One of our outings this past week/weekend was to Harpers Ferry. I couldn't wait to share with my children what I had experienced several times growing up. After grumbling about the change in parking arrangements, once we stepped out on the street, everything was as I remembered. That wonderful sense of familiar.
I wanted my children to see this small historical town with the same sense of intrigue I felt when I visited so many years ago. I couldn't wait to show them the shops, where I had climbed the cliff over the railroad tunnel, and especially the museum with John Brown at the gallows. My memory had him dropping - but that's not actually how it works. The museum is EXACTLY the same as when I was a kid, which I guess when translated by current standards is "lame".
I can't say for sure how moved the kids were by the history of this wonderful National Park - but I can hope it was at least a little of how I felt the first time and every time I've stepped back in history at Harpers Ferry.
O.K. Maybe a little ghoulish, and certainly not one of the finer stories in American history, but still a valuable lesson to be learned. If only we would remember the folly of extremism. About 6-7 years ago, we took the boys to Salem, Mass. to see the town where witches were tried. There are all sorts of museums, but the thing that attracted the boys the most was the outdoor statue of Elizabeth Montgomery, depicted in her role of "Bewitched." Sometimes the lesson the kids pick up, is not the one we meant them to get.
ReplyDeleteGreat shots..that wax museum is a little creepy. :) I love the last picture.
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