Saturday, October 10, 2009

Our field trip to Cowpen's National Battlefield

Tuesday, October 6, 2009, we went on a field trip. We left around 8:30am and drove to Gastonia, NC. There, we went to Mary Jo's Cloth store. What a great place! Fabric everywhere. Much, much, much more than any fabric store around here and at reasonable prices. I bought material for two jumpers - one is a deep purple and the other is Lorraine Blue.

Next we drove to the Discovery Place Museum in Charlotte. Many of the exhibits were closed for renovations, but that just meant we weren't so overwhelmed and the crowds had stayed home. The top floor, where we started, had many experiments for the children to try. Levers, pulleys, wedges, optical illusions - we were entertained there for quite a while. Plus, they had a toddler play area in one corner so Rebekah and I could enjoy some special one-on-one play time.

The floor below had their special exhibit - Pirates and Sunken Treasure. We learned about recovering treasure from below the ocean and how strong hurricanes are, plus saw many artifacts. And of course, the boys loved the pirate-y stuff.

We had intended to go from there to Cowpen's, but it was still early, so we went to King's Mountain National Military Park. We watched a movie about the battle that happen there (239 years, less one day from when we were there), and then walked the Battle Field Trail, with wayside exhibits teaching more about the battle. It was interesting to learn that the battle took place from about 3:00pm to 4:00pm. We did it from 4:00 to 5:00, but if you account for daylight savings time (not used then), we were there about the same time.

From there, we drove to Cowpen's National Battlefield. The Overmountain Victory Trail Volunteers had a program telling, through narration and reenacting, of the journey patriots from Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina took to get to King's Mountain (including an overnight stay at Cowpen's) and of the battle. They even enlisted the children there to help portray tired Patriots. They were supposed to gallop in on pretend horses and then, at the right moment, lie down and pretend to go to sleep. Of course my boys collapsed in exhaustion with exaggerated falls. As Trey noted, "That's what happens when actors marry!" LOL

It was a wonderful day full of opportunities for learning and great memories.