July 2009

Hi! I visited this place last week, but just now had time to write about it. Mom's been cracking the whip lol!

I saw all kinds of buildings on our tour. There was a school house that was built in 1893. It was moved here from another part of NC to show us what schools looked like back then. It had books, slates and we were told about all the rules they had back then. There was a list of how many lashes you got for talking, not saying 'mam, not staying on your side of the school (boys and girls were not to sit or play together) and even lashes for being bad at home!

The house was set on fire a few years ago, so they had to repair some of it, but most of the house and the other buildings are original. There is a smokehouse, outhouse, kitchen, pantry and barn. You'll never guess what they used for toilet paper..... GROSS!!! You gotta go to find out . We got some lye soap that they made there to add to our collection from our adventures. Pretty cool.

My favorite part was the school. It was neat to see and what they learned back then. My mom likes to watch Little House on the Prairie and this was just like it.

Gotta go to start on writing about the places we went to in Durham yesterday. We went to 3 sites in one day! We came back so tired, but had a great time. See ya!

MORE NOTES FROM MOM...

Charles B. Aycock was born in 1859 and was Governor of NC from 1901 - 1905. He was known as North Carolina's "Education Governor" because of his commitment to improving the state's public education system.

This was fun to go see. As Jessica said, I am a "Little House on the Prairie" fan and this schoolhouse was like being in the show . I was very surprised at how rigid the rules were. I don't have the lsit that they did, but this describes some of the rules back then... http://www.jbit.org/guide/index.htm#rules[/b] and http://teachers.eusd.k12.ca.us/encinitas/punishments.htm.

Try to get out there some time. There is a lot of information about a great man.

http://www.nchistoricsites.org/aycock/aycock.htm

When we were on Roanoke Island, we also went to the aquarium. I know it's not a historical place, but I wanted to write about it.

My favorite part of the whole aquarium was the otters. They were playing and swimming all over the place. I also saw turtles (my mom's favorite), fish and alligators.

They had some touch exhibits with shells, crabs, starfish and stingrays. I only played with the shells.

There were some really HUGE sharks in an exhibit called "The Graveyard of the Atlantic".

I came home with an otter and mom a sea turtle stuffed animals from the gift shop. Mom also got a Christmas ornament to put on the tree at Christmas. When we were done, we went over to the fossil dig and found some shark teeth. That was pretty cool.

MORE NOTES FROM MOM...

NC has 3 aquariums to choose from, so no matter what beach you go to this summer, you have an aquarium near you. It's a great family time place to go.

http://www.ncaquariums.com/