A Trail Through History and Nature

A Trail Through History and Nature

Fort Knox II State Historic Site

Vincennes, Indiana

September 18 and 19, 2014

 
 

Most often when I am conducting youth programs these days, I am bringing them to a connection and understanding with the natural world. Sometimes that path crosses with human history.

I live in an area very rich in history and historical sites. In fact, I used to work as an interpreter for the Vincennes State Historic Sites, a complex of many things, including an old print shop, a replica of the first Indiana college, the Indiana Territorial Capitol building, a prehistoric mound, and an early 19^th century fort site.

On a Thursday and Friday morning in mid-September, natural and human history blended at an event called A Day in the Life of Fort Knox II. Eighth grade students from three area schools came to the site to learn about life at Fort Knox II and life on this early western frontier.

My part in this was Plants. I have been doing Plants in this event for many years, and have tried various angles. This year, I simplified my program and taught the medicinal and food uses of a small number of garden herbs, wild plants and native trees. We would have each group for about 15 minutes.

Here is my little table at the beginning of the first day. By the end of each morning, the herbs did not look this fresh at all. Students were allowed to handle and smell the herbs as I spoke about them. There is nothing like the olfactory sense to create experience and memory, added to tactile and visual experience with the herbs.

On the left corner are Peppermint and Spearmint for flavor, fresh breath and, especially, tummy ache. In the middle is Lemon Balm, good for practically anything. Even the scent of mint or Lemon Balm helps people to feel better. On the right corner is Sage, the herb of wisdom and strength. It is also good for treating headache and sore throat, among other things. Behind the Sage is Horehound, especially good for cough, sore throat and minor respiratory problems. The students also learned about the importance of knowing the herbs and how to use them on the frontier.

The gourd is on the table to teach about pioneers transporting garden seeds from their previous home to a new place, while traveling many miles through wilderness. A gourd is a good seed-keeper – seeds are more likely to germinate in the new garden after traveling in a gourd. It was very important for the pioneer to have food and medicinal plants that were very familiar to him or her when settling so far away.

The 8^th graders also learned the importance of understanding wild plants. Behind the gourd, bedraggled at the end of summer, is an especially important and versatile one called Stinging Nettle.

  Nettle growing in wet woods

All of those little hairs along the stem and leaf veins contain a compound of acids that include formic, the same acid injected by an ant bite. When you brush against the plant, the sharp hairs inject this compound into your skin, immediately leaving you with a prickly, itchy rash that goes away awhile later. Some of the students said they had experienced this before. Cooking or drying the plant neutralizes the acid, taking away the sting. Stinging Nettle, when younger, is cooked as a very healthy vegetable or steeped in water as a tonic. In the fall, twine can be made from the fibers in the stem.

Another tonic the students learned about is in the first native tree we approached – Sassafras. The red spot on my table is one of the early-changing leaves from a nearby Sassafras tree.

 Red Sassafras leaves

The 8^th graders learned to recognize it by its three leaf shapes (oval, mitten and three-fingered) and by its scent. They all seemed to enjoy smelling the citrusy scent of scratched green Sassafrass twigs.

They also learned that a tonic, made from the roots, is the “original root beer”.

Moving further along the edge of the woods, we found a Paw-Paw tree.

This one was too young to bear fruit, but there were a few students and teachers (more from the country schools than from the city school) who could describe the flavor of the “Indiana Banana”.

Our next native tree encounter was with a Persimmon tree loaded with fruit.

There were a few students who had tasted native (not Oriental) persimmons – again, mostly from the country schools. None of the fruit was fully ripe at that time. They learned that it is not fully ripe until it is soft and falls to the ground. If eaten not fully ripe, there is an experience in the mouth that one does not forget.

Sassafras tea, Paw-paw fruit and Persimmons: historically an essential part of the Hoosier experience, particularly in autumn. Year after year, I am disappointed by how few children have tasted these. Picking up a Paw-paw (and putting it in your pocket), or Persimmons, then eating them fresh, is unforgettable. Or, pick up many Paw-paws and Persimmons for someone to turn into puddings, breads, pies and cookies. A decoction from Sassafras roots can also be made into a uniquely tasty candy. I always hope that the 8^th graders I meet each year will eventually try these foods, after being brought to awareness about them, and they will taste history.

Other presentations at the event were quite varied. Students learned and tried many other things new to most of them. Another station where history and nature obviously met was one about animals on our early frontier.

The 8^th graders also learned about Native Americans during this historical period. The lives of Native Americans were closely linked with nature in many ways.

Other historical presentations during the two mornings included:

 The ancient skill of Archery

Surveying then and now

 The life of an 1812 soldier at Fort Knox II

 The life of a soldier's wife (Lydia Bacon) at Fort Knox II

 

 

Mustering the troops

 A visit with William Henry Harrison, Governor of the Indiana Territory

When I was not with a group, I meandered along the woods' edge.
Goldenrod and White Snakeroot were in bloom.

Goldenrod has a number of medicinal uses that must have aided the pioneers. But White Snakeroot is known as the plant that caused the death of Abraham Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln. She died after drinking milk from cows that had eaten White Snakeroot.

Students at my station also learned the importance of understanding if a plant is dangerous to our health.

Orb-weaver spiders sat in the middle of large, glistening webs:

 You can see the spinerettes on this one!

When disturbed, they tended to scuttle away and hide in nearby leaves.

Other insects were camouflaged in the leaves, such as this pale Leafhopper under a Sassafras leaf:

 

I have been to the site of Fort Knox II many times over many years. I have been involved in A Day in the Life of Fort Knox II for so long. I have also visited or been involved in, for many years, Muster on the Wabash on the first weekend in November, when the event backdrop is a blaze of the wonderful colors of an Indiana autumn. I have simply strolled the grounds, finding what trees are all around, seeing what is blooming or in fruit, looking for the little things, or spying the larger animals such as deer, foxes and turkeys. I have just rested on a seat overlooking the hillside and river, imagining voyageurs, Native Americans and others plying the water in various kinds of boats.

So much history has happened here on this hill above the Wabash River. In so many ways, people were affected by the natural environment here, and also had their affect upon it.

It is now a peaceful place, devoid of the activity of soldiers, the sounds of gunfire, the agony of injury and death, the terrible excitement of heading north for battle. That human history is now interpreted for visitors, while natural history continues, going about its business. It has been a long time since this place has been affected by the battles waged by human beings, but the struggle of everyday life in the natural world, predator and prey, survival, competition, goes on, mostly unseen by human eyes.