National Park Service; Fort Frederica

Labor Day weekend was a whirlwind of FUN. At the VERY LAST MINUTE, we decided to use travel points to get a free hotel stay and explore Savannah, Georgia.  Like..I booked the room Thursday night.

I'll get back to that story later.

I just wanted to give a big ole KUDOS to the National Park Services for their work at Fort Frederica National Monument in St. Simons Island, GA.

 

We arrived at the Visitor's Center and immediately, Ranger Dennis engaged our daughter in conversation. 

"Hi there, how old are you, young lady?"  "Ten," she replies.  "Want to go on an adventure?" he asks.  Then he begins to explain about their Junior Ranger Program.   Here's a pdf link with more information.  After watching a movie about the Fort and the town, she was handed an Adventure book. The Adventure book, that she got to keep, was very interactive.  Little envelopes with maps, pop-up windows with information, secret messages to take to General Oglethorpe.   She was also loaned a haversack full of things she would need to complete the mission.  The PDF link above shows what was in the haversack.

We set off outside, reading the Adventure Book and following along, moving from plot to plot, deciphering clues, filling out the book and learning about the history of the town and its people.  

Isabel works to write sentences in the Creek language.

The haversack.

Plotting on a map the route the Spaniards took,
 using a compass, spyglass, and a protractor.

The foundation of Dr. Holzendorf's two-story house.

The foundation of the candlemaker's house and shop.

The remains of the Fort.

She named a tavern and created its sign, wrote a journal entry and wrote a letter "home" to England about her stay in the town. 

We rushed back to the Visitor's Center, as we only had 15 minutes left until closing.

Ranger Dennis had everything ready for us and swore Isabel in as a Junior Park Ranger.

The program, park and Ranger are all to be commended.  

Kudos!