Some fourth-grade students from Judith Giacoma Elementary School in Westville got a hands-on history lesson Thursday. They are the first students this spring to tour the Vermilion County Museum and Fithian Home (the old museum building).
(In the top photo the students visit the room where Abraham Lincoln slept. In the bottom photo the students stop by the Georgetown room at the museum.)
After learning about some of the early settlers of Vermilion County, they were also bussed to some of their final resting places at Springhill Cemetery.
Sue Richter, Director of the Vermilion County Museum, says the goal is to help the students learn about local history….
{AUDIO: ‘’I think that the main theme that is stressed is – you can tell them people lived, but all of them say – ‘well now we know where they died, where they’re buried.’ It makes it seem like they’re real people to them.’’}
Richter noted some of the tombstones the students saw walking through the cemetery….
{AUDIO: ‘’We went to the Soldier’s Circle. We went to Stella Barkley’s. We did the Fithians, and the Williams, and the Woodbury’s (grave sites). Oscar Harmon. We did Clara Palmer. We did Cannon and his family. We went and showed them where the Jewish section of the cemetery is, and then some of the unusual burial spots – ending-up back here at Tom Nichols – our Gypsy.’’}
Thursday’s visit by Cheyenne Blakeley and Bek Holt’s classes from Westville were the first of many scheduled this spring for area schools.
