Field Trip: Dunham Tavern
On April 7, 2001, students in Covenant's Saturday Tutoring Program traveled back in time! Our group of 28 children and 14 adults took a short bus ride to Dunham Tavern Museum on Euclid Avenue, and we were transported back to the days when travelers rode stagecoaches and horses. Dunham Tavern was built in 1824 as a stagecoach stop, and it is the oldest building in Cuyahoga County still on its original foundations. A team of docents led us on tours of the museum, the Heritage Trail and Gardens, and the "Barn in the City".
In the museum, the docents explained that when travelers arrived on a stagecoach and came into the tavern, women sat in the ladies' parlor and passed the time by reading, writing letters, or sewing. The men sat in a separate room called the tap room, where they drank ale, smoked cigars or pipes, and spent their time discussing politics or relaxing. Our group also saw the drivers' room where stagecoach drivers stayed overnight, the bedroom, library, and children's toy room.
It was a warm, sunny day for walking along the Heritage Trail. The trail is a path on the museum's grounds with wooden silhouettes that depict life as it might have been when the Dunham family lived in Cleveland. The students especially liked the silhouette of a horse-drawn stagecoach. They also got to stand on a millstone that was used to grind grain, and they saw a Conestoga wagon.
In the new barn, which is used as an education building, we got to play a fun game called "Facts or Fibs". The president of the museum showed us some of the most unusual antiques from the museum. She asked some students and tutors to explain how each of these strange-looking object might have been used. The rest of the group tried to guess which descriptions were "fibs" and which descriptions were "facts". We learned that early settlers used the objects to cut blocks of sugar, stuff sausage casings, form hats, clean cooking pots, and measure yarn for weaving. Everyone was also invited to take a turn churning butter in the barn, and before we left, we got to taste the fresh butter on crackers!
Our visit helped the students learn how much life has changed in Cleveland since the 1800's. The field trip concluded the eleventh year of Covenant's tutoring program. A record-breaking 213 students from more than 50 elementary and secondary schools were involved in the Saturday sessions. During the year, 107 volunteers from Covenant, local colleges, and the community served as Saturday tutors and 26 volunteers tutored at John Hay High School on Thursday mornings.
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