Engage with the past with our immersive and interactive student field trips!

At Heritage Sylvania, the history you read about in textbooks becomes a vibrant learning experience full of activities for students. Our programs cover a wide variety of Ohio academic standards including inter-disciplinary curriculum. Subjects including Social Studies, Language Arts, Math and Science are all incorporated into your visit. All programs integrate visits to our historic buildings and are designed to synchronize with strands from the Ohio proficiency tests, Achievement Assessments and State of Ohio grade-specific standards. Students get the perfect mix of learning, adventure and fun all in a scenic and safe environment where our dedicated staff and volunteers lead the way.

Educational programs allow students a unique glimpse into the area's history and include hands-on elements. Costumed staff lead each station as students rotate through their day. We also have spaces for you to eat sack lunches that you bring.

We currently offer two different educational programs geared towards grades 2 to 4.

Pioneer Program

2nd Grade

The pioneer program focuses on the experiences and skills of early Ohio settlers and pioneer life in the Maumee Valley in the 1800s. The program is 2.5 hours long with an additional 30 minutes for lunch if you choose to bring packed lunches to eat on our campus. Each field trip will include five sessions (six including lunch) that the teacher can select from below, prior to the trip.

Ohio 2nd Grade educational standards covered:

Speaking and Listening: SL.2.3

English Language Arts: W.2.8

Financial Literacy: 6

Social Studies: 2, 3, and 14

Optional sessions include:

Pioneer Daily Life: Set in an actual log home from 1840, students learn what life was like for the early pioneer families, from a a typical home layout to common chores. Students will have the opportunity to try churning butter and grinding spices for cooking.

One Room School: Students will experience a typical school day inside our 1840's stone academy. They will practice each subject as it would have been taught in the mid 1800's.

Transportation: Starting in our 1850's train depot, students learn how changes in technology impacted immigration into this region. Students will work together with an activity to help them understand the struggles of transportation 200 years ago. Lastly, students will have a chance to explore our 1915 locomotive and 1924 wooden caboose.

Trades: Stationed in our trade barn, students learn about common trades in the 1800's from Blacksmithing, Carpentry, Millners, Tailors, Cobblers, Coopers, and more. Finally, students will get to try their hand at candle making, a common job for children in the day. Students will get to take home their candle as well as a journal making activity once back in the classroom.

What? An Artifact Game: Students get the opportunity to become a museum curator and try to decipher the purpose of several artifacts from 100 years ago. They will be told two possible uses for the object and using clues, can guess the true purpose of the artifact.

Old-Fashioned Games: In the age before computers, smart phones and internet, children played a wide variety of games often inspired by what they found around them. Students will get a chance to try some 19th century games such as rolling hoops, games of graces and cup and ball.

Cost

$5.00 per student in Sylvania School district.

$6.00 per student in other districts.

Teachers and chaperones are free.

Number of Students

Because of the size of our buildings, we can only accommodate 25 students per class with a max of 5 classes, per day.

We require at least 10 students to book a program.

Scheduling

We offer student field trips in Spring, Summer and Fall.

We offer a morning session starting at 9:00am, 9:30am, or 10:00am.
Afternoon sessions start at 12:00pm, 12:30pm or 1:00pm.

Location

The Pioneer Program takes place at the Historical Village.

The village is located just behind Madeline's Patisserie on the north block of downtown Sylvania.

Schedule Your Trip

Underground Railroad Program

4th Grade

At the Lathrop House, students will experience history up close as they learn about our region's role in the Underground Railroad. Although Ohio was a free state, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 meant that escaping slaves were not truly free until they crossed into Canada. Ohio played a key role on the trail to freedom known as the Underground Railroad.

Sylvania's own Lathrop House was one of the stops along the way. Through grade-appropriate activities, the students will learn about the complexity of life in Ohio in the years just before and during the Civil War. After an introduction, the students will get to tour the reconstructed basement kitchen of the 1800s home of Lucian Lathrop and his wife Larissa and see the hidden room behind the fireplace where escaping slaves spent the night before heading on to the next station. They'll learn about Larissa and Lucian Lathrop, an Ohio State Congressman, who kept their role in the Underground Railroad secret.

Ohio 4th Grade educational standards covered:

Social Studies: 2, 7, and 17

This program includes 4, half-hour long sessions. Those include,

The Lathrop House: From the secret staircase under the porch to the hidden room behind a false oven, students will have a chance to see how Lucian Lathrop helped on the Underground Railroad.

Conditions of Slavery: Students will walk down to the ravine to see the landscape that escaping slaves would have encountered on their journey through Sylvania. They will have an understanding of the difficulties people had to endure on their journey to freedom.

Abolitionists: What is an abolitionist? Students will learn about nationally and locally known abolitionists. They will learn how the Underground Railroad started and why Sylvania played such an important role.

Kitchen and Story: Students will have a chance to see first hand, the false oven in the basement summer kitchen, which lead to a secret room where Lucian Lathrop hid slaves. After, we will sit for a reading of one of our fantastic children's books. This story will be a starting point for a group discussion on what freedom means to everyone.