Education Programs

Ditson 3rd Graders had a taste of History Delivered to their School

On May 24th, the 3rd grade class had left their classroom and gone back to colonial times.  There were SO people in the room and there was an additional class coming in after we were through.

Diane Douglas of the Billerica Historical Society, along with Rich MacKay, a member of the Billerica Colonial Minutemen, put on an event displaying artifacts from the era and were dressed to represent the era as well. Douglas has been visiting schools for the past 5 years.  She first was invited to a colonial fair at the Dutile School in 2005, and the tradition stuck, year after year.

This year, she was joined by MacKay to help relay stories and the way life was, back in the day.  They took artifacts with them such as lanterns, molds to make candles, cannon balls, old coins, a fire bucket, gun, and even a Jacobs Ladder game, popular with the children of that era.

They spoke about things that were common to do, like how if there was a fire at a home, people would all run with their fire buckets.  Since there were no fire hydrants, they would all bring buckets to a house fire and form a line from the nearest stream and pass buckets from person to person.  If you could not go to help immediately, you would throw your bucket into the street and someone else would pick it up and bring it.

Douglas and MacKay did a fabulous job of creating pictures in the children’s heads … pictures of a time when things weren’t quite so convenient, and Kmart wasn’t an option. The children were loaded with questions. Questions about colonial times and Billerica History.

The Clara Sexton Memorial House is open several times a year for visitors.  A school field trip tour or in class education can be set up by Contacting Us.