Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site- Massachusetts

 

Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
Massachusetts

https://www.nps.gov/frla/index.htm

Completed: July 22, 2018

Senior Friendly

As part of our tour of park sites in the Northeastern states we spent a rainy Sunday afternoon at this site. It was a re-visit, one to which I looked forward. In my travels I have seen many of his beautiful gardens throughout the country. Besides walking through his house you can tour the architecture office upstairs, which I did on a previous visit. On this visit I enjoyed sitting in a comfy chair by a window overlooking the lawn.

This booklet is set up for five age groups; age 4 and under, ages 5-7, ages 8-10, ages 10-13 and ages 13+. The number of activities is age dependent with only 3 needed for the youngest and all of the activities, 20 for the oldest. The rangers on the day of my visit encouraged me to do as many pages as I could, but did not require all of the activities to be completed. I appreciate this accommodation, as some of the pages are a bit simplistic. As a Senior Ranger I like doing as much as possible, but want the activities to be as meaningful as possible.

The activities include a variety of learning opportunities such as; word unscramble, word search, scavenger hunt, historic photography, matching, design process flowchart, sketch comparison, connect the dots, tracing paper plan, leaf identification, national location research, outside experience, bingo and arrowhead drawing. A great variety of activities kept this program interesting and challenging.

Several activities I really enjoyed was researching an Olmsted-designed project in my state, Arizona. I learned that El Tovar Hotel landscaping at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park was designed by the Olmsted firm. As a side note, most of the landscaping at this location has recently been redone using plants that are native and use less water.

I always enjoy the bingo and scavenger hunt activities, it is a challenge to keep looking for the items. An activity focusing on the Drafting Room showed how plans are developed from a sketch and change along the way.

The ranger on duty spent time reviewing and discussing my completed work, something I always appreciate. I received the enhanced wooden badge depicting a small branch of leaves.

Online booklet:

Click to access Jr-Ranger-Booklet-Frederick-Law-Olmsted-NHS.pdf

New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park – Massachusetts

New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park
Massachusetts

https://www.nps.gov/nebe/index.htm

Junior Ranger – Senior Friendly

Completed: July 21, 2018

Junior Ranger Park Voyage

While visiting New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park in July of 2018 for the annual conference of the National Park Travelers Club (parkstamps.org) I completed a fun junior ranger activity. Instead of the standard junior ranger booklet I was offered a one page activity. This park is spread out over many city blocks in the charming, seaside town of New Bedford.

Mural of Frederick Douglass, a resident in the late 1830s

The page had five spaces for stickers from locations around town. This was basically a walking tour of the town. Even though it was July, and could have been hot and humid, it was a delightful 75 degrees.

The sites I visited were;

New Bedford Art Museum – it was open and free. An exhibit featured John Audubon’s work with an emphasis on his time spent in the area.

New Bedford Whaling Museum – an impressive museum which charges an admission. Our meeting was held at the museum and we were given free admission. If you visit this site plan on spending a couple of hours.

New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center – a small storefront with a nice display of fishing related materials, including different buoys. No admission is charged, about 1/2 hour is sufficient to tour the center,

Seamen’s Bethel – a public building which continues to serve as a chapel was built in 1830. During the day while I was in the area a christening and later a wedding was held here. A beautiful garden alongside the chapel was an enjoyable place to enjoy the wonderful weather.

Visitor Center – once I had visited all of the other sites I returned with my sheet to earn the Junior Ranger stamp for the park and their standard Junior Ranger badge. I really enjoyed this activity, simple to complete, but an enjoyable tour of this historic area.

Junior Ranger booklet

Click to access New-Bedford-JR-Book-Web-2016.pdf

Cape Cod National Seashore – Massachusetts

Salt Pond

Cape Cod National Seashore
Massachusetts

http://www.nps.gov/caco/index.htm

Completed: July 23, 2018

Cape Cod National Seashore is a mixture of national parklands mixed with private land, stretched out along a spit of land that stretches out into the Atlantic Ocean. Driving along the spit there are several visitor centers, as well as beaches and plenty of places to eat and stay.

Activities are divided into two age categories identified with animal icons at the top of each page; Grey seal icon for ages 5 to 7 and Humpback whale for ages 8 to 12. To become a Junior Ranger you are to complete at least five age-related activities, visit one cultural site and attend a ranger-guided activity. If you are not able to attend a ranger program ask for handout titled “Junior Ranger Alternative Activities”.

Even with limited time to work on this I was able to complete more than the minimum number of activities. The activities I completed;
Visit Cultural Site – Highland Light, a lighthouse that has a date of 1857 on the chimney, and is surrounded by a golf course.

Scavenger Hunt – I saw quite a few of the items depicted.

Exploring the Seashore – great graphics of plants and animals of which the words for these items are hidden within a word search.

Lifesaving Crossword – I appreciated the content provided on the first page with a lot of information about shipwreck lifesaving due to the frequent storms in the area. Instead of clues the bold words are matched with the first letter in the crossword grid.

Native Detective – an easy graphic match of animals to their tracks.

Get the Word Out! – design a poster about an important issue unique to Cape Cod NS. My posted depicted a pristine beach scene with a title “What’s Missing?”. The subtitles are; No Pets on the Beach, No Trash and No One on the Sand dunes.

What’s the Weather? – it was a gorgeous July day as we explored the area, partly cloudy and 75 degrees with a light breeze is what I recorded.

Staying in Touch – I wrote a note to my grandchildren comparing and contrasting this beach to a beach where they often visit along the west coast.

History Detective – An easy 3 multiple-choice questions based on archaeology.

Cranberry Harvest – six pictures showing the steps to cranberry harvest are scrambled for you to number in the correct order starting with what happens in January.

Crack the Code – Cape Cod NS was the site of the first message to be transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean to England in 1903. Morse Code was used by Marconi to send the message. A simple message is given to decipher with the provided Morse Code, a fun activity.

Marconi exhibit at park headquarters

I had picked up the booklet as we entered the area at the Salt Pond Visitor Center and worked on it on our drive out to Province Lands Visitor Center. The booklet was reviewed by a volunteer and the enhanced wooden badge was presented.