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You are here: Home / Archaeology / Students across the Middle Peninsula: Fairfield’s Educational Outreach in 2018

December 21, 2018 By Fairfield Foundation Leave a Comment

Students across the Middle Peninsula: Fairfield’s Educational Outreach in 2018

Since our founding in 2000, the Fairfield Foundation has been dedicated to involving the community in our efforts to discover and preserve local history through hands-on learning experiences. These include public dig days, lab nights,school programs and activities at local events and festivals.


Victoria Gum excavates with young volunteers at the
Gloucester Daffodil Festival in March 2018

We offer educational programming to schools across the Middle Peninsula (see our map here!) and surrounding areas. Our goal is to provide place-based learning experiences that integrate archaeology into class curricula and demonstrate how subjects like math, science and history are applied in our field.


Ashley McCuistion teaches 5th grade students about archaeology and artifacts during a program at Achilles Elementary in October 2018

We are excited to report that in 2018 we conducted 31 educational programs in 16 public and private schools in Gloucester, Mathews, Middlesex, Williamsburg, Yorktown and Norfolk. These included classroom visits and field trips to local archaeological sites, including Fairfield Plantation, Woodville School and the CAPE (Center for Archaeology, Preservation and Education). As of this year we have collaborated with 9 of the 10 schools in Gloucester County, reaching nearly every Kindergarten and 2nd grade student at Bethel Elementary, every 1st grade student at Botetourt Elementary, every 4th grade student at Petsworth Elementary, and every 5th grade student at Achilles Elementary!


Dave Brown washes artifacts with 2nd grade students during a program at
Botetourt Elementary in November 2018

In addition to school programs, we worked with kids from Gloucester, Mathews and Suffolk through the Beaverdam Park, Mathews YMCA, Suffolk Public Library and Gloucester History summer camps. Our activities with these groups ranged from artifact washing and excavation to pottery making and “atlatl” challenges (kids throw a tennis ball at a cardboard mammoth and calculate the distance thrown with their arm vs. an atlatl-like throwing device).


Thane Harpole excavates with young volunteers at the Mathews May Faire in May 2018

In total we introduced over 1,700 children and students to archaeology through these programs this year, but our outreach efforts didn’t stop there! We hosted seven public dig days at Fairfield Plantation, the Bailey Site, the Hogge site, New Quarter Park and St. Paul’s Church this year, as well as three public artifact wash days at the CAPE and Suffolk Public Library.  These wash days are in addition to our weekly lab nights, when we welcome the public to join us at the CAPE to wash artifacts and participate in other lab activities.


Bethel Elementary students visit the CAPE to wash artifacts and mend ceramics in May 2018

We participated in 14 festivals and events this year as well, including public digs at the Gloucester Daffodil Festival, Mathews May Faire and Mathews Market Days. We also had educational booths at the Urbanna Oyster Festival, Stratford Hall Trades Faire and the Day of Archaeology Festival in Washington, D.C.


Anna Rhodes excavates with young volunteers at the
Gloucester Daffodil Festival in March 2018

We’re very proudof our outreach efforts this year, and we look forward to even more opportunities in 2019! If you are interested in participating in one of our educational programs or having us visit your classroom, please email Ashley McCuistion at ashley@fairfieldfoundation.org!


Thane Harpole and Rebecca Guest at the Urbanna Oyster Festival in November 2018
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Filed Under: Archaeology, Education Tagged With: archaeology, Educational Outreach, Gloucester County

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Center for Archaeology, Preservation and Education (CAPE)

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Grounds are open to the public to view our building exterior and signage. CAPE tours are available by appointment only due to the pandemic.
6783 Main Street
Gloucester, VA 23061

News From the Blog

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  • Gloucester’s Public School Past: Archaeology and Artifact Update! December 9, 2020

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For more information about Fairfield and other historic resources on the Middle Peninsula, please contact us. We can arrange tours of the Fairfield site and deliver presentations on a variety of topics related to local history and archaeology.

The Fairfield Foundation
P.O. Box 157 White Marsh VA 23183
Phone:
(804) 815-4467
Email:
fairfield@fairfieldfoundation.org
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