Canalers Workshop
Union Canalers Workshop 2009
This summer the Lebanon County Historical Society will sponsor the 2nd annual Union Canalers Workshop for children ages 8 to 12. This year’s workshop will run Monday through Thursday, August 3 – 6, 2009, from 9 am to 3 pm. Participants will learn about life along the canal in the 1800s with a variety of fun activities.
Jim Schucker described some of last year’s projects in the September Seeds of History:
They cut bamboo, strung line, and with wiggly worms got a taste of what children of the canal era experienced as they fished along the waterway. Our Canalers sang songs, danced the Virginia Reel, and entered a conch shell blowing contest — for all Canalers carried horns of some kind and knew how to alert lock keepers their boats were coming!
What games could be enjoyed while living on a canal boat? Our Canalers learned first hand as they made button and picture spinners. Marbles were made along with clay cups as children of yesterday would have done by digging a batch of clay along the canal, forming it into balls or objects, and allowing them to dry in the sun. But playing marbles on a boat! Our Canalers learned to throw a rope in a circle on the boat or ground and a fun game was had.
The most ambitious project of the workshop was a model of a canal boat on the Union Canal. The base was a cutout of Pennsylvania with a canal and tow path running the length on one side. The canal boat was built complete with rudder to stand on the canal with a mule on the tow path pulling a load of goods. The flip side of the state showed the location of the two rivers connected by the Union Canal and the location of the canal itself.
While the workshop focused on crafts of the 1800s — clay, tin, stenciling, sewing, woodworking — the history of the canal was woven into the fabric of the activities each day. A working model showing the principles by which locks lift and lower boats gave the children a chance to get their hands wet as lock keepers.
Due to the nature of the activities, attendance at the workshop is limited to 24 participants. For children and grandchildren of Society members, the fee is $45 per child. The fee for non-member children is $55 per child. Please call the Society office to reserve space for your child. No deposit is necessary. There is no pro-rated fee reduction for attending fewer than the full four days. The workshop is a “brown-bag” daycamp, with snacks available for purchase.