Schedule a Field Trip for Your School Group to the Birthplace of North Carolina’s Capital
On a field trip, students from public, private, and home schools learn about Colonel Joel Lane and how life was different in the 1700’s. There are two homes to visit: a one-room house dating from about 1790 as well as the “big house” built by Joel Lane in 1769.
Please allow one hour at the site for the most complete experience for your students. The length of tours can range as needed depending on the children’s ages.
Tours for students meet the North Carolina social studies standards for 4th grade social studies: 4.H.1.3 Explain how people, events and developments brought about changes to communities in various regions of NC and 4.H.2.1 Explain why important buildings, statues, monuments, and place names are associated with the state’s history.
The tour highlights the home of Joel Lane built in 1769. It also includes a visit to the gardens—the formal garden and the herb garden—where students learn how plants substituted for the drug store, hardware store, and grocery store. Youngsters are delighted when they enter the “Kitchen” building which was actually a one-room-plus-sleeping-loft home for an entire family. After that experience, when they enter Joel Lane’s “manor plantation house” as he called it, they realize that, though to many children it appears modest from the outside by today’s standards, it was quite palatial by 18th-century standards. All tours talk throughout about slavery and the experiences of the at least 43 individuals enslaved on the Lane plantation.
A site visit is particularly relevant for 3rd graders who study local history, 4th graders who study North Carolina history, 8th graders studying NC history, and high school students studying American history. Any age group, from kindergarten through college, will benefit from a visit. We tailor presentations based on the age of the students.
For all public, charter, private, & home school groups: All on-site museum tours are free of charge (standard tour of grounds, kitchen building, historic Lane House, & a hands on history unit. Does not include craft).
If you would like to include one small craft with your school tour, the cost becomes $4.00/child (or person doing the craft). Crafts options include a button spinner, "tin punch" ornament, or craft hornbook.
For all groups, advanced reservations are required.
No more than 20 people including adults can be accommodated on the site in any one hour.