Field Trip to Historic Oak View

We've been so lucky lately! Got another invite from the kindergarten co-op to join them on their field trip to the Historic Oak View County Park. And we even hitched a ride with Mrs. Erin and her boys. Totally freeloading here, let me tell ya!

Historic Oak View is a really amazing place, worth a visit any time of the year. We've been there before, just on our own. But turns out, they offer docent-led tours that cost $15 per group. There's no minimum group size requirement, so you can actually have yourself a private tour. And let me tell you, going through the plantation with a tour guide is very illuminating. Plus you get to see the main house!

M was happy to go because a) Oak View is one of his favorite places and b) Mrs. Erin has like the coolest playlist put together, including Star Wars theme song. Plus he gets to push a button that activates the sliding doors on her minivan. Not to mention he gets to go on a ride with his friends and chew gum!

But back to the Oak View tour. We started at the barn and kids got to try their hands at farm chores - milking a cow, collecting eggs, bringing hay for the horse and water for the pigs. Nope, they didn't get to shovel manure. They also got to pet Nubian goats.

We then went to the cotton field and got to pick cotton and on to another barn to try to clean cotton by hand and then with a hand-cranked gin. Also talked about how little children of the slaves, kids as young as 5, had to work in the fields all day long every day.

After a brief tour of the main house, kids got to try their hand at doing laundry the old-fashioned way and then whip butter in the colonial kitchen. This is M's favorite building on the entire plantation. So after the tour was over and we all had our picnic lunches, he asked to go back to the kitchen. He's absolutely fascinated with all those old utensils, tools, cast iron cookware and a huge fireplace.

Once again, I got out our good old "Colonial Cook" book. For now we don't read it, but instead just talk about the pictures and why something was done the way it was and how things are different now.