Daniel Boone Homestead and Hopewell Furnace

 We took a field trip to Daniel Boone's Homestead and Hopewell Furnace. Although it ended with a rain-shower, most of the day was beautiful weather and we got to see almost everything, even though we didn't take any extra walks.

At the Daniel Boone Homestead, we took the hour long tour through the lower level of the house. The tour guide did an amazing job of tying the history of the house and the area, with the history of Daniel Boone, who left the house when he was around 14 years old. We finished a biography a few weeks ago, so the boys knew a lot of the information, but they also learned a few new things. After standing for an hour, the boys legs were tired, but they still enjoyed walking around and seeing the other buildings on the site. They especially liked the sawmill and throwing hickory nuts so their shells would explode off. We were a little disappointed to have missed the demonstrations that were there last weekend, but it was still very enjoyable.

My favorite part was thinking that my ancestors probably built a cabin similar to the one we saw, and imagining a little distracted Daniel Boone wandering around the spring-house, forgetting what he was sent there for.

We then went to Hopewell Furnace. So many memories of my 5th or 6th grade field trip came back as we walked down from the visitor center. We followed the making of charcoal into the furnace into the casting house, reading all the signs. I understood it so much better now than I did then, and found it so fascinating. The boys put up with my excitement and education, but they really enjoyed watching the working waterwheel. It started to rain before we went out to the barn and schoolhouse and tenet houses, but we did get to see the blacksmith shop and store. Unfortunately, neither had reenactors, because the boys really want to see a working blacksmith. We dodged raindrops to get back to the visitor center where we watched some videos that explained things we read on the signs in more detail. We were all pretty tired by the time we got into the car, but we had some pears and snickers bars to give us some energy. 

My favorite part was understanding how cast iron skillets were made, and why they are called cast iron. It was also fun to make connections with the Swallows and Amazons when we went to the charcoal burners hut. I was on the lookout for snakes!

Tomorrow we are going to fill out field trip review sheets, so I will get to see what the boy's favorite parts were. It is also nice to know that we will get to count it as a school day!