The Iron Heritage on New York/Connecticut Border

Date: July 10, 2006 - July 13, 2006

Location: Sharon and Kent, CT and Amenia, NY
Contact Hours: 30
Cost: $185 (includes four lunches, one dinner, and Echoes of Iron in Connecticut’s Northwest Corner by Ed Kirby, geologist, teacher, and instructor in this program)
Cutoff Date: June 10, 2006
Click here for Registration Form

Participants will explore the history, industry and industrial archaeology in northwest Connecticut and Dutchess County, New York. Participants will have hands-on opportunity to work as a blacksmith, to make bricks, and to bring back to the classroom their first-hand experience with the Iron Age in this portion of Connecticut and New York. Each day begins and ends at the Sharon Historical Society in Sharon, CT.

Monday, July 10: Introduction to the Iron Heritage Trail (9:00 – 5:00)
9:00 Introduction and Welcome
9:30 “The Iron Industry in Connecticut/New York”
10:45 Teaching the Iron Industry: Hands-on Activities
11:30 “Iron from the Ground Up: The Geology of Iron”
1:30 Walking tour of the Historic Sharon Green
3:00 Blacksmith Demonstration: opportunity for a hands on experience.
Tuesday, July 11: Bus Tour: The Impact of Power (8:30 – 6:00)
9:00 “Making Iron: An Introduction to Forges and Furnaces”
10:00 Beckley Iron Furnace and Museum, North Canaan, CT
12:30 Lime Rock: The Exploration of a Company Town: bus and walking tour
Wednesday, July 12: Bus Tour: Amenia, New York and Kent, CT (9:00-8:00)
9:30 Indian Rock School House, Amenia, NY: Social history, education and daily life between 1852 and 1875
10:45 Walking Tour of Wassaic, New York.
1:00 The Connecticut Mining Museum tour and hands-on brick making activity
2:30 Sloane Stanley Museum Tour
3:15 Historical Walking Tour of Kent
5:00 Seven Hearths, 1754 Historic House Tour
6:00 Dinner at the Fife and Drum
“Industrial Archaeology: Preserving the Monuments of Industry,” by
Victor Rolando, Industrial Archeology Consultant
Thursday, July 13: Transportation and the Future of the Past (9:00-2:30)
9:00 “Moving the Goods: Railroads and The New York to Sharon Canal”
11:00 Curriculum Workshop: Sharon Historical Society k-8 Curriculum Project
12:30 Curriculum Discussion: Forging iron into the curriculum
For further information contact Dr. Peter Feinman at the Institute of History, Archaeology, and Education at 914-939-9071 or email us at: contact@ihare.org