This is History

July 15, 2013 Posted by: Evana Williams

During this week July 9 – 11 we worked on many things such as making trails and cleaning important artifacts. On Tuesday we went to the Vermont Institute of Natural Science in Quechee. There we got to work on a trail that would help people who have a hard time getting around the site to be able get around the trails in an easier way.  While working at the park we worked alongside a group called Rivers and Trails that is a group of high-school girls that come from different locations to do trail work.            

This project was very interesting and exciting for me because I love making trails. I find it fun and I feel like I am helping people get to see the wonders of the world without hurting nature. This trail was an interesting project because of the type of work you did and all the measuring and materials you need in order to complete it in a way where is doesn't look like it was put there. I have never made a trail like this before. This trail suppose too look like it wasn't put there, but made by nature. I didn't get to see the finished product, but from where we left we had gotten a lot done and I know it's going to be wonderful. I know people are going to be grateful that this trail is here now.  Making this particular trail was very exciting; we are able to help people who have a hard time getting about making it easier for them to see the beauties of life.             

For the rest of the week we went to a national historic site called Saint-Gaudens. Where the historic site is at now is where this artist named Augustus Saint-Gaudens lived. He was mostly famous for his sculpturing of Civil War Memorials. He was one of the greatest American sculptors in history. Some of his work was the Shaw Memorial which stood for to honor Civil War Col. Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th Regiment, the Standing Lincoln, the Diana, and the Adams Memorial. He created over 150 pieces. The ones I listed were the ones that we got to clean and wax. I never knew anything about Augustus before I came here. I am glad I did get to learn something about American history that I didn't know before. As long as I lived in Boston I didn't know the Shaw Memorial was there. I am proud to have learned about this memorial and know the history of it.

The statues we worked with were made of bronze. If you don't treat this type of material and clean it the right way it can get bronze disease over the years. Because most of these statues are outside, the weather affects these statues very much. Over time these statues will get green which is how many statues look in big cities that are outside because no one take cares of them. Eventually these statues will no longer be there if not taken care of. To many people, cleaning these statues would be pretty silly but after learning about these statues I don't find it silly at all. This is history. A man took his time to sculpt many beautiful pieces about the history of America. And as a SCA member I am proud to be able to be of service to help keep these statues clean so that many people for thousands and thousands of years will be able to see these pieces  of history.