Russian Games

On Wednesday,  Sept. 24, the first and second graders came to the CHS Museum where they learned about biographies and how people age by viewing the Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn exhibit. They were fortunate to have his son Ignat on hand to answer questions. How could it be that the picture of the cute baby could be Ignat’s father?

While one group of children were inside the Museum, the rest learned to play a variety of Russian games. Below are the rules for Caraway and Wizard.

Caraway: One child is in the middle and the rest of the students join hands and form a circle. As they start walking in a circle, they say:

Caraway, Caraway

You can go anyway.

You can go left (the circle moves to the left)

You can go right (the circle moves to the right)

You can stand tall (joined hands are raised over head)

You can stand small (with hands still joined, squat down).

The child in the middle tries to break through the joined hands at any time.  Once they've broken through, the child to their left stands in the middle and the game continues. 

Wizard: One child is picked as the "wizard." It's best to define a play area, the smaller the better. The Wizard says "go" and the children start running. As the Wizard touches a player, they must stop and freeze. They yell, "help me" and other children can come by and unfreeze them. The game continues until everyone is frozen or they reach a set time. A minute at a time is best for young children. 

Thank you to Carolyn and Ignat Solzhenitsyn and Svetlana Phillips for help with this program. 

Museum Scavenger Hunt

This past week, the Cavendish Town Elementary School 4th graders spent the morning at the Museum on a scavenger hunt. Below is the form they used. How many of these items have you seen? The Museum is open for a few more Sundays-last day is Oct. 12-from 2-4 pm. Stop by and see how many things you can find.

School Days

• Find three types of desks that students used.

• Find the “white board” that was used in the 1800s one room schoolhouse.

• Name one of the books used by Cavendish students many years ago.

• What was the name of the first school house in Cavendish? Where is it located in the Museum?

Around the House

• Rub a Dub Dub-What were the different ways people cleaned and dried their clothes?

• How many chairs can you find that were made in Cavendish? What colors are they?

• Stoves can be used for many different things. Find the three stoves in the Museum. What were they used for?

• What did people do for entertainment? What kinds of games did children play? Look all around the Museum for clues.

• At the end of the day, when work was done, how did they spend their leisure (free) time?

In the Kitchen: Look at the kitchen wares case. How many things can you identify? Can you find the ice cream scoop?

Made in Cavendish: Lots of things were manufactured in Cavendish. How many examples can you find? List them. What is manufactured in Cavendish today?

Famous Cavendish Residents

• He had a tamping rod go through his head. What was his name? What kind of work did he do?

• When did Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn come to Cavendish? Why did he come?

Find

• A lamp that was made from plane parts. Where did the plane crash and in what year?

• Items people took on picnics. There are two types. See if you can find both. What kind of food do you think they packed?

• Three scales. What might have been weighed on them?

• Find the sign that hung over the Cavendish Depot (Train Station).

• Early 1900’s “CD player.” What did they use for listening to music?

• The “computers” that were used for typing and calculating.

Cavendish War Memorial

You can learn a lot of history from a war memorial.

• Why do you think this memorial was erected?

• What Civil War soldier was killed at St. Petersburg, April 2, 1865?

•  How man soldiers from Cavendish died in WWII? Korea?

• Four soldiers died in WWI. Name them.

ANNUAL PHINEAS GAGE TALK AND WALK

On September 13, 1848 Phineas Gage, a foreman, was working with his crew excavating rocks in preparing the bed for the Rutland and Burlington Railroad in Cavendish. An accidental explosion of a charge he had set blew his tamping iron through his head. It entered under the left cheekbone and exited through the top of the head. The rod, covered with brains and blood, was found approximately 30 yards from the site of the accident.

It is remarkable that Gage survived this accident, let alone lived for 11 more years. Fortunately Dr. Harlow and Dr. Henry J. Bigelow, a professor of surgery at Harvard University, tracked Gage as much possible, thereby documenting one of the first cases of traumatic brain injury in medical science. It was also the first understanding that different parts of the brain have different functions. With this knowledge, the first brain tumor removal operation became possible in 1885.

On September 14, at 2 pm, the Cavendish Historical Society will hold it’s yearly “talk and walk,” which includes a discussion of the accident, the latest historical information about the case and an approximately two mile round trip walk to the location of the accident. Meet at the Cavendish Historical Society Museum at 2 pm. FMI: 802-226-7807 or margoc@tds.net

Sarah Parker Fuller

Linda Welch, the Cavendish Historical Society genealogist, sends the following information and photograph, Sarah Parker Fuller was direct descendant of Captain John Coffee on the Baldwin side of the family. I will be using this graphic in my updated version of Vol. 2 of Families of Cavendish under the Abraham Parker Family.