Our "1861" program looks at local history through the eyes of Morven Park from October, 1859 when John Brown began his slave insurrection at Harpers Ferry just to the northwest (we were terrified) through the Battle of Ball’s Bluff--on Thomas Swann’s land—in October of 1861. A

plantation of an active politician and slaveholder and a bloody Civil War battlefield—that’s what you’ll visit to understand the coming of the Civil War to Loudoun. Morven Park has the added advantage of being local to help you save on travel time and fuel.

LOCATION: The grounds and outbuildings of former Baltimore Mayor Thomas Swann, Jr. at Morven Park, near Leesburg; the Winmill Collection of carriages and horse-drawn vehicles also at Morven Park; the Civil War encampment of the 17^th Mississippi Volunteer Infantry on the grounds of Morven, and Balls Bluff Battlefield (3 miles away).

LENGTH OF PROGRAM: A full school day.

AVAILABLE TO: 6^th graders

AVAILABLE WHEN: March through June, al-though other times may be available by asking. Please book early to avoid disappointment!

HOW MANY STUDENTS CAN BE ACCOMODATED AT ONE TIME? We can take 70 students plus chaperones and teachers on a day. Typically, a middle school teacher will book multiple days, such as two consecutive days (70 students each day) to correspond with their every-other day block scheduled classes (even-day classes one day, odd-day classes the other day). We divide each day’s group of 70 into two groups so that our interpreters work with smaller groups of about 35, which is more personal and allows more effective staff interaction with the students. You will need two busses for the program.

FORMAT OF PROGRAM: A series of sequential interactive vignettes on a variety of locations at Morven Park and at Balls Bluff Battlefield are used. We employ excellent story-telling, artifacts, documents and photographs in the vignettes. We work to involve and provoke the students such that questions and images remain.

LUNCH FACILITIES? Picnic lunch facilities and restrooms are available at Morven Park.

COST: $1.00 per student, teachers free, chaperones free (at one chaperone per 10 students).

1. The "new rich" in America’s Industrial Revolution. Thomas Swann Jr. made the money to build Morven Park as we see it today as president of the B & O Railroad.
2. The changing big city before the War: Baltimore (the South’s biggest city). Morven Park’s Thomas Swann, Jr. was Mayor of Baltimore and came to Morven for weekends and vacations (his retreat from the fast pace of big city life). We use Swann’s experiences and our horse-drawn vehicle collection here—including a horse-drawn Silsby steam fire engine and other commercial vehicles—to consider the changing big cities and their issues, including slavery.
3. Slavery in the "rural paradise" of Loudoun and at Morven Park, the Underground Railroad in Loudoun, a case study of a Morven slave, and the profound uneasiness of slaveholders before the War.
4. The rising panic in our region following John Brown’s Raid and the resulting actions.
5. The Presidential Election of 1860 in Mayor Swann’s Baltimore and in Loudoun County.
6. Christmas, 1860 at Morven Park—an uneasy time (will Virginia secede?).
7. Fort Sumter, April, 1861: Secession and the reaction of Loudoun and Virginia.
8. How a Confederate soldier in the Civil War was equipped, including a demonstration of a Civil War musket.
9. The Civil War comes to Morven Park—encampments here by Confederate troops (the

8^th Virginia Volunteer Infantry from Loudoun, Fairfax, Prince William, and Fauquier camped here as did the 17^th Mississippi); we’ll visit the location of the 17^th Mississippi encampment and show you a reproduction of the huts the Mississippians built for the winter of 1861-62.

10. The Battle of Ball’s Bluff, October 21, 1861. This bloodbath saved Leesburg temporarily from Federal troops, but illustrates perfectly the horrors of the Civil War. We study this very visual battlefield experience on the eerie, haunted (yes!) rough terrain that was the Ball’s Bluff Battlefield, part of the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority. At the end of this battle, Union soldiers were pushed over the 85’ bluffs into the Potomac; many drowned. We’ll stand there. Above all, this site brought the reality of war home to Americans. We end with a brief but moving ceremony on the graves of "unknown" soldiers at the tiny military cemetery there.

6^th GRADE VIRGINIA SOLs EXAMINED IN THIS FIELD TRIP: USI 8c USI 8d USI 9b USI 9c USI 9a USI 9e USI 9f

Morven Park offers local 4^th grade students a chance to "spruce" up their science education studies with a simple-to-arrange relaxing field trip on the grounds of Morven Park examining the uses and identification of some two dozen types of trees, their processes, as well as how trees differ. Once the estate of former Virginia Governor Westmoreland Davis and his wife Marguerite, Morven Park has an intriguing collection of trees, both those common to the South, and those more rare. It’s a beautiful place to study American trees. Many teachers have found this a useful complement to a longer but less than full day field trip—such as the visit to the one-room Second Street School at Waterford or a program at the Loudoun Museum.

LENGTH OF PROGRAM: 2 hours

AVAILABLE TO: 4^th graders

AVAILABLE WHEN: May, June, September, and October, Monday through Friday.

HOW MANY STUDENTS CAN BE ACCOMODATED AT ONE TIME? 40 students at a time. However, we are willing to work with your needs and to try to problem-solve.

NEED TO "DO LUNCH"? We have a picnic area with restrooms available.

FORMAT OF PROGRAM: Literally, a tour of the trees on the property, with a brainstorming

wrap-up session to get at what students observed and learned.

We tie our tree tour to the SOL objectives below. We emphasize why trees are structured as they are, how each tree does its various life and reproductive processes, ways different trees are each able to accomplish the essential life processes (and yet vary), and the role of trees both to ecology and to man. And, of course, there is a good deal of fun and interesting trivia thrown in to make it fun for the students.

4^th GRADE SOLs EXAMINED IN THIS FIELD TRIP: We examine the "Life Processes" SOL (4^th Grade Science SOL 4.4), applying "plant anatomy and life processes" to big plants—trees!

Key concepts include:

COST: $1.00 per student, teachers free, chaperones free (at one chaperone per 10 students).

Morven Park is blessed with a superb horse-drawn transportation museum on the grounds, our Winmill Carriage Collection. Work wagons, buggies, sleighs, a stage coach, a hearse, a steam-powered fire pumper, a taxicab, a carriage exuding luxury, a "driver and horse training vehicle," even a street sprinkler grace our exhibits. Our tour of the Winmill museum highlights how personal, public, and business transportation evolved in the bustling 19^th century, how transportation provided specific solutions to the growing problems of the 19^th century, how these various vehicles worked, and how they were used. Of course as you can imagine, we keep an eye on how these vehicles compare to today’s counterparts. Some of the vehicles feature city life, and some focus on rural life. There is even the carriage that once belonged to Tom Thumb, with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, a key institution in 19^th century life!

LOCATION: The Winmill Carriage Collection on the grounds of Morven Park.

LENGTH OF PROGRAM: 1 hour

AVAILABLE TO: Pre-Kindergarten through 4^th grade.

AVAILABLE WHEN: Weekdays in the fall and spring.

HOW MANY STUDENTS CAN BE ACCOMODATED AT ONE TIME? 25 students at a time. However, we are willing to work with your needs and to try to problem-solve.

NEED TO "DO LUNCH"? We have a picnic area with restrooms available.

FORMAT OF PROGRAM: Interactive tour with a brainstorming/ wrap-up session at the end to

get at what students observed and learned.

COST: $1.00 per student, teachers free, chaperones free (at one chaperone per 10 students).

Learn of the transition of the 19^th century plantation of Baltimore Mayor Thomas Swann, Jr. with its dozens of slaves to a Confederate Civil War camp, and then on to being the Hunt Country estate of World War I Virginia Governor Westmoreland Davis in the 20^th century. Morven Park has seen and been a key participant in a panorama of Virginia history over 250 years. Your personalized guided tour includes a look at the exterior of the huge Greek Revival Mansion as it undergoes extensive historic restoration (and a discussion of how restoration works), a visit to a slave quarter from before the Civil War, a look at Camp Carolina, Confederate camp from 1861-62 with its reproduction soldier’s hut, and an introduction to our exhibit "Symbols of the New South: Governor and Mrs. Westmoreland Davis", which can then be viewed unhurriedly by students.

LOCATION: The grounds of Morven Park.

LENGTH OF PROGRAM: Approximately 2 hours

AVAILABLE TO: Grades 4, 6, 7, and 11.

AVAILABLE WHEN: May, June, September, and October, Monday through Friday.

HOW MANY STUDENTS CAN BE ACCOMODATED AT ONE TIME? 70 students at a time, divided in to two groups upon arrival.

NEED TO "DO LUNCH"? We have a picnic area with restrooms available.

FORMAT OF PROGRAM: Interactive tour with a brainstorming/ wrap-up session at the end to get at what students observed and learned.

COST: $1.00 per student, teachers free, chaperones free (at one chaperone per 10 students).

at (703) 777-6034 for more information or to book a program