender, learn about harsh discipline, short time to learn and thet it is a privilege, not a right, to go to school. Everyone in the room participates, there is no one excepted. You will also also learn about what was and wasn't taught.

Hands On History - What your day will be like

When you come to the Hands On History program at Quaker Knoll your group will be directed to an orientation area. Depending on the weather this may be indoors or outside. We will give a brief introduction and orientation to everyone, then each group or class will go to a presenter to start the program.

We have found that it usually works best for students to be in their normal classes, or groups of 15-25.

Our program is structured into 20-minute stations, with a costumed interpreter at each station. At each station your group will learn about a different aspect of our early history. When you finish with the current station your group will be directed to go to the next station in a clockwise fashion.

We have found it bet to keep as close to the children's food schedule as possible! When it's time to eat, just take lunch break in-between stations. When lunch is done just go to the next station in order. We will direct you when you leave each station, of course.

Your group will then continue through the stations in order until it is time for you to leave.

Hands On History - Western Movement

In the "Great Leap Westward" of 1779-80 two thirds of the people who made the move into the Cumberland settlements died in the first year, men, women, and children. Settling the frontier was a family struggle. Children were a necessary ingredient in the formula that permitted westward expansion. This program uses the tools and materials used by children their everyday lives on the frontier to explain their importance to the creation of the United States.

Hands On History - Wagoner's Lad (Freight Wagon)

An examination of the transportation industry in early America with a focus on the roles children held in the industry. The class is usually taught with a circa 1755 freight wagon and a team of four oxen. We have the students handle the equipment and a few from each class get a chance to drive the oxen. It is a very real insight into the world that moved at the speed of an ox.

Pictures and additional info here.