For the first time in almost 20 years, Sands Ring Homestead hosted field trips for local students. Last week, Cornwall’s nine fourth-grade classes toured the 18th-century museum.
The homestead was built in 1760 by Nathaniel Sands. In the 1970s, local students began to make annual visits, but the program ended when the district couldn’t continue to fund it. In 2012, the homestead closed due to a leaking roof. It reopened four years later on July 2.
The kids in Greg Zwickel’s Cornwall-on-Hudson class were the first of more than 300 students to step through the door. Their tour guide greeted them in colonial attire, creating a buzz of chatter amongst the students.
The tour took the students through the meeting room and the guest bedroom, as well as the additional bedrooms upstairs. One of the rooms contained some children’s toys, which led to a discussion about the lack of electronics and what children might do for entertainment.
They learned the rooms had low ceilings and children would share a bed to keep one another warm during the cold winters.
The students inquired why the windows have tiny bubbles in them and it was explained they are the original glass blown windows made over 250 years ago.
Upon completing the tour, the students got to churn butter and try it on freshly made cornbread, also known as Johnny Cakes.
“They loved it,” Zwickel said. “They were gobbling it up. The tour guide said once you have this butter, you might not want butter from the store.”
Then the class made dolls out of corn husks. They even used a quill pen to sign their names in a guest book.
Upon returning to their school, the students wrote about their experience in their writers’ notebooks.
“Overall it was so great for the kids to be able to go back there,” Zwickel said. “It was very enjoyable. I was grateful for the kids to have that opportunity again.”
