Plan A Field Trip

St. Paul’s Church National Historic Site
897 South Columbus Avenue Mt. Vernon, New York 10550
914-667-4116, www/nps.gov/sapa

St. Paul’s Church National Historic Site is pleased to offer its American Revolution Learning Station Program for school classes and similar educational groups, during the school year. We especially encourage visitation for this program from early October - early December, and then mid March through late June. This is an indoor/outdoor program, and the children should dress accordingly. Bag lunches may be eaten afterwards on the lawn. There are no indoor dining facilities, but the site has public restrooms. The program runs about two hours; it is free. Reservations must be made in advance through the site. Please call for reservations, 914-667-4116, or contact us thourgh the on-line request form.

We encourage adult chaperoning (teachers, parents, aides) at about 10-percent of the level of student visitation, or, 3 adults for a group of 30 students. Adults are expected to accompany and supervise students on the learning station circulation, helping to insure that all of the children enjoy the educational benefits of the program. In addition, to help our staff properly prepare, we would appreciate advance notice if there are special needs children coming on particular days, and, especially, if there are handicapped children who might need the ramp to access the church. At St. Paul’s, the students will be learning about the era of the American Revolution, as it relates to this national historic site. In that regard, a basic familiarity with the terms and vocabulary of the American Revolution would be helpful, including: Revolutionary War, George Washington, King George III, Continental Army, British, Hessians, Continental Congress, Declaration of Independence, Patriot and Loyalist.

The program begins with an orientation in the historic (de-consecrated) church building. It includes brief introductions to the learning stations. Students are divided into groups of equal number, and usually visit three learning stations, spending 30 minutes at each. It is very helpful if teachers have already divided the students into groups of equal number prior to arrival. Tolling of the 260-year-old bell, one of the nation’s oldest, signals the move to the next station. Learning stations are staffed by historic interpreter/educators, dressed in period clothes, and by Park Service rangers. The usual schedule of learning stations is:

I – The Museum: Here, students learn history and develop basic skills, including language arts and geography, through an eight question Scavenger Hunt, drawn from our exhibit about the Battle of Pell's Point, fought Oct. 18, 1776, about a mile from the church. A small American brigade delayed the march of a much larger British army, which helped the main body of General Washington’s army to retreat from northern Manhattan to White Plains. Our staff divides the students into small groups, and helps guide the children through the exercise where they work in groups to discover the pertinent information and unscramble eight letters to realize a word with an obvious connection to St. Paul’s. The church was as an American base before the battle and a British field hospital following the engagement.

II – The Historic Cemetery: Students visit the cemetery at St. Paul’s, one of the oldest, continuously used burial yards in the country. An endlessly fascinating learning resource, it is also a real cemetery, and students should observe all standard elements of respect and courtesy -- “don’t be afraid of the yard, but be respectful of it.” In most programs, students sample the life of children in the 18th century by playing with replica hand toys and games that were enjoyed by youngsters around the time of the American Revolution. But the primary activity in the cemetery is learning about early American history, particularly the era of the American Revolution, through the stories, and gravestones, of some of the soldiers and civilians interred in the yard that lived at the time.
It might be helpful in advance to review with the children the basic concept of an inscription on a gravestone, conveying the name, birth and death dates, age, and other information about the deceased. We also explore different symbols and elements of iconography, such as soul effigies, a soldiers’ Trophy of Arms and death heads. Even if you don’t have time to review these, it is helpful to tell the students that stones have different symbols, usually at the top, which were meant to convey different meanings, and they will be explored on the field trip. We also review the different types of gravestones -- sandstone, marble, and granite -- and the reasons why different stones were used at different historical periods. Again, rather than rehearsing the specifics, it is helpful if the students are prepared to see different kinds of rocks, representing different eras. We will also look at epitaphs (short poems) on some of the stones, which usually reveal something about the life of the deceased. Another interesting feature of the cemetery tour is examining and discussing the oldest stones. These crude markers only included initials of the deceased, and we talk about why that was sufficient in a very small colonial village, where people knew each other.

III – The Church: The third learning station is the historic church building at St. Paul’s. Here students learn through an interactive presentation explaining the unusual appearance of the church from the late 1700s, characterized by high walled, family box pews. They gain an understanding of the challenges of staying warm in a building without heat or insulation, including the use of a heat-emitting tin foot-warmer that would have been supplied with burning embers from a hearth. Also demonstrated is a feathered church tickler, used to rouse sleeping congregants when hour-long sermons were the mainstay of a religious service.
In addition, the focus is teaching about the use of the church as a field hospital during the Revolutionary War. This is accomplished through use of a corner alcove that has been arranged to evoke the setting of the building as a wartime field hospital. Set on a table, authentic replica medical instruments -- including the ball forceps, metal bullet probe, skin retractor -- are demonstrated. This is often the most exciting and interesting element of the field trip. Staff will inform the students that the steady flow of military battles in the church vicinity during the war caused most of the local families to evacuate or refugee out. Partly for that reason, there were no services from 1776 until after the Revolutionary War ended, and the church, even though it was not completely finished, emerged as a prize possession for armies campaigning in the region, mostly for use as a field hospital. It was utilized, at different stages of the war, by both sides, and, in all likelihood, many men from the armies passed away in the church.

Teachers interested in additional preparation are encouraged to utilize a curriclum -- "Coming of Age in America" -- that is available through this website.

https://www.nps.gov/sapa/learn/education/coming-of-age-in-america.htm

We look forward to seeing your students at St. Paul's. They are in for a great experience.

Last updated: April 21, 2022

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Mailing Address:

897 South Columbus Avenue
Mount Vernon, NY 10550

Phone:

914 667-4116

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