I am here for my daily update. Glad you are enjoying them.
We woke up to slushy snow on the ground. There was very little, but it was so funny because there were school cancelleations and businesses starting 2 hours late. To us this would have been nothing. Heck, Friday, during a snow storm that dropped at least a foot of snow on our yard, there were people at the library!
Today was Jamesrtown. The year, 1607. The first settlers have arrived in America for the purpose of getting money. Kaleigh had a classroom class this morning for an hour. She learned all about the Powatan Indians. She learned how they lived, how they ate. It was fascinating to learn about how they made everything. They used a tendon from a deer leg (sinew) smashed down and dried for thread and fishing line and binding other things together. They used the bone for tools of all sorts like sewing needles, awls, and fishing hooks. They used the hoofs, boiled down, for glue. And that was just the leg! The really cool thing was that the teacher had all sorts of stuff for the kids to touch. She had a deer leg and sewing needles and furs of all sorts for the kids to hold. I had to give the lady credit for trying to keep a dozen pre-K to 2nd graders focused.
After the class, we looked around the museum and saw the movie about Jamestown. Then we stopped for a break before going out into the drizzly cold for our 2 hour tour.
We got to see a Powatan Indian Village. We learned how they cooked and how they tanned the hides of deer for clothing. The kids all got to take a turn with an oyster shell removing a bit of fur from the hide. The hides are tanned with the brains from the deer. They are soaked in water and the chopped up brains and then the mixture is worked into the hide to make it soft and then smoked to get rid of the smell and to give the hide a pretty color. Then thay are made into whay little clothing they wore. They wasted nothing!
From the Indian village, we went to see replicas of 2 ships that brought people here to Jamestown. Unfortunately, the 2 larger ships were off for repairs. But, we went on the 1 ship. It was quite small and 21 men would have sailed on it. It was very chilly here by the James River!
Then we went on to the Fort. This is where then Englishmen settled. They had several buildings set up for viewing. They are currently builing a new one based on excavations they have found on Jamestown Island. They didn't know this building existed since it wasn't in any writings. The Jamestown settlement is a recreation of the original settlement. They are doing archeological digs on the original site. They didn't want to compromise anything, so they built the museum a short bit away. You can see the island from where the ships are located.
By the end of the tour we were frozen! So, it was time to call it a day and head back to the hotel. We then went to Olive Garden for dinner and back here to give Kaleigh a bath and for me to shower.
Heidi: I don't know what they have the rest of the year for educational purposes. I do know that all places have tours you can take. The map says the Powell House is open seasonally. Right now it is only open for the homeschool kids.
Today was another day of pretty much just home schoolers. Some we had seen at Williamsburg earlier inthe week and others we saw in the classes. There was a school group from one of the local schools, but other than that, who else would come out on such a cold, crummy day, but people that had tickets for stuff on certain days?
Tomorrow is back to the Powell House in the morning for lessons in the kitchen.
Hopefully not us. Remember guys, 2 inches is a big snowstor for us!!!
