Local historic sites help fourth-graders step back in time

Published 10:00 am Saturday, March 30, 2019

Humans have not yet made time travel possible, so when it came time for local fourth-graders to learn about the Civil War in social studies they would have to settle for the next-best thing — a field trip.

Luckily for them, the city in which they attend school served as the state capital of Georgia from 1804 until 1868 and has multiple sites steeped in history located mere blocks away from one another. This week the Baldwin County School District teamed up with three local prominent historical sites that have history dating back to the Antebellum era — Georgia’s Old Governor’s Mansion, the Brown-Stetson-Sanford House, and Allied Arts’ Marlor House — to give the kids a day-long immersive experience that provided a glimpse at what it was like to live in Milledgeville during the Civil War. 

The idea was hatched by school district instructional specialist Carol Goings who pointed out that Baldwin County students have visited each of the three sites separately in the past, but they’ve never been tied together until this week. She sat down with the directors for the three respective sites and hammered out a plan that would allow 395 fourth-grade students to gain a unique perspective.

“I met with Matt Davis, Amy Wright and Brian Renko, and we sat down and decided what they could focus on,” Goings said. “I did research on curriculum and shared it with them, and we all created this full-day field trip. It works around the school standards in social studies about the Civil War. We’re taking learning outside the classroom walls.”

The Brown-Stetson-Sanford House, owned and operated by Georgia’s Old Capital Museum at The Depot, gave kids insight into home life while the Civil War raged on with its “War Comes to the Capital” tour.

“We were trying to give them the perspective of what it was like to be in a home at the time of the Civil War rather than the battlefields and the campaigns,” said Dr. Amy Wright, executive director of the Old Capital Museum. “Ours is a unique perspective and it gives them a human touch to what was happening.”

Students were taught about the different kinds of medicinal herbs that were grown and their specific purposes, the different types of things soldiers carried with them when they went off to war, and they even got to handle some of the materials that were in use back in the 19th century all inside a home that was built in 1825. 

“My kids have had a wonderful time so far,” said Lakeview Academy fourth-grade teacher Pam Brookins after her students finished up at the Brown-Stetson-Sanford House. “They learned about some of the medicinal things that were used during that time when those people couldn’t just run to Walmart or CVS like we’re used to doing. The kids have really been receptive and have had a good time so far.”

“The kids were really excited about being able to handle artifacts and talk about them,” Dr. Wright added. “When our tour was over lot of the kids were saying, ‘We don’t want to go!’ That’s when you know you’ve done a good job.”

The Brown-Stetson-Sanford House and the Marlor House share a connection in that they were built by the same man — architect John Marlor. Both houses feature magnificent façades as well as cantilevered spiral staircases, a feature Marlor was well-known for. Allied Arts Executive Director Brian Renko and his staff specially tailored their tour to tie into the fourth-graders’ curriculum.

“We incorporated the Civil War into our tours — how the Marlor House would have operated and looked as a private residence during that time,” Renko said. “We also talked a little bit about the architecture of the Marlor House and how John Marlor was so influential in the way Milledgeville looks today.” 

“The kids have been wonderful. They’ve been very interactive and taking it all in. It’s been a great experience for the docents, myself and the kids.”

The third stop (or first or second depending on which schedule the students were on) was Georgia’s Old Governor’s Mansion, which was completed in 1839 and housed the head of the state’s government for three decades including during the Civil War. The High Greek Revival-style home was famously seized as a prize by Gen. William T. Sherman on his March to the Sea, so one can see how well its history fits with the social studies curriculum.

“Our focus with the fourth-graders per the Georgia standards was to focus on the history of the American Civil War while also discussing the myriad of complexities of life in the 19th century South, which included slavery, women’s issues, and also the technology of the time,” Mansion Director Matt Davis said.

“The kids loved it,” he went on. “They were engaged and asking questions, and they were really excited to see the different rooms. You could hear them talking amongst themselves about how the houses they live in today are similar and how they’re different. Of course, when they got to see the rotunda, you could hear the ‘oohs and ahhs’ of their reactions when they saw that room. Overall it was a very good experience.”

Students and teachers took lunch at Central City Park between their second and third stops. 

Goings said she hopes the day-long local historical field trip is something the Baldwin County School District will continue doing in the future since all the pieces have been put in place.