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BESIDES TRYING to increase attendance in general, 16 museums and historic attractions in the Northern Neck faced up to a more specific challenge recently.
Namely, how to get more young people visiting the Reedville Fishermen's Museum, Stratford Hall, the King George Historical Museum and all the other institutions that have joined forces to market and promote their offerings.
As they pondered solutions, the representatives of institutions as varied Irvington's Steamboat Museum and the George Washington's Boyhood Home National Monument heard how museum field trips have gotten more difficult for most school systems.
They heard that many parents have stopped bringing their children with them on visits to museums, as they once did.
And that for many young people, the word "museum" conjures up little more than images of cramped, musty spaces filled with yellowing pictures.
To combat all that, the group began looking for an innovative way to combat the drop in children's interest.
Their answer: Don't just try to lure youngster to the museums. Take the museums to the children, at school.
To that end, this coming week will mark the first offering of a new program, "History on the Go, Fun with Northern Neck Museums," offered by the affiliated institutions.
Museum staffers and experts will arrive with an array of youth-oriented displays and activities Tuesday at Washington District Elementary School in Westmoreland County.
There, and at three other schools across the Northern Neck in the next few months, youngsters will learn more about local history in a day than they might once have learned in a year.
Among the initial offerings:
Demonstrations on brick-making, farming, quill writing, games and the Rappahannock Indians during Colonial times.
A poultice-making demonstration, including a presentation on what it might cure.
A hands-on look at various types of nets that fishermen in the Neck have used to catch fish in the rivers and bay that surround the peninsula.
"The more we talked about it, the more sense it made to take the terrific displays and this wealth of local history directly to the young people, in the schools," said Patty Long, who assists the group as director of the Northern Neck Tourism Council.
Francine Barber, director of the Richmond County Museum, said young people often don't learn much local history.
"Some assume it will happen simply by osmosis, but that's not the case," she said. "With this program, we can provide help to the schools and teachers in getting this history across. In a gymnasium, an auditorium or whatever space a school makes available, children will be able to pick and choose between more than a dozen fascinating displays focusing on the history of their own region."
Barber said her museum will be sending a traveling display on the Rappahannock Indians, who lived in Richmond County when John Smith visited. Later, they crossed to the other side of the Rappahannock.
"One thing all of the museums and historic attractions are savvy about is making the displays very SOL-friendly," said Barber, a Northern Neck museum pioneer. "The things students will learn and see, like the Indian artifacts we'll bring, will all satisfy specific SOL [requirements] in the curriculum."
Long said she's excited about what the program will give to students, but also what the exposure could do for the museums and attractions.
"Wouldn't it be neat if we had the kids talking their parents into visiting the museums, instead of vice versa?" asked Long. "Even if that doesn't happen, we think this can make young people realize that museums aren't musty, boring places. There's a lot of neat stuff they can see in the varied museums we have in this group."
She's especially excited about the arrival of a costumed "owner" from the historic Rice's Hotel/Hughlett's Tavern in Heathsville.
"George Beckett, active with that busy historical site, is dressing up as Mr. Hughlett himself," said Long. "He's such a big, fun guy. The kids will love him."
To reach ROB HEDELT: 540/374-5415 rhedelt@freelancestar.com