Our homeschool group arranges one field trip each month. We recently went on a field trip to learn about the history of Sacramento.
Waiting for the tour to begin…
Most of the kids that attended the field trip…
The tour began with a short lecture on the history of Sacramento. We learned how the town would flood every winter and retailers would sell boats in addition to whatever else they sold. There was a huge fire that destroyed the town, and Sacramento decided to build a levy, then raise their town by 40 feet.
The guide shows us an example of an arched doorway that was covered when the town was raised…
At a casual glance, you might not notice anything askew, but with another look, you can see that the middle floor windows are all catty-wampus…
This is an example of typical buildings in Old Sacramento. What is interesting to note is that these are two stories (the yellow is three). When the town was being rebuilt, the owners had the option to keep their building as is, making the first floor the basement, and the second floor the main floor, OR, to raise their whole building to the new street level. The yellow building was raised, the others remained in its original state.
A large part of the tour was undergound, along the original streets. We were not allowed to take pictures underground. One highlight was to stand in the same spot as the Pony Express checkpoint.
The second part of the tour was at the California History Museum. Here, the boys are posing in front of the replica of the original ‘Sacramento Bee’ newspaper…
A woman’s wool swimsuit…
Watching how a canning company transfers canned goods throughout the factory…
Pointing to their favorite fruit on the fruit crates…
We also walked through exhibits focusing on the Gold Rush, the local Native American Indian culture, and life in Sacramento in the early 1900’s.
The grand finale on an already activity and education packed field trip was the opportunity to pan for gold! (In long boxes the museum had out front. It was fun, and addicting!)
Vaya con Dios, Pard’ner…
