Civil War Quest - Viewing American History Through a Local Lens

Civil War Quest Outline & Assessment Lesson 1:Introduction Lesson 2:Civil War in your local Cemetery Lesson 3:Using 19th century maps Lesson 4: Using the U.S. 1860 Census Lesson 5:On-line Resources Lesson 6: Secondary Sources Lesson 7: Primary Sources Lesson 8: Making a Map Lesson 9: Movement Clues Lesson 10:Teaching Clues Lesson 11:Pulling it all together Lesson 12: Testing & Editing your Quest Lesson 13: Sharing your work Lesson 14: Student products Glossary Bibliography

Introduction

What is a Quest?

A Quest is a community treasure hunt that guides people through-and teaches them how to see-a unique community story or place. The "treasure" might be a natural feature in the community (e.g. a particular watershed, park, wetland), or a cultural site (the oldest building, first gravestone), or perhaps the setting for the unfolding of a particular story (our town's role in the American Civil War). Quests can be made by individuals or small groups; by classrooms or scout troops working as a group; or by youth groups and adult community partners working together collaboratively. For each Quest, participants create:

Verse clues – that guide and teach “Questers” as they move through a site
A Quest map – that illustrates the Quest and prevent visitors from getting lost; and
A hidden “treasure box” at the end of the Quest, which contains a site scrapbook, a sign-in guest book, and a unique, hand-carved rubber stamp.

Once a Quest has been created, children, families and adults search for the hidden treasure boxes as they discover their community's landscape and heritage. Families head out Questing on holiday outings and for children's birthday parties; daycare programs, schools and camps utilize Quests for educational field trips; local adults and visiting tourists enjoy Quests as well. All these people benefit-and learn-from your Quest-making.

"I have been so amazed at where these Quests are taking us! I knew there was some sort of lake in Windsor.but I had no idea how beautiful it was! We just completed the Jonathan Wyman Saw Mill Quest in Cornish today. I was taken aback that such a beautiful place existed practically in my backyard (we are from Cornish). I highly recommend these Quests to anyone who is interested in nature and history. These are fabulous and have made our summer one of the best in many years."
- Email from program participant, July 2006

A Brief History of Questing

Questing was born out of a 150-year-old tradition in the region surrounding Dartmoor National Park, in southwest England. There, people-from toddlers and teens to parents and pensioners-don their Wellington boots, and following maps and rhyming riddles, traipse the moors in search of hidden boxes. "Letterboxing," as the tradition is called, has become a popular pastime with thousands of boxes hidden in natural and cultural locations.

Vital Communities adapted Letterboxing, and in partnership with local teachers and students established Valley Quest, a community-based, sense-of-place education program. Ten years later, student and community groups across Vermont and New Hampshire's Upper Valley region have created more than 200 distinct Quests. The Quests lead to favorite trees, hilltop overlooks, forgotten cemeteries, historic villages, old mill sites, forests, wetlands, and more. Several thousand students have participated in the program, and in fall of 2005, the Valley Quest program was awarded NEEEA's "Environmental Program of the Year" award.

"Valley Quest has done for the humanities what high quality science museums have done for science. This hands-on approach brings new interest and connects teachers and children to their communities in very concrete and meaningful ways. This is an approach with enormous promise and should be considered a national model."
- James Doneski, New Hampshire Humanities Council

How Questing Works

"Wisdom sits in places," writes anthropologist Keith Basso, quoting an Apache elder. Places are physical spaces in which particular elements are gathered, unique things have happened, and where traces, clues and stories linger.

No matter where you live, your community is full of interesting places. As you begin to investigate, you will discover that each place consists of smaller elements (or pieces) that nest together into larger discernable patterns and that these patterns reveal processes: the stories of your community. The stories might be geological or geographical: stories of human movement and settlement; of distinctive neighborhoods or industries; or of native flora and fauna; of local heroes and events. For example, there is a natural depression where rainwater and snowmelt collect and amphibians lay their eggs … a vernal pool. Or: All these buildings here are made of brick, and date from the 1830s and 1840s. Pick up a handful of earth from that hillside. What does it feel like? This is clay … here was our community’s brickyard. Or: Here are the places that tell us about our town’s participation in the American Civil War.

Acknowledgements

This unit was initially developed by Steve Glazer (Valley Quest) and Jen Boeri-Boyce (Hartford Middle School) in 2005. It was deepened with the thoughtful and energetic assistance of Julie B. Barnes.

The following teachers contributed to the creation, testing and editing of the lessons contained in the Civil War Quest: Marguerite Ames (Marion Cross School), Jen Brown (Dummerston School), Sarah Rooker (Flow of History), Ros Seidel (Cornish Elementary School), and John Souter (Woodstock Elementary School). Students at Plymouth State University (Department of Heritage Studies) and Antioch New England Graduate School (Department of Education) contributed as well.

Generous support for the development and publication of the Civil War Quest was provided by The Bay and Paul Foundations and The Flow of History.