Living History Camp Transports Kids to the Civil War Era

Dozens of Carroll County kids were transported to another time period this summer. They found themselves living as if it were the Civil War era, learning about life without iPods, cell phones, music players, video games and anything else reliant on electricity and technology. 

And some may find it surprising that the kids—third, fourth and fifth-graders—were happy living a simpler life.

Lillie Hamm has been working at the camp, held at the Carroll County Farm Museum, for 10 years, helping kids understand the lives of our forefathers. When she's not pretending it's July 1861, Hamm is a special education teacher at North Carroll High School. 

"The very first day of camp I knew I was coming back to work this camp again," Hamm said. "This is all about kids having fun, and I tell them if they're not having fun to tell me and we'll fix it."

One facet of the camp is that all campers complete a woodworking project. The projects include building shelves and small stands. 

The campers also learn to create other items, including cooking utensils and candles. Hamm said on one of the days of camp, the kids make a whistle with the help and instruction of a tinsmith. 

In addition to learning to work with their hands, gaining an understanding of history is also important to Hamm.

"We teach them about the Shriver brothers and how one fought for the North and the other for the South," Hamm said. "Besides having fun, they get some of the history."

"I hope they get an appreciation for a 'quieter' life, an appreciation of not having all the stuff they have now," Hamm said.

Hannah Martin, a fifth-grader at Hampstead Elementary, said she enjoyed learning about what life was like in those days and how hard they had to work.

"Everybody had to do some type of work. They didn't play as much," Martin said. "I liked making candles. [I ] liked that we actually made something we could use."

Olivia Livingston, also a fifth-grader at Hampstead Elementary, said, "They didn't have a lot of things in those days. I like going to the schoolhouse and writing with quill pens and ink.

"It's a lot of fun, and after 9th grade I want to come back and work at camp as a helper," Livingston said.

Farm Museum Camp Coordinator Marian Witiak has been working at the camp for 17 years. She said there were about 30 campers in the last session. 

"The kids are intrigued by the amount of things that were done without using electricity and technology, and at the end of the day, everything still got done," Witiak said. "Clothes got done without using a washing machine; food got cooked using a wood stove; we made things like pans and candles without using technology." 

A teacher at North Carroll High School, Witiak said that maybe our kids today are hungry for a simpler, quieter life.

"One day we just got out a bunch of craft materials leftover from the first two weeks of camp and they had more fun just sitting there making things. It's the simple things," she said.

"I think that maybe our kids are a little happy to just be."  

The Carroll County Farm Museum has tours and exhibits throughout the year. Check out the website for details.