Field Trip Information for Teachers

CADMAN-WHITE-HANDY HOUSE c. 1713, c. 1800, c. 1830

Exploring History Through Artifacts

Before your visit:  Please prepare your students to step back in time to Westport circa 1730.

Please review the “Field Trip Information for Parents”.

Please touch!:  This is a hands-on site visit experience. Under supervision, students will be allowed to touch most artifacts and many parts of the building. We want students to understand and experience the patina and smoothness of the wood and learn how it got that way, for example. We want them to feel and use the tools that the Handy and White families used to farm and complete household chores. And, we want students to learn how play and imagination were as important to a child’s experience in 1730 Westport as they are today.

Choose a historic name:  Below is a list of names common in Massachusetts in 1730.  Please ask each student to choose a name and write it on a nametag that they will wear when they visit Handy House. They will become this character while they are with us. And they will be assigned special chores and will have personal experiences based on their characters.

Vocabulary words:  Please review these words with your students before your visit to the Cadman-White-Handy House:

1. Artifact: an object made or used by people in the past.

2. Baptist: a member of a religious group who believe that baptism is only appropriate for those who old enough to profess their faith. This differs from the traditional belief, in which baptism is performed on infants.  They also believe that the ritual of baptism must include full immersion in water rather than a simple sprinkling of water.

3. Circa: approximately, around, or about. It is commonly used in historic research when the exact date is not known. It can also be abbreviated to “c.” and is located before the date in question.

4. Historic preservation: the act of preserving, conserving, and protecting buildings, objects, landscapes, and other objects of historical significance.

5. Immigrate: to move to a country or region that one is not native to and settle there.

6. Noquochoke River: original name for the eastern branch of the Westport River. The name is a Wampanoag word believed to mean “his small piece of land” or “land at the fork.

7. Quaker: a member of the religious group known as the Religious Society of Friends; referring to members of this religion as Quakers was originally meant to be an insult, referring to the trance-like state some people experienced when worshipping. Today members embrace the name Quaker and refer to fellow members as Friends.