PACETAH

The East Coast tour has come and gone! Twenty-nine PACETAH participants, Social Studies Advisory Council members, and some (brave) spouses  departed on Sunday, June 25 for 9 days of whirlwind activity in 3 states (Massachusetts, Maryland, and Virginia) and the District of Columbia! Although we didn’t have time to see “everything”, we certainly crammed as much into the 9 days as possible.  We were able to overcome a couple of “glitches” with EF Tours in order to see everything we needed to see.  (Who would go to Jamestown and Yorktown without expecting to see the “real deal”?  Go figure… )

We traveled by air, train, bus, and for some of us, by sea!  We missed the floods but NOT the humidity!!  The USA Today, in its Friday, June 30 edition, listed ”10 great places to steep in American History.”  We managed to see 6 of the 10:  The Old North Bridge, Concord, Mass., the Old North Church and Old South Meeting House in Boston, The National Archives and American History Museum in DC, and Yorktown Battlefield.  What did we miss?  Fraunces Tavern, NYC, Independence Hall and Betsy Ross Home in Philadelphia, and Ft. McHenry in Baltimore. One teacher, with great foresight, carried a pedometer.  Before we left Reagan Airport in DC to come home, it read almost 47 miles!  We worked hard and we played hard, and I want to thank all of the travelers for being so congenial and for making the trip great fun! 

As part of our WTAMU Summer Institute, 2006, 32 history educators traveled to Independence, Missouri to spend time at the Harry S Truman Library and Museum.  Not only did Library staff make available access to their archives, we modeled innovative ways to use primary sources in the classroom!

 After we finished will the Cold War, we stepped further back in time to visit the National Frontier Trails Museum and the Arabia Steamboat Museum.  I found both to be fascinating vignettes on life in the 19th century American West.