Last week we went to Pisgah National Forest and visited the Cradle of Forestry. This was the birthplace o the US Forest Service. Along with a wonderful interactive museum, there are 2 hiking trails to explore. We took one of the hikes with a volunteer tour guide who made the story of how everything started come alive. You could tell that he enjoyed telling the story as much as we enjoyed hearing it. Even though we have been here many times and watched the old movie about this, having someone share stories about the school made it more exciting. All of the characters seemed to come alive because suddenly they weren’t just pictures on a screen or a display. These stories made them like real people with real emotions.
It made me realize how important it is to share some personal stories when trying to get students to learn about a time in history. Just knowing the facts doesn’t make it seem like an event actually happened. By adding emotional impacts to the story, really helps to learn new information and retain it.
If you ever get to visit this place and take a guided tour with Richard, I would highly recommend it! We bought an annual national park pass, so we can get visit as many times as we want and I know we will. I like to see this area in different seasons because there are also many different wildflowers to see! They also have a new movie but I don’t think it gives as much information as the old one.
Have you ever been here? If so, please share about your experience!
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