Fourth Form Travels Back in Time to Old Deerfield

Eaglebrook’s Fourth Form students, along with all of their Colonial American History teachers, visited the Pocumtuck Valley Museum Association’s Indian House on November 14thas a capstone to their study of life in Colonial America. Students spent the morning alternating between four different rooms, each with its own focus. There was the kitchen, where students cooked Hasty Pudding (oatmeal with butter, sugar, and cream) and Pompions, a cooked pumpkin dish with sugar, cinnamon, and ginger on a hearth. They moved from the kitchen to a room where they learned about the household goods of nearby native populations from that time, then on to the tavern room, where a woman in character as an American colonist told her tale of the Raid of 1704 on Deerfield. The last room visited was the bedroom upstairs, where they learned the story of Nuthatch, a Pocumtuck Indian who shared the story of the white people moving in and taking land that was once used by her tribe.

 

“We take the trip to Old Deerfield as a culminating event of our local history unit. For the final two weeks of the trimester, Colonial History classes examined the Raid on Deerfield in 1704. The goal was to explore the five cultures that were involved in the raid and their different perspectives,” explained Brian Rose ’98 History Department Chair and Colonial History teacher. He continued, “By taking the trip, students have an opportunity to engage in hands-on learning as it pertains to Historic Deerfield.” See photos from the trip here.