{"id":234,"date":"2012-08-28T07:51:52","date_gmt":"2012-08-28T14:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/windowonyourpast.com\/site\/?page_id=234"},"modified":"2013-07-21T09:44:16","modified_gmt":"2013-07-21T16:44:16","slug":"experience-drury-colonial-tavern-keepers-wife","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/windowonyourpast.com\/site\/historic-interpretation\/experience-drury-colonial-tavern-keepers-wife\/","title":{"rendered":"Experience Drury, colonial tavern keeper’s wife, Ward, MA (1700s)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In the persona of a local historic woman, eighth graders at Auburn Middle School were invited to open the window on colonial Ward, Massachusetts (now Auburn).<\/p>\n

In the classroom students were provided research materials such as maps, vital records, town histories and records to uncover evidence of other “spirits” of Auburn’s past. \u00a0These resources were provided by interested librarians and historical society members. Students worked cooperatively in “spirit family groups” to “flesh out” their characters.<\/p>\n

\"1991<\/a>\u00a0\"1994<\/a><\/p>\n

A field expedition to the Center Burying Ground across from historic Drury’s Tavern completed their research. There, they met with the town historian and genealogist Kay Sheldon and found their “spirit’s” headstone and those of the family buried nearby to compare their evidence found to date. Shaving cream was used to highlight engravings.<\/p>\n

\"1998<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0\"1998<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\"1998<\/a><\/p>\n

As an\u00a0interdisciplinary experience, English classes\u00a0studied\u00a0epitaphs, Science classes discussed the headstone materials and effects of acid rain and lichen over 200 years and Math classes measured headstones and plotted headstones in the cemetery.<\/p>\n

\"1992<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"1998<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"1994<\/a><\/p>\n

The culminating activity was coming dressed in costume as their “spirit” to the classroom version of Drury’s Tavern to introduce themselves to other town “spirits” over corn bread and apple cider. \u00a0Students were armed with an 8 x 11\u00a0silhouette\u00a0listing the basic information the had found with source citations. \u00a0The teacher, as Experience Drury, welcomed the colonial spirits with a brief discussion about her business and then served corn bread and apple cider while\u00a0evaluating and encouraging each student’s understanding of their “spirit”. \u00a0That night’s homework \u00a0was to write a diary entry of the day’s visit with six other colonial spirits. \u00a0The silhouettes created a wonderful bulletin board to share discoveries with their school.<\/p>\n

\"Drury<\/a>
Classroom Drury Tavern, Auburn Middle School, Auburn, MA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"2005<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"1994<\/a>\u00a0\"1992<\/a><\/p>\n

One year, students were so enthusiastic that they asked if they could visit the town’s elementary schools to introduce their “spirits” and give a brief tale of their colonial town. \u00a0It was a huge success because they presented in small groups so that even the shyest student was able to speak before a group. \u00a0They had become historical interpreters!<\/p>\n

\"2003<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"2001<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"2001<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the persona of a local historic woman, eighth graders at Auburn Middle School were invited to open the window on colonial Ward, Massachusetts (now Auburn). In the classroom students were provided research materials such as maps, vital records, town histories and records to uncover evidence of other “spirits” of Auburn’s past. \u00a0These resources were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":12,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/windowonyourpast.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/234"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/windowonyourpast.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/windowonyourpast.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/windowonyourpast.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/windowonyourpast.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/windowonyourpast.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":236,"href":"http:\/\/windowonyourpast.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/234\/revisions\/236"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/windowonyourpast.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/windowonyourpast.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}