Henricus Park

Today we went to a park that is set up very much like Jamestown only smaller. The park is separated into 2 sections: Indians and English settlers. We went with another family of 3 girls. Here are a few of the photos from today.

In the photo above, we are in the Indian village. In order to make their canoes, they would cut a tree down, slowly burn the part to be dug out and then proceed to scrape it with shells and bones. This was a tiresome and messy job!
Here are the girls scraping off the fur to make hide with seashells. A little tid-bit I learned today, what they would do with the animal after killing it and skinning it is crack the skull without injuring the antlers. Then they would split the heard open with a rock and save the brains. With the brains, they would make a type of pudding, spread it on the hide after it is cleaned and all the fur is off. After the hide has been spread with brains (EW!), they would let it sit for a couple days. Then it would be very soft and they could use it for clothing.
Above is a photo taken inside of a hut. I forget the name of it as it is an Indian name. Pretty interesting.

This was taken on the English Settlers' side. The girls learned interesting facts such as what they ate, what they did with their waste (bodily waste), fighting tactics, and life saving tactics when in battle.

The girls got to imitate loading a cannon. They had 30 seconds to do it and had to stay behind a certain line of they were considered blown up. Rebecca had the hardest job and she did well.

Here she is with one of those home made hula hoop things that children played with back then. Instead of rolling it on the ground, pushing it with a stick, she decided to hula.

This photo is of the model of the first American hospital, Mt. Milady. It was said to be in the Citie of Henricus, which is where we were. The girls said that they wouldn't want to be sick here! The beds were very uncomfortable and everything smelled of wood burning. Becca seriously asked where the air condition was. So hard it is to grasp the concept that there were no modern conviences back in the 1600's.

Emily was a bit disappointed because she thought we were going to a park with slides, swings, etc. Sorry chickie, this was a park to exercise the mind!

This is just a group picture of all the girls.