Lessons from the Past

Every year our town's third graders study Chester history, led in part by members of the Chester Historical Society.

The children always write wonderful thank-you letters. Here is an excerpt: "Thank you so much for finding spare time to share your knowledge about one hundred and more years ago. I never could get bored the way you explained those objects and clothing's past and how you got them. I also enjoyed when you showed, described and explained all about those old clothes and swimsuit like bathing outfits. You made me truly understand what those pictures really meant, like how to tell a boy and a girl apart by hair style and how come a traditional Chester baseball uniform was worn by a girl, and how girls looked while covering up a bath-suit."

The other part of the third graders' Chester study is meeting with Joel Severance, Chester's maritime historian, at the Carini Preserve to learn about early shipbuilding. Here's part of one thank-you letter to Joel: "Thank you for telling us that interesting stuff from 200 years ago. I liked when you showed us how long the boat was. It's really cool that they could actually make big boats out of wood. It was very cool that horses were pulling boats...It's cool that they had a tiny town but such a big sea. I bet they went fishing a lot."

Each year the Historical Society gives $100 to the third grade as the Dawn Burr Memorial. The money helps the children and teachers produce a book about town history. One copy is given at the end of the school year to the Historical Society for its archives.