Cavendish Historical Society News: Sept 2021 & Back to School issue of CGYHU!

Monday, August 23, 2021

Sept 2021 & Back to School issue of CGYHU!

Welcome to the Sept 2021 & Back to School issue of CGYHU!

As part of the Carmine Guica Young Historians (CGYH) program, once again the Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) is providing teachers, students, families and the community with information on town, state and national history for the month ahead.

GENERAL INFORMATION

• If you have questions, want to arrange for a program or need more information, call 802-226-7807 or e-mail margocaulfield@icloud.com

• If you want to know more about the various programs that CHS offers for students and community, as well as opportunities close to Cavendish, go to the Resource Page.

• We definitely zoom but are also happy to make visits to schools.

• Covid: CHS staff and volunteers are all vaccinated. We follow the VT Agency on Education (AOE) guidance, school districts as well as Centers for Disease Controls & Prevention (CDC). At this time, anyone coming to the Museum must wear a mask.

• We don’t know yet if home school students will be able to participate in school based activities. However, we’re always happy to provide programs for home learners.

• We are working on the possibility of trips to Coolidge Homestead and for the foliage train.

• The CHS Cares Closet is located next to the steps of the Museum. We include history kits, masks, arts and crafts supplies, books, puzzles, games etc. This is open 24/7 and everything is free. If you have items you’d like to donate, or you are looking for specific items, please contact us at the above numbers.

PRESERVE AND SERVE PROGRAM

• Fall Activities: Students will once again be raking leaves and helping neighbors with fall chores. We already have requests for assistance and we’ve laid in a good supply of rakes. Please let us know if your students are available to help with these activities and/or you have a neighbor that could use help with fall chores.

• RiverSweep: This will take place on Sept. 14 (Tuesday) for Grades 5 & 6.

LEAF PROJECT: While it’s fun to jump into fall leaves, it’s also fun to preserve some as they make wonderful decorations for an autumn feast, or you can wear them like a tattoo. Collect leaves that are still flexible and moist. While you can dry and flatten them by putting between pages of a book, a quicker way is to place them between paper towels with a plate on top and microwave for 30-180 seconds. Check frequently. Microwave until dry. Don’t use a dry leaf as it will burn.

For tattoos, just attach the leaf with stick glue to the skin.

To preserve them, coat with clear nail polish. Check out Fun with Fall Leaves: Preserve Leaves for Fall Projects

SEPTEMBER DATES/EVENTS

Archaeology Month: CHS now has screens and we can offer students an opportunity to “dig up history.” Have something on your property, at school or in the community you’d like to “dig into?” Give us a call and we can set a date. Check out the Vermont Archaeology Society (VAS) for resources and opportunities

National Hispanic American Heritage Month (Sept 15-Oct. 15): Honors the cultures and contributions of both Hispanic and Latino Americans

• Resources from the Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

September 4, 1922: WLAK, Vermont's first radio station, began broadcasting in Bellows Falls. Charles Doe, the announcer, was on the air six hours a day, with weather, farming tips, and piano and gramophone music. Sandra Stearns writes in her book “Cavendish Hillside Farm 1939 to 1957,” that her father would connect the radio to the car battery so they could listen to this radio station. Note that the Sandra’s book is available at the Cavendish Library or can be purchased from CHS for $15.

September 6: Labor Day Celebrates American workers. It’s also come to mean the end of summer. History of Labor Day

September 11: Some refer to this date as Patriot Day, as it is a day of remembrance of 9/11 terrorist attacks. 2021 is the 20^th Anniversary. A remembrance day event is being organized by the Okemo Valley Fire Departments (Cavendish, Ludlow and Proctorsville). A march will begin at the Ludlow Fire Station at 12:30 pm and end at Veteran’s Park in Ludlow. A ceremony with guest speakers will take place at 1 pm with lunch to follow. This event remembers those who lost their lives that day as well as those who have died from complications from exposures sustained in rescue operations. For other ways to observe this occasion, use the resources of the 9/11 Museum.

This is the same day as the Golden Honey Festival at the Golden Stage Inn (10-4). CHS will be running a candle dipping workshop. Masks required for CHS’s workshop. Admission is free.

September 12: Phineas Gage Walk & Talk at the CHS Museum. 2-4 pm. Free and open to the public.

September 13, 1848: Anniversary of Phineas Gage’s accident in Cavendish. CHS has a walking tour handout and offers a special students’ PG program.

September 17 (Friday) is Constitution Day and Citizenship Day: On this day in 1787, the Founding Fathers signed the most influential document in American history, the United States Constitution. This document established the framework of our government and the rights and freedoms that “We the People” enjoy today. CHS has several handouts related to Constitution Day including an “I Spy” handout for finding examples of the Constitution at the Museum. If there is interest, this can be modified for a town wide activity. Check out What’s Your Constitution I.Q?

Because this is also Citizenship Day, this is a good time to check how well you and your students would do if you had to take the Citizenship Test. Try the sample test.

CHS has a copy of the 100 Citizenship questions, which includes responses for VT residents. Please e-mail if you would like a copy. Use the following video as a way to test students’ knowledge.