Historic Warwick Blog: Thank you to Our Summer History Camp Volunteers!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Thank you to Our Summer History Camp Volunteers!

Thank you to our Summer History Camp volunteers:

Ivy Tulin, Shadow Puppet Theatre

Alan Held

Jessica Christofel

Sharlene Miller-Pizza

Jean Schmick-Hopkins

Kathy Garritano, Shadow Puppet Theatre

Erika Webber

Carol Ann Cesare

Cathy McErlean-Goddard, Pottery

Tom Carton, Revolutionary War Re-enactor

Doc Baynes, Wildlife Program

Adriaan Gerber, Blacksmithing

Jo Hull

Candy Ahrenholtz

Glenn Rhein

This year’s Summer History Camp for Kids program:

· Naturalist Gary Keeton shared flora and fauna of Post Ice Age Warwick

· 12,000 plus year old Moose Elk skeleton found on the black dirt

· Ken Hamilton, our woodlands interpreter, who appeared authentically, “with but a loin cloth”, on the first day to win the hearts of the kids as their sage woodsman, shared northeastern Native American culture and values. The kids made wampum and learned much about Native American cultures. The adult turn out for an additional program featuring Ken brought some 80 people to the Buckbee Center being somewhat of a surprise fundraiser.

· Doc Barnes presented “Wildlife of the Warwick Woods”

· Charlene Blake presented a live sheep and sheep shearing

· Volunteers Ivy Tulin, Carol Ann Cesare, Alan Held, Kathy Garritano, Sharlene Miller-Pizza, Jessica Christofel, and Jean Schmick-Hopkins helped with the camp including three camper-produced shadow puppet theatre skits about Baird’s Tavern, the Old School Meeting House, and the Shingle House, which we anticipate packaging for a “mobile Historical Society” program at our local schools in the future.

· Our campers created red ware plates from scratch with potter Cathy McErlean-Goddard.

· Glenn Rhein donated fluorescent crystals for a faux dig; kids took home their own small collections of these local treasures.

· There was blacksmithing too, and blacksmith Adriaan Gerber produced a tomahawk for onlookers. Cassie Lewis of Warwick led kids in the creation of felt geodes from raw wool felt.

· Our former camp director and community asset, and my fifth grade teacher, Pat Reinhardt, led kids in the use of the pen nib , holder and ink well, as well as fountain pen, given to each as a take-home, and quill pen usage in their Moleskin journals.

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At our Summer History Camp this year kids will dig up crystals that fluoresce under a special black light. The crystals were actually discovered in the area as early as the 1820s and collectors from all over the United States and Europe came to the specifically places like Amity in the Town of Warwick to find these rare specimens for their museums, universities and their private collections. One of the largest off site exhibitions of these crystals is found in the Ecoles des Mines in Paris; there are over 150 samples of minerals specifically from Amity, NY in that collection which were discovered in large in the 1830s. What is interesting to imagine is that geologist and mineralogists from the greatest institutions of higher learning were traveling by horseback and carriage to the wilds of Warwick in the 1820s and 1830s to find rocks for their cabinets of curiosities.

Wawayanda Furnace ( 19th century ) the furnace that many of us remember seeing on our trips to the New Jersey State Park actually was integral to iron ore production supplied by Warwick mines. On a recent sojourn into the woods we visited some local iron ore mines that would have supplied the mid-nineteenth century Wawayanda Furnace. Of course, these operations were supplanted by the end of the nineteenth century when places with better quality ore that were closer to cheaper forms of transportation, like water and rail shut them down.

Ken Hamilton, "Woodlands Interpreter", will present the early 18th century life of Algonquin-speaking people, like the Minsi people of the Lenape tribe, of what was later named by Benjamin Aske as "Warwick." Here we see a trade camp with historially accurate artifact reproductions produced by Mr. Hamilton by hand; he an accomplished leatherworker, blacksmith and silversmith. As an "historical artifact artist", Mr. Hamilton produces props used in many living history scenarios and museums throughout the country. He will share some of his knowledge with campers at the Summer History Camp 2012. See further details.