HISTORICALLY SPEAKING by Susan Swanton
As our outside tour of the local 4th graders continued, our history detectives kept detecting:
‘What do you suppose that small door under the back end of the house is for?’ I asked. All were quiet, looking at the very short white door.
‘Do you remember what you saw inside the house when you toured inside?’ A few hands shot up. ‘There was an outhouse off the kitchen!’ one bright youngster said.
‘Yes’ I replied ‘And how do you suppose they cleaned it out?’ All went quiet as the thought settled in their minds. ‘That door is the clean out for the privy.’ A bit more discussion about privies and outhouses and a lot of ‘ugh! ’ and ‘phew!’
As we continued around the house, I pointed out the gate at the west end of the fence. I asked the kids ‘Why would there be a gate in the fence?’ One bright child piped up ‘There was a driveway?’
‘Yes, indeed, you are a super detective! There used to be a loop driveway that went all around the house to access the barns. If you look at the gate, you will see it lines up with our last remaining barn.’ ‘Oh, yeah’ they said looking from gate to barn and back again.
The historical clues are there, ready for us to ‘detect’ them. This is all part of teaching visual literacy to kids so they can interpret what they are seeing. To learn more, ask for an outside tour of the Hinchey Homestead, the next time you visit.’
