Cooperstown

Main Street in Cooperstown

I spent the day in Cooperstown which is home to 2000 people.  It is everything I envisioned a small town in upstate New York to look like. The streets were lined with trees and beautiful flower arrangements hung from the light posts

The first stop was the Baseball Hall of Fame.  I have enjoyed the game of baseball, but never linked it to history.  After meeting with our tour guide Anna, I have a different view point.  Baseball can be used to teach a geography lesson, by having the kids learn where the major league baseball teams are from and crossing the curriculum to include math, and reading.  This will be the hook for my boys and including how the women in baseball will hook my girls.  By incorporating the pictures I took , the concept of how real history can be will be more concrete for my students. Although I enjoyed the connection to the classroom, I truly enjoyed looking at all the different pictures and artifacts of people I have heard about.  As I left the museum, I stopped and took one more picture of the inductee for this year and hurried on my way to visit the rest of the downtown area.  I have never seen so many shops with baseball items.  Everything from baseball equipment to clothing and anything else you can think of.

Kept In

Empire Waists, Bustles and Lace Exhibit

The Fenimore Art Museum was the next stop.  Being perfectly honest, I did not think that I would enjoy this museum, but I was wrong.  There were a few pieces that truly caught my attention.  The first being the different way dress has changed over the years.  I enjoyed the Americana pieces as well.  There is one picture that gave me chuckle.  A little girl was sitting on her school chair staring out the window, and the caption was “Kept Out.”  It showed that kids have not changed that much.  She was being kept from recess and she gives the look of get me out of here.  I could see some of my former students’ faces in that picture.

The Farmer’s museum was a hands on museum which features a 19^th century village.  The building are made of stone and some building were moved here to create the village.  The most enjoyable moment was the carousel.  It reminded me of the one in our city park.  The next thing I know someone asked our guide if we could ride the carousel. Before the word yes was out of his mouth a group of 33 adults were giggling and calling for the horse or goose they wanted.  We were giggling and smiling just like we were eight years old again. 

After our ride, we toured the buildings on site.  The first stop was the Blacksmith’s shop.  What a work of art.  In less than one minute, he had made a nail, and said that they make all the hardware for the buildings. Further down the road, we saw a garden that had vines growing on long sticks.  I learned that it was hops.  I thought that hops were only used to make beer, but I was wrong.  It is also a preservative, sedative, and used for flavoring.  As a teacher it is always fun to visit the old school house.  I have read that the stove was in the middle of the room and students took turns bringing wood to put in the stove.  Now that I have seen it and taken pictures, I can share with my students.  They always have so many questions about school in the olden days.

Inside schoolhouse

Nails made by Blacksmith

Seeing three different ways history was preserved in the Cooperstown, confirms that history is a very important part of curriculum and it can be presented in many different ways.

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