Huck Finn Freedom Center: Jim's Journey

  Hubby is away so we're in high gear for some rather large field trips!  This series included a perfect fit into our schooling too!  We've been plugging along through Mark Twain's Huck Finn for longer than I care to mention.  It is a wonderful book but anything of length usually gets put to the back burner with everyday life ;) This trip took us through Samuel Clemmens' hometown of Hannibal, MO.  Our first stop was the Huck Finn Freedom Center: Jim's Journey.

   Jim's Journey focuses on the African American history of the area.  It features a display on Daniel Quarles (who was the inspiration for Mark Twain's character Jim in Huck Finn) but also continues up to the present age.
  It is just a little one room museum, but stuffed full of artifacts and memorabilia.  They won me over right away - our host had a scavenger hunt for the big kids. Then she further won the kids over by telling them they'd get to choose a prize for completing it!

   It took the kids about an hour to complete.  They gained a wealth of information!  The museum was wonderfully organized and was essentially like one big I Spy book :)
  After a long drive and no nap, Shorty was not so interested so he watched the fountain nearby...

  He really, really, really wanted to go in, but we managed to convince him otherwise. Our host gave him his "prize" (a bottle of bubbles) early and then he sat on the front stoop blowing bubbles for a while and explored some of the artifacts outside.
   The museum was free, but they would gladly accept donations.  This was the best display of African American history and memorabilia I have seen so far in our travels.  I would venture to say that they could at least double their space without any problem with all the artifacts and stories there are to tell! 
  We didn't explore the town too much more beyond a couple of photo ops, but odds are we are going to end up there again soon. The kids enjoyed Jim's Journey so much that they asked about a return trip :)

a bit of good timing thanks to Mookie

the Hannibal light house

 

Field Trip: Nicodemus

  The kids and I have been dying to go to Nicodemus, Kansas for a while now.  Not only does it participate in the National Park Service's Junior Ranger program, but it coincides with my research on the United States Colored Troops (one of the veterans that I've been researching had a daughter that married a man from Nicodemus).  We were in the general area at an archaeological dig Hubby and Bubby were involved with (more on that later) near Hays and it was only an hour north to Nicodemus.  There's not much in that general area, so you can't do this one on the way to anything really. 

  Nicodemus is the oldest and only remaining African American settlement west of the Mississippi.  The site is free to visitors and open daily.  We started our visit by gathering up the kids' Junior Ranger packets and watching a short video, well the older kids watched the video... Shorty was on a nap strike and was in high gear so I wandered around with him :)  After the show the packets sent us outside to wander the town.  It had you examine buildings representing different aspects of town life (a hotel, school, church, etc...), just a great big scavenger hunt which thrilled the kids!

  The town was small and quiet, so when Shorty wanted to "follow" this fuzzy caterpillar in the road I was able to send Bubby and Mookie off to find the items on their list by themselves.

  After our round of the town, we ended up at the little playground close to the Town Hall.  It was a beautiful day and the kids loved being able to stretch their legs. 
     When the kids turned in their completed packets at Town Hall one of the rangers asked them each to pick a number between 1 & 42.  That number corresponded to a plot of land on the map and the kids could identify with one of the original settlers of the town.  They were also given a little bag with fun pamphlets in it and of course their Junior Ranger badge.  The kids told me that the young lady who swore them in was from Nicodemus, she did a good job engaging them for the "swearing in".  The park rangers were all just excellent and went out of their way to make sure everyone had a good experience.
  The kids have dubbed this one of their best Junior Ranger trips because is has 1) been the only one with a playground and 2) they got a cool bag.  The site is not a big one, but does a fantastic job with what it has and its only going to get better as they start renovating one of the churches for another display area next year. 
  I'll tell you what, we'd make this trip in a heartbeat if the chance came up again, the kids had so much fun!