Young Travelers

Young Travelers introduces students to life in the eighteenth century through a series of hands-on activities.  Students try their hand at spinning and weaving, colonial games and crafts, and hearth cooking.  The visit also includes a lesson in Old York’s eighteenth century schoolhouse.

How is the day's visit scheduled?

Your groups’ visit begins in the Remick Barn, Old York’s education building, with a short orientation for the whole group.  During this time, chaperones will receive their own orientation on how to assist in each activity area. Lunch is usually served between noon and 12:30.

For most of the day, your group should be divided into smaller groups, as specified on your confirmation letter.  The smaller groups will rotate among the following activities:

  • Hearth Cooking: Preparing the noon meal or dessert, churning butter, exploring the garden

  • Textiles: Carding, spinning, and weaving wool

  • Games and Crafts: Playing Nine Men’s Morris, dominoes, and ball and cup, making silhouettes (also hoop and stick, weather permitting)

  • School: Participating in an eighteenth century school lesson with the School Master or Mistress

Before Your Visit

  • Review costume information with students and send home copies of the "Costuming Suggestions" sheet.

  • Ask for chaperones to accompany the group. Ideally, there should be one chaperone for every five students.

  • Please have your class divided into their smaller groups before arriving. Check the confirmation form for how many groups you will need.

  • Some teachers assign each student the identity of an eighteenth century person who lived in their town. During the program, the students assume that identity.

  • Have name tags for each student. If using colonial identities, write that name on the tag.

  • Try out some of the classroom activities described later on this page.

After Your Visit

After your visit, explore some of the classroom activities described below. Also, ask students for their impressions of the day and send them to us at Museums of Old York, P.O. Box 312, York, Maine 03909 or email us at education@oldyork.org. We love to hear from you.

Young Travelers Curriculum

How can I make my class' visit to Old York a part of my curriculum? A description of all of our programs and the learning standards met by each can be downloaded here. Programs are alligned with learning standards from Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. In addition, Old York has compiled the following list of activities that teachers tell us that they use in their classrooms to augment their visit to Old York. Many of these activities bridge across disciplines and provide wonderful opportunities for inter-disciplinary learning.

Links to Art

  • Design a class quilt to display

  • Make tin-punch lanterns

  • Dip candles

  • Cut and mount the silhouettes the students receive during their visit to Old York. Some classes mount the silhouettes with paper frames

  • Work in groups to design murals of the different activities experienced during your visit

Links to Social Studies

  • Take the class on a walking tour of your own town. If one does not exist, have each student research one spot along the route and make your own

  • Create a time capsule from 1789 or from today

  • Visit a local cemetery and research people from your town's history

  • Choose an occupation from colonial times, research it, and then report back to the whole class with visual aids

  • Build a replica of your village or town in the colonial era

Links to Language Arts

  • Have each student write a one page biography on a local eighteenth century person. They can assume this identity during their visit.

  • Have students create a poem with illustration that describes their experience at Old York

  • Read related historical novels (see list below)

Links to Math and Science

  • Build math skills through bartering activities

  • Examine cotton, wool, and linen fibers under a microscope

  • Study a local pond or other ecosystem and learn how it might have changed over time

Young Travelers Resources

Grades 3-4:

  • Bowen, Gary. Stranded on Plimouth Plantation, 1626. Harper Collins, 1994.

  • Hall, Donald. Ox-Cart Man. Viking, 1979: Depicts the life and work of an early 19th century family through the seasons of the year.

  • Kirk, Deborah. A Day in June. Old Sturbridge Village, 1982. Eleven year old Sarah Ann writes in her diary about life in a rural New England town

  • Turkle, Brian. If You Lived in Colonial Times. Scholastic, 1982. Provides overview of daily life and responsibilities.

Grades 5-6:

  • Avi. The Fighting Ground. Harper and Row, 1984. In 1778, the American Revolution comes to thirteen year old Jonathan's family farm in New Jersey.

  • Blos, Joan. A Gathering of Days. Athenaeum Books for Young Readers, 1979. A Newbery Medal winner. The journal of a 14 year old girl, kept the last year who lived on the family farm, records daily events in her small New Hampshire town, her father's remarriage, and the death of her best friend.

  • Roberts, Kenneth. Arundel. Down East Books, 1995. Steven Nason, a soldier in George Washington's Army, embarks on a grueling journey up the Kennebunk River and through the North Woods.

  • Speare, Elizabeth George. The Sign of the Beaver. Dell, 1983. The story of a 12 year old boy trying to survive on his own in the Maine wilderness until his father returns to the family cabin. While there, he is befriended by a Native American chief and his grandson. A realistic drama between two friends and two different ways of life.

  • Speare, Elizabeth George. Witch of Blackbird Pond. Dell, 1980. Young Kit Tyler arrives in the Puritan Connecticut Colony from the Caribbean and learns about the community's fear of those believed to be witches

Costume Suggestions

During your students' visit to Old York, we ask that they wear a costume suitable for the 1780s~1790s. Costumes allow students to place themselves in the past and experience eighteenth century York. The museum buildings can be quite cold as only the Remick Barn is heated! Be sure students are dressed appropriately for the cold winter months. The students should be warm, comfortable and feel as though they are living eighteenth century York history. Please do not feel that your students must sew or buy a whole new outfit. The following suggestions are geared towards using what the students may already own to create an appropriate costume:

Men and Boys

  • Shirt: Any plain white shirt, turtleneck, or sweatshirt.

  • Breeches: Knee-length pants were the fashion, so take a dark pair of pants or sweatpants and roll them up to the knees.

  • Stockings: Use plain colored knee-socks which will fit up under the breeches. Athletic socks without stripes are fine.

  • Shoes: Any plain dark shoe, but try not to wear sneakers. Buckles can be added made out of cardboard covered with aluminum foil.

  • Accessories: A sleeveless vest adds warmth to the costume. A straw or tricorn hat also helps keep you warm, but please no baseball caps!

Women and Girls

  • Basic Dress: Long plain dresses or long plain skirts with white shirts. Women and girls could add white aprons, extra petticoats, shawls, and knee-socks for warmth.

  • Mob Caps: No females went without caps in the 1790s. Cut a circle about 1 ½ to 2 feet in diameter from an old sheet or piece of white material. About 2 inches from the edge, string ribbon/yarn through to make a circle. Draw the ribbon/yarn into gathers to fit the child’s head and knot at the ends to secure.

  • Shoes: Any plain dark shoe, but try not to wear sneakers. Remember to wear comfortable shoes!

  • Accessories: A fichu, or large neckerchief worn around the neck, is an important accessory. Fold a scarf, shawl, or blanket into a triangle and place around the neck, down across the front of the dress and bring the ends around the back of waist and knot or tuck into the front waist. A sleeveless vest (waistcoat) in a plain color will add warmth to the costume