WOODFORD - Not one electronic gadget was in sight as fourth-graders from Monroe's Parkside Elementary School toured the encampment at the Bloody Lake Rendezvous near Woodford Friday.
"We learned that everybody has lots of chores to do, including kids," said Ayannah Symons. "And after chores - they spin wool. It's kind of interesting, but..." she said, looking doubtful.
The Bloody Lake Rendezvous, in the 159-acre Black Hawk Memorial Park, the location of the Battle of the Pecatonica, is open to the public Saturday and Sunday. But on Friday students were invited in to watch, ask questions and learn how life was lived at a Wisconsin fur traders' encampment before the mid-1800s.
For many of the students, the experience was eye-opening. Games were board games, not electronic; and clothes are handmade, not from Walmart.
In fact, the people who attend the rendezvous are not to have anything plastic in the settlement, although some older "settlers" admitted to cheating a bit by, for example, having a wood pellet burner in their canvas lodge.
Some things can't help but be a bit out of time with the re-enactment, like the brightly colored, plastic binder of school work sitting on the Bakers' family table.
Rick Baker, his wife, Denise, and now daughters, Autumn and Dakotah, from Hampshire Ill., have been coming to the annual settlement for nine years, since Autumn was just 6 months old.
Although they go to three or four other rendezvous during the year, Bloody Lake is always on the list. Baker likes the secluded feel of the park, which lends an air of wilderness to the camp.
"This is our favorite rendezvous," he said. "We've camped here enough to know the people around. There are few places like this where you can let the kids run."
The rendezvous settlement does indeed have many children running free - dressed in handmade garments, playing on a rope swing, drawing in the dirt, or chasing each other. Their biggest treats may be kettle popcorn and rich root beer sold by vendors right in the camp.
At various lodges, students were able to see demonstrations of common, life-sustaining crafts and talents. Even starting a fire was a hard job, as some boys were allowed to saw a chunk of wood and watch a settler start a piece of charcloth on fire with only a flint spark.
"The (school trip) is not a waste of time," said Sydney Mathison. "There are things you can see here that you may not even have known about. Like, they have to pump all their water. And they have a lot of dogs they use as guard dogs."
"They make a lot of stuff by hand," said Caleb Ruegsegger. He thought metal working would be the hardest and most work.
There was more to the history lesson: Members of the Yellowstone Flint & Cap Club narrated the story leading up to the bloody, five-minute Battle on the Pecatonica of June 16, 1882. Club members will repeat the story on Saturday at the club's cabin and take a walk to the memorial as well.
Jack "Kil-Jay" Oostdik, Monroe, now in his eighth year with the rendezvous, was Parkside students' guide. He has been camping since he was a Boy Scout, but the primitive rendezvous is different, he said.
"Seeing the nighttime campfires burning and the smoke hanging in the air, it has the authentic feel of the early 1880s," he said.
For an educational trip, "you can't beat it," said Deb Thompson, a fourth-grade teacher at Parkside. The historical aspects work right into the classes' Wisconsin history unit, she said.
And she hopes students will get excited about what they learned Friday and go home to tell their parents and siblings.
"So they will have time to go this weekend," she added.
At trip to the Rendezvous will teach anyone to be creative.
"And you actually get to know stuff, easier than from a book. It's real life," said fourth-grader Quinn Sulejmani. "Books may have opinions."
Visitors will be allowed into camp from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $2.
"We learned that everybody has lots of chores to do, including kids," said Ayannah Symons. "And after chores - they spin wool. It's kind of interesting, but..." she said, looking doubtful.
The Bloody Lake Rendezvous, in the 159-acre Black Hawk Memorial Park, the location of the Battle of the Pecatonica, is open to the public Saturday and Sunday. But on Friday students were invited in to watch, ask questions and learn how life was lived at a Wisconsin fur traders' encampment before the mid-1800s.
For many of the students, the experience was eye-opening. Games were board games, not electronic; and clothes are handmade, not from Walmart.
In fact, the people who attend the rendezvous are not to have anything plastic in the settlement, although some older "settlers" admitted to cheating a bit by, for example, having a wood pellet burner in their canvas lodge.
Some things can't help but be a bit out of time with the re-enactment, like the brightly colored, plastic binder of school work sitting on the Bakers' family table.
Rick Baker, his wife, Denise, and now daughters, Autumn and Dakotah, from Hampshire Ill., have been coming to the annual settlement for nine years, since Autumn was just 6 months old.
Although they go to three or four other rendezvous during the year, Bloody Lake is always on the list. Baker likes the secluded feel of the park, which lends an air of wilderness to the camp.
"This is our favorite rendezvous," he said. "We've camped here enough to know the people around. There are few places like this where you can let the kids run."
The rendezvous settlement does indeed have many children running free - dressed in handmade garments, playing on a rope swing, drawing in the dirt, or chasing each other. Their biggest treats may be kettle popcorn and rich root beer sold by vendors right in the camp.
At various lodges, students were able to see demonstrations of common, life-sustaining crafts and talents. Even starting a fire was a hard job, as some boys were allowed to saw a chunk of wood and watch a settler start a piece of charcloth on fire with only a flint spark.
"The (school trip) is not a waste of time," said Sydney Mathison. "There are things you can see here that you may not even have known about. Like, they have to pump all their water. And they have a lot of dogs they use as guard dogs."
"They make a lot of stuff by hand," said Caleb Ruegsegger. He thought metal working would be the hardest and most work.
There was more to the history lesson: Members of the Yellowstone Flint & Cap Club narrated the story leading up to the bloody, five-minute Battle on the Pecatonica of June 16, 1882. Club members will repeat the story on Saturday at the club's cabin and take a walk to the memorial as well.
Jack "Kil-Jay" Oostdik, Monroe, now in his eighth year with the rendezvous, was Parkside students' guide. He has been camping since he was a Boy Scout, but the primitive rendezvous is different, he said.
"Seeing the nighttime campfires burning and the smoke hanging in the air, it has the authentic feel of the early 1880s," he said.
For an educational trip, "you can't beat it," said Deb Thompson, a fourth-grade teacher at Parkside. The historical aspects work right into the classes' Wisconsin history unit, she said.
And she hopes students will get excited about what they learned Friday and go home to tell their parents and siblings.
"So they will have time to go this weekend," she added.
At trip to the Rendezvous will teach anyone to be creative.
"And you actually get to know stuff, easier than from a book. It's real life," said fourth-grader Quinn Sulejmani. "Books may have opinions."
Visitors will be allowed into camp from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $2.