Teaching Resources

Field Trips

Register your class for an engaging field trip to learn about the history and culture of local 17th and 18th century Indigenous peoples and Mennonite immigrants. Students will experience the daily life of Pennsylvania’s earliest residents by touring a full-scale reproduction longhouse and the 1719 Herr House. Through storytelling and hands-on encounters with museum objects, students will explore important lessons in history and geography, such as identifying the reasons for migration and immigration, the importance of trading relationships and land rights, and the religion, food, work, and play of the area’s Indigenous and Mennonite populations.

Tours meet Pennsylvania Academic Standards for History 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, and Geography 7.1 and 7.3.

1719 Museum Field Trip Learning Goals

Field trip content is modified to the appropriate learning level for each age group. Students will be able to:

Identify the cultural contributions of 17th and 18th century Indigenous people and Mennonite immigrants in the areas of religion, agriculture, food, work, play, and crafts, through storytelling and interaction with artifacts.

Understand settlement patterns and ideas of land ownership among 17th and 18th century groups in Lancaster County by touring the Herr House and Longhouse, observing their architecture and relation to the grounds, and discussing their surrounding communities.

Analyze the relationship of the Conestoga-Susquehannock people and Pennsylvania’s early European inhabitants in the area of trade, communication of disease, and violent confrontation, such as the Paxton Boys’ violence against the Conestoga.

Apply push and pull factors to Indigenous migration and Mennonite immigration patterns, such as conflict, displacement, the need for new sources of food and other natural resources, the seeking of religious freedom and economic opportunity, and familial and ancestral ties to land.