Jr ranger: Saugus Iron Works

When you speak of Saugus, well, it is not a tourist hot spot of Massachusetts (really, how many of you can place it on a map?).  However, the old iron works site is there and we went.  I had never been to it and had no idea where it was in Saugus.  (It is slightly east of route 1, in a neighborhood).   Upon entering the visitor center the ranger pulled out a binder and allowed little man and baby bro to pick out 3 sheets to complete around the park.   We then went to the museum to look at artifacts and, "ooh mommy, look, a movie", within 10 seconds of entering said museum.  So we watched a brief history of the ironworks and I wondered if my boys understood that the movie is a recreation of the 1630s.  I digress.  After the movie, we walked to the buildings (built to look like what the buildings would have looked like and using archeological evidence for the sites).   By the way, this site is in the middle of a neighborhood.  It was kinda interesting to walk down a path to antique buildings and see through the chain link fence someone's grill.   There are 4 main buildings on the site and if the ranger is around they will start up the water wheels to run the bellows or the 500 lb hammer (another place that would have been useful to have earplugs).   We learned the difference between iron ore and cast iron.  We also found out about sluicing and sludge piles.  It was an interesting visit.   I wonder if there are more activities (ie fires going and blacksmiths working) during peak visiting times.   We were the only visitors for most of our time there.   Little man did ask to go back, bring daddy, and not do the Jr. Ranger Program.  

Jr park ranger: Boston Harbor Islands

If you plan your trip well, you can take a boat into Boston Harbor and visit several islands in one day.   We made this trip after church and lunch, so we only saw one island.    There are many islands in Boston Harbor and many offer a wide variety of events and activities.    You can climb a lighthouse, visit a fort, watch a concert, pick up seaglass, camp (very rustic) and play games.    We visited Spectacle Island, watched a concert given by Berklee Jazz students and found treasures on the beach.   Some of the treasures included sea glass, pottery and bricks.    The only rule here is that you leave whatever you find for the next adventurer to find.   Spectacle Island was home to a factory and a dump.   The seaglass and various other "treasures" found on the beach are artifacts from that time.    Spectacle Island has two large drumlins (hills made from glaciers), however, these drumlins were helped by the big dig.   Apparently, the dirt dug out from under Boston was "reused" at the island.   There are great views of the airport, Boston and other islands from the top of the drumlins.   

On the ferry to the island we completed the Boston Harbor Islands Junior Park Ranger booklet and received the painted badge (on the island from a ranger).    Once on the island we completed  the Spectacle Island Jr. Park Ranger booklet and received the Spectacle Island badge.    There is also a badge for Georges Island, Peddocks Island and camping on the islands.   

Jr ranger program: Yorktown

Yorktown national park has. Jr ranger program.  Buy it for $1 in the gift shop (no need to buy the prize at the end).  To complete the program you have to walk around one of the battle sites (you can drive all over the area to see the sites), watch the movie (we watched the surrender and skipped the fighting scenes) and partake in a ranger lead program.  The boys learned about leisure time.  We took a free trolley ride into Yorktown and toured one of the bullet/ cannon ball riddled houses only to discover that the cannon balls are merely decorative.  Yes the house was hit by the shells.  They didn't stick. :)

The boys earned a patch here.  

Jr ranger program: Historic Jamestowne

The Historic Triangle is made up of: Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown, Virginia.   These areas are home to one of the first settlements in the 1600s, the Colonial Capital of Virginia set up to tour Revolutionary War times, and Yorktown, the place where the British lay down their arms in defeat.  It is an interesting road trip for anyone who likes history or wants to know more about this country.   The suggestion from the tour books is to do the tours in the order listed above.   We did not follow this, but can understand the logic behind the plan.   The idea to follow history, as it's happening, is great, especially for younger kids who can then "see" progress being made.    Jamestown has two sites to visit, the National Historic Park Historic Jamestowne and  the Jamestown Settlement, which has a tourist-y feel with houses to go through, boats to tour, and a Native American village to wander through.

At Historic Jamestowne,  the Junior Ranger Program is a paid program.  You pay $1 for the booklet and some change for the patch.  We voted to do the free Pocahontas scavenger hunt instead.

For Pocahontas, you scour the original site of Jamestown, looking for small placards with a name of something on them.  You put, said name, into the clue box to determine where Pocahontas went.  Anyone, (adult) who knows their history can put the answer in at the end, and then guess at the clue boxes... (we had a tough time finding one placard... reading descriptions of holes in the ground wasn't helpful!).  Jamestown itself is rather boring.  There are a couple of buildings to look at and many holes in the ground where archeology is happening.  There's are also a lot of grave-sites. Little man was curious to know how every.single.person. died, seriously.  Jamestown, historically, was not a booming success.  They lost most of their population the first year and given that many of them were not farmers nor use to working with their hands they were ill prepared for the winter.  Some even took to cannibalism when the going got tough, to the point where they all hopped on a ship ready to head back to England when another ship came to harbor with supplies.  Well, they ended up staying, had some fights with the locals, moved inland, and....Hello, Revolutionary War.  The museums at Jamestown are loaded with artifacts and interesting information, a movie too,(we skipped the movie).  The walk to the original site was nice.  The weather was in our favor.  We talked a lot about how hard life was for the pilgrims.  At the end of the scavenger hunt the boys got a backpack (a cinch top nylon) for determining that Pocahontas went to England.  I did not take any pictures of the holes in the ground.  

Jr Park Ranger: Boston

Boston, MA has two ranger programs.  Boston Freedom Trail and Charlestown.  (There are other jr. ranger programs for the Boston Harbor Islands).   We got the Boston packet at Faneuil Hall and went through the hall to complete the activities and got the pin.   There were many activities that required visits to sites along the Freedom Trail, however, we worked on the much of that at home (the Rangers were calling it a day when we go there).   The packet has information for the 2.5 mile walk on the Freedom Trail.   The Charlestown packet takes you to the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill.

If you complete both packets you get a Super Ranger Pin.

Jr Park Ranger: Valley Forge

Valley forge is a park that you have to drive..unless of course you like walking 10 miles with two cranky kids.   The area has a lot of canons and interesting buildings to walk through. Our favorite was walking through the house George Washington stayed in.   Completing the Jr. Park Ranger program wasn't too difficult.   We had to make sure that we were looking at the right objects to answer some of the questions.  :)

Valley Forge was the chosen "wintering" place for the troops.  There weren't any battles there, however, they were on constant vigilance, there could be Regulars about.   From one of the hills they could see Philadelphia and would monitor the troops there.   The soldiers built their own log cabins.   Washington rented a house that seemed to have many more comforts than that of his troops!

The kiddos liked running through the fields, going through the covered bridge and seeing the train station.

Pinterest project: birthday cake

Baby Bro's 3rd birthday cake.  I was a little overzealous and not good with my time.   My neighbor helped and encouraged me to finish the entire thing.   2 large bags of M & Ms and 45 minutes of work (30 minutes alone and 15 minutes with 2 of us).

L

Jr park ranger. Lowell

In Lowell, there are old Mills that have not been converted to condos.    If you start at the Visitor's Center there is a video about the time of mills (we skipped it) and a kiddos area (try your hand at weaving and driving the trolley).   We then walked along the canals to a park (maybe 0.5 miles) that had an old Boarding House to tour and a Mill.   The mill did have a fee to enter (I think it was $9 for 1 adult and 1 child).   The Boarding House was free.  The boarding house had a couple of rooms to look at, letters and stories from the girls who lived/worked there, and a piece about immigration in Lowell.   The boys were not as interested in this place (if you lean over the ropes into their rooms that they've set up an alarm, that will go off....not sure if the boys were scared or intrigued...we didn't set it off). 

The Jr Ranger Program packet, consisted of a tic-tac-toe board to find sites in Lowell (if you walk the canals, from the Visitor Center to the Boarding House you see all of them), a dot-to-dot and various activities to be completed in the Visitor Center, Boarding House and Mill.    The Boarding House had a couple of rooms set up as if it were 100 years ago.   Eat dinner with 50 of your closest roommies, read letters from the girls who lived there and try to imagine working 14 hours a day, running home for a 30 minute lunch and then back to work.   We happened to go to the mills on a day that Lowell was offering a free concert for the kiddos (with free healthy snacks!).  So, we had a picnic in the park, listened to info about dinosaurs (that was the concert) and then toured the Boarding House. 

  When touring the mill, kids can wear an apron, do a time stamp of when they entered the mill and complete various activities.   The first room you go through is a weaving room.  It is a giant room, they offer you ear plugs before you go in...  The room houses many looms (there would have been more had the walkway for the visitors not been there).   The belts going to the gears on the looms were all running and as we walked by a worker (with ear plugs in) started up four or five looms.  The smacking, clacking of wood in addition to the sound of the belts flying made baby bro cry and Little Man remarked on the loudness of the area.   What was amazing was how quickly one could get a headache in there and that was with only a handful of the looms going.   I can't imagine the racket with every loom in the building (there were at least 3 floors) going, let alone the entire town.

The activities for the kiddos began on the second floor.   They could try their hand at spinning wool into thread, carding wool (with the scary mallets and a machine), and weaving.   They enjoyed the weaving the most.  There was a lot of historical articles and things to read, but the boys were more interested in playing with the clothing (that had prices to let you know how much money actually went to the people making the clothing...very little) and rebuilding Lowell from a Mill City to a 21st century city.   

After tour the mill we were able to get our pins (saying the Park Ranger Oath) at the Mill itself!  We then boarded a free trolley back to the Visitor Center.   

Jr. Ranger Program: Charlestown

There are two main sites in Charlestown. Bunker Hill and the USS Constitution.  The USS Constitution is the oldest comissioned warship that is still floating and active.   By active, it does a turn around tour through the harbor every Fourth of July.    The monument on Bunker Hill is famous for being quite similar to the Washington Monument in DC.  It is also famous for being a misnamed hill.   See, many people don't realize that there are two hills relatively close to each other in Charlestown, Bunker and Breeds.  If you lived in Boston in the 1770s you would know the hills as Bunkers Hills.  If you were outside of Boston you would know there were hills that probably had a name.   However, in Charlestown you knew that they were more distinguished than just Bunkers.  So the battle and monument are in fact on Breeds Hill (with a trail onto Bunker Hill).  However, calling it Bunker Hill really isn't a falsehood either.  While at the USS Constitution go to the USS Constitution Museum and the USS Cassin Young, a naval warship from WWII.

Jr Ranger Program: Fredricksburg

The civil war battle grounds at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania were fought upon 3 different times. The war was fought in 3 different areas within a couple of miles of each other.  The damage is still evident today.   At the Fredricksburg battlefield you can see a video (we skipped it) and build a pontoon.  From there we walked the Sunken Road battle ground. (It was close to closing time when we got there, so we did as much as we could quickly to earn the badge).  We saw the Innis house, riddle with bullets.  We were going to climb the cemetery hill to witness Lee's view of town, however, the gate was closed. We did go to the Salem Church and saw the damage inside and outside of that building.  Little Man was amazed by the amount of damage on the houses and thought it would be scary to be there during the battle. 

If you complete all three battlefields' (in this area) Junior Ranger Programs, you get 3 patches that circle a main patch.  We only did one Ranger Program.

Jr Ranger: Vermont Parks

Vermont state parks have junior ranger programs, (who knew?). They aren't associated with the National Parks Jr. Ranger Program.   The nature center has a booklet to fill out about parks and features.   Once filled out you bring it back and get a patch.  This can be done and returned at any park.   The booklet does require quite a bit of Vermont knowledge, so find a friend or be prepared to google it!

Jr Ranger: Minuteman National Park

Minuteman national park in Lexington, Concord and Lincoln, MA has a junior ranger program.  Children need to fill out a packet and return it to one of the two ranger stations.

The kiddos liked the interactiveness of the movie about the Revolutionary War.   There were some loud noises which baby brother didn't like, however, there weren't any battle scenes (like other parks we've been to).    After the visitors center in Lincoln, we drove to a Tavern for a tour and walk along Battle Road.  Unfortunately, it was closed the day we were there.  When they are open, you can tour it see items that would have been there during the Revolutionary War and watch a musket firing.   We concluded our trip with the North Bridge.  The field does flood in the spring, so you can't always get to the Concord Visitor Center if you stop at the bridge side parking lot.  The picture below shows the flooded area this year.  The left hand side shows the bridge (this photo is from the Visitor Center's garden).

As far as the ranger program: The boys liked the activities.  They were especially fond of the bingo page.   Some of the activities seemed a bit forced, (i.e. find all of the 20th century items in the house... very photoshopped) given the history of this place, I think that there could be better activities.   They earned a pin at this site.