A Little History

We met up with some home school friends to learn a little history. This is an old schoolhouse in Golden at the Clear Creek History Park.

The children got see what it was like to be in a one room schoolhouse in 1876. They read aloud out of McGuffey readers.

Then they were given slates with chalk to answer the teacher's questions.

After their reading lesson they had a short recess.

They got to try out some recreation equipment that children used to play with in the 1800s.

After school was finished we toured a homestead. The first stop was a chicken coop.

There were several different varieties of chickens that the children learned about. The black and white speckled chickens were just stunning. They're named Dominiques and are one of the oldest American breeds.

After learning about chickens we headed to a cabin built in the late 1800s. 

The first family to live in the cabin was the Helps family. Unfortuanately Mr. Helps was working in a nearby gold mine and drilled into an unexploded gold mine. Later the Pearce family had this cabin moved to their growing homestead.

The cabins have been kept up to look very much the way it did back in the late 1800s. This particular cabin was home to family of 8. The children slept upstairs while the parents stayed downstairs where Elizabeth is sitting. They did not have indoor plumbing, so that bowl underneath the bed was used in the middle of the night when a tirp to the outhouse was out of the question.

Our guide even showed the children how one would go about spinning wool.

I would love to get my hands on that cast iron cookware.

The cabin was heated with this tiny little wood stove in the winter.

Anna's hoping that they're going to serve a meal soon.

After our cabin tour the children were taught how to pan for gold. While they enjoyed this they came up empty. Rats!

I think some quartz was found, but that was as close as they got.

We then headed over to the ritzy Astor House. Back in the day it was quite a fancy boarding house.

For entertainment guests could look at 3D photo cards.

The Astor house was one of the first places with running water. They had to pump it in.

One of the rooms had a nice balcony where guest were given sun umbrellas on hot days.

Here's the view from the balcony.

Well, I guess you just got a small tour on the history of Golden, Colorado. No need to go and see for yourselves, right? Acutually we really enjoyed the history park. The kids had a lot of fun and want to go back again. It's a beautiful area right along Clear Creek. Check it out if you're in the area.