|
George Washington CarverOct 30, 2007
|
|
birthplace
From here we headed back to the RV, hooked up and headed down the road to the next stop, the George Washington Carver birthplace.
This National Historic Site includes a visitor center, part of which is only a little over 3 months old. There is a movie on the life of Carver, exhibits detailed the important events of his life and then there is the new section.
Here are interactive displays on experiments that Carver did. There is a lab where school children can actually work on science projects. There was a group there when we were there.
Another section is a classroom that is set up like a classroom of the 1800's with bench desks, McDuffy Readers and a slate at each seat.
Outside there is a trail that leads past his birth site, the spring and the house of Moses and Sue Carver, George's owners.
George and his mother had been kidnapped when George was an infant. He was eventually located and returned to the Carver's. His mother was never found.
George's health was quite frail as a child and he was only given light housekeeping chores. The rest of the time he would spend in the woods examining plants, bugs and other things. This fascination would be with him his entire life.
At the age of 8 he moved to the nearest town to attend a Negro school and was taken in by another couple the Martin's.
George was not afraid of work and often did laundry work or cooked to earn a living.
George felt that his talents were a gift from God and often turned down locative offers for employment. He would send one of his students in his place. He went to work at the Tuskegee Institute and stayed there from 1856 until his death in 1943.
