Seneca Rocks Discovery Center Assistant Director Mandy Harman leads students in a tour of the Sites Homestead
By Ezmie Trevarrow
Serving with Seneca Rocks Discovery Center
This year for the first time the Seneca Rocks Discovery Center and the USDA Forest Service hosted 4th graders from Pendleton County for a day full outdoor recreation, cultural heritage, and fun! This past May, 56 students from the surrounding area visited stations set up on the Discovery Center grounds focusing on cultural heritage of the area and outdoor recreation activities in the hope to encourage more exploration of the public lands around them.
Students learn about life as a homesteader from volunteer Cathy Milton in period piece
At the Sites Homestead students talked to a volunteer in period piece and were led through a tour of the Homestead. Next, they made their way to the Sites Homestead Garden where they learned how homesteaders had to live off the land and whatever they could produce in their garden. Students planted and took home a sunflower seed for themselves. Down at the North Fork of the Potomac River high flows prevented the snorkeling activity as originally planned, but students still had a blast flipping over rocks and learning about macroinvertebrates. Students took a deeper look around them learned how to connect with nature in new ways through nature journaling as they walked the Watershed Discovery Loop. And finally at the atlatl station students learned about the indigenous people who call West Virginia their ancestral home and practiced their hunting skills by using the atlatl, an ancient dart throwing tool.
Volunteers Hannah Imhoff and Nathan Dulaney lead students in a macroinvertebrate activity in the North Fork of the Potomac
While this event was organized by the Seneca Rocks Discovery Center it was a collaborate effort that only succeeded with the help of several volunteers from across the Monongahela National Forest and Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area AmeriCorps members from both cultural heritage and conservation sites.
This event was targeted towards local students, but for many it was their first-time visiting Seneca Rocks and being exposed to what federal lands have to offer. To encourage future visits to public lands, students were given Every Kid Outdoor passes at the end of the event which permits them and their family free entry to any federal lands (National Parks, National Recreation Areas, etc.) for the remainder of the summer.
Spencer Knox and Alison Bailey watch as students band together to try to take down the haybale wooly mammoth using the ancient weapon the atlatl
With this event successfully under the belt, the Seneca Rocks Discovery Center is ramping up for a similar day this coming September for all 4th graders in Grant County. With nearly twice as many students this event will be a great opportunity for the local community to enjoy what Seneca Rocks and federal lands have to offer.
