TENTH ANNUAL HISTORY CAMP

History Camp celebrated its tenth anniversary on the week of July 5-10, 2004. Held at the Alta Schmidt House in Orland and lead by Dr. (Orly) Gene Russell. The week started on Monday with the introduction and a familiarization of the history of Orland. Every day started early in the morning, due to hot weather.

On Tuesday, the walking tour of the town commenced. The children were shown various historical places and at each stop, Dr. Orly explained what each one was. A stop was made at the Kountry Kitchen where refreshments courtesy of the restaurant were served. At the end of the tour, ice cream was served to everyone.

By Wednesday, the Delta Breeze had cooled things off considerably for the "hands on" experience. The children were introduced to chores that were performed like it was in the early 1900's. Such chores included cutting wood, churning butter, preparing apples for applesauce, hand cranked ice cream, the making of cornmeal, planting next year's crop, building simple toys, branding cattle (leather was used for the branding) and washing clothes. Everyone was treated to the homemade "goodies" that were prepared by the children at the end of the day.

On Thursday, an oral history session commenced with Mr. Johnson as a guest speaker. The children were asked to bring in something for the time capsule that was buried that day. It will be dug up in 25 years.

The week concluded with the children being driven in vintage automobiles in a parade from the Alta Schmidt House to Heritage Trail at the Glenn County Fairgrounds. There, a picnic was held and the children had the opportunity to ride the Orland-Newville & Pacific Railroad. Many thanks go to the volunteers who helped, including Charles Martin who attended History Camp 10 the entire 5 days, Mrs. Russell, Clark and Kim Cook and some of the moms of the children who attended. Most of all, thank you, Dr. Orly for providing the children of today a wealth of knowledge for ten consecutive years of how things were a long time ago in Orland.

 

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