Historic Warwick Blog: March 2012

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Summer History Camp at the Historical Society of the Town of Warwick

Summer History Camp at the Historical Society of the Town of Warwick

Where: Shingle House (7 Forester Ave.), Buckbee Center (2 Colonial Ave.), Baird’s Tavern ( 105 Main St., Old School Baptist Church ( Village Green )

When: August 6-10, 2012, 9AM- 2PM each day

Cost: $175 per student, $325 siblings (2)

Ages: 8-11

Offerings:
• Learn to spin wool and flax on a spinning wheel with Susan Logothetis.

• Experience a large weaving loom; produce your own weave project.

• Ken Hamilton, a “Woodlands Interpreter” will present a circa 1703 Lenape trade camp scenario; he present as program on wampum production and use. Campers will produce their own string of wampum. Mr. Hamilton will also instruct campers in Iroquois dance choreographing a performance with campers who will also produce authentically constructed costume from local Native American cultures.

• Laurie Seeman and Joanna Dickey of the Strawtown Studio will instruct campers on native plants of the area leading an activity that pairs silhouette portraiture of the late 18th century with a contemporary activity using specimens found in nature.

• Peter Cotul, an Educator from Fort Montgomery Historical Site will lead campers in early fire making and other Revolutionary War era know-how.

• Adriaan Gerber, Blacksmith, will demonstrate his traditional art and lead campers in the creation of their own horseshoe nail ring!

• Educator Pat Reinhardt will lead campers in learning experiences about early vegetable and grain growing. Campers will learn about the production of flax in the 18th and early 19th century Warwick.

• Analyze artifacts and gain new insights into museum work with Dr. Robert Schmick, Executive Director of the Historical Society.

• Learn about simple machines from the past.

• Campers will also learn about stenciling, measuring and weighing in the past, pulling and lifting with black and tackle as well as simple lever systems.

• Campers will see a chair caned with rush grass just like craftsman did in past centuries.

• Tour the Historical Society’s historic homes and its collections.

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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.