Tannehill Park day

Today we had the best day.  The children and I went to "homeschool day" at Tannehill State Park.   It is where iron was made in the large iron furnaces.  The land around Tannehill has the three things needed to make iron- coal, limestone and iron ore.  

 

We started the day with a docent-led tour of the awesome Iron and Steel Museum of Alabama.

I haven't used a stroller in almost a year, but I had a feeling I would need one today.  Little Charlie tends to wear out quickly.  He had a great time being pushed around- up the mountainside, across gravel- I'm so glad I got the stroller out of storage!

After the museum tour we went to the one-room schoolhouse where the school Marm told us all about games children would play, things they would learn,   It was a very interesting and thorough presentation.

After the school house we went to see the Tannehill Iron Forges along the river.  One was built in 1830- two others were built during the civil war to provide weapons for the South.

Sadly, Union troops burned down this and other iron forges during the civil war causing economic devastation in the area.

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The Sons of Vulcan blacksmiths gave a great lesson on the history and importance of blacksmiths-

Picnic time-

Then they worked on etching designs into molds that were later used for metal casting!

And we played for a long time in the creek- they love to jump from one side to the other-

I don't know why they were matching- it's just what I do sometimes.  :)

The Sons of Vulcan showed the children how to melt down old oxygen tanks in an oven-

Then they poured the liquid metal onto the molds-

Once they harden up in a few minutes- pop them out of the molds into a bucket of water-

Then sand down the rough edges-

Four happy campers!  A great day with my favorite babies!