Heather S. Cole

New Local History Book Now Available!

Author Patricia J. Fanning’s newest book, Wish You Were Here: Vintage Postcards of Norwood, Massachusetts, is available February 12 from Rock Street Press. This full-color publication features more than 150 postcards from the private collection of a Norwood family, expertly annotated by Norwood’s town historian. It is an engaging visual tour through Norwood’s past and a great gift for fans of local history, vintage postcards or early 20^th century photography.

About the Book

The postcards in this volume, all from the Robert N. and Susan Donahue Collection, tell the story of this community from its founding to the late twentieth century. Businesses, houses of worship, educational, health care and recreational facilities, public buildings, landmarks and homes are all represented. For many, these views will spark nostalgia; for others, they will be totally unfamiliar. Either way, this is vintage Norwood.

About the Author

Patricia J. Fanning is a life-long resident of Norwood, Massachusetts and professor emerita of sociology at Bridgewater State University. A former president of the Norwood Historical Society and current president of the Old Parish Preservation Volunteers, she has written several books related to the town of Norwood including Norwood: A History (2002), Images of America: South Norwood (2004), Influenza and Inequality: One Town’s Tragic Response to the Great Epidemic of 1918 (2010), Keeping the Past: Norwood at 150 (2021), and Old Parish Cemetery of Norwood, Massachusetts (2023).

About Rock Street Press

Rock Street Press is a small book publisher specializing in local history, travel and memoir. We are based in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

This research project (which I’m finally returning to after Covid-19 put it on hold) is about a fascinating turn-of-the-century homeopathic doctor and amateur painter who wrote a memoir about a bike ride from Chicago to San Francisco in 1907. Her second husband was a British Royal Engineer in India and later designed a portion of the Electrical Building at the 1893 World’s Fair. The image below is an invention that he patented and hoped to make a fortune selling. Her story–and that of her extended family–stretches from British India to southern California and traces American history from the Civil War through the San Francisco earthquake to the trenches of World War II.

Stay tuned for more!

“Road Schooling American History: The Civil War” by Heather S. Cole

We moved to the Shenandoah Valley from the Boston area in 2014. In our first six months, I heard more discussion about “the war between the states” than I had in nearly 20 years in New England. I came to understand that some of this was cultural, but a lot of the reason for a continued interest in the war was purely geographical. Virginia was both literally and figuratively at the center of the Civil War and, even more than 150 years later, the effects are still being felt here in ways that they just aren’t in the north. As I tried to wrap my head around the debate over Confederate flags and statues of dead generals, I realized that there was a lot that I still didn’t understand about the Civil War.

Fortunately, I had a 7-year-old boy who was obsessed with guns and soldiers and warfare. Civil War reenactments were the perfect way to combine his interests and mine. Thus, the Civil War ended up being the first subject that we homeschooled, before we officially pulled him from public school. Our spines for this class were: a map of Virginia, a list of the major battles of the Civil War and a print-out of upcoming reenactments. Here are some of our favorite sites…

Gettysburg/Antietam/Harpers Ferry

We started our Civil War exploration just north of the Virginia border with a whirlwind weekend-long visit to Gettysburg, Antietam and Harpers Ferry. It was, in retrospect, nowhere near enough time. At Gettysburg National Military Park (Gettysburg, PA) we opted for the tour package that included the museum, film and cyclorama exhibit. That, along with a quick drive-through of the highlights of the battlefield, was all we were able to accomplish in one day. There were a myriad of ranger programs and other exhibits that we could have seen; but we just ran out of time.

The Antietam National Battlefield (Sharpsburg, MD) is a smaller site, so here the kids were able to walk around and get a better idea of the scope of the battle. We were there during one of their living history weekends, so the kids were excited to pet the reenactors’ horses and watch firearm demonstrations. The kids also earned their Junior Ranger badges by completing several activities there.

However, the highlight of our weekend was Harpers Ferry (WV). Located at the intersection of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, the picturesque town comprises both the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park and Harpers Ferry Historic District. The National Park includes several Civil War-era museums, including the site of abolitionist John Brown’s failed 1859 slave rebellion. The Historic District features beautifully-restored 19th century homes and stores, including my kids’ favorite: an ice cream parlor. The Appalachian Trail also cuts through Harpers Ferry, and there are local outfitters that offer biking, hiking and kayaking supplies.

We made a second trip to Gettysburg later that summer to attend the Gettysburg Anniversary National Civil War Battle Reenactment. Run by a group unaffiliated with the National Park, this reenactment is claimed to be the largest in the country. It certainly was the largest and most well-organized reenactment that we’ve attended. In addition to battle reenactments, there were both Union and Confederate encampments, period shops, musical performances and kids activities. (Just be aware that it is a 100% outdoor event and tickets are non-refundable.)

Shenandoah Valley

Although often overlooked, the Shenandoah Valley has a wealth of Civil War sites: Cedar Creek, New Market, Rockingham County, Waynesboro, Lexington. We’ve enjoyed visiting these sites because they tend to be less crowded, giving kids more of an opportunity to interact with museum staff and reenactors.

One of my favorite Civil War sites in the Shenandoah Valley is the Confederate Breastworks Interpretive Trail in the George Washington National Forest, west of Staunton. The isolated half-mile trail along the top of Shenandoah Mountain has interpretive signs with excerpts of letters from a Confederate soldier to his wife, giving hikers a sense as to what it might have been like to be a soldier marching, sleeping and fighting in the mountain wilderness.

My kids preferred our day trip to Lexington where we visited the Virginia Military Institute Museum, home to an extensive antique firearm collection and the taxidermied hide of Stonewall Jackson’s horse. 

Educational Programs

Joining a reenacting regiment is undoubtedly the best way to really experience life of a Civil War soldier. If your family is the type that enjoys sleeping under the stars, eating over a campfire and marching in wool clothing in 90 degree weather—then you can find information on regiments at any reenactment or through the sidebar links. I, however, wanted to sit in air-conditioned comfort while my children enjoyed those adventures.

So I was happy to discover the day camps at the Virginia Museum of the Civil War in New Market. The museum and surrounding battlefield are owned by the Virginia Military Institute, whose young cadets fought in the 1864 battle. Their week-long Civil War Day Camp is focuses on giving students the experience of a Civil War soldier—complete with marching drills and sampling of hardtack. My boys attended the camp for three summers and their favorite experiences included learning period songs and playing war with wooden muskets amongst the historic houses on the farm. I was especially pleased about the reasonable cost of the camp.

Another organization that offers a variety of educational programs about the Civil War is the American Battlefield Trust. My son and I spent a weekend in Washington, D.C. participating in a day-long reenactment that was part of their “Generations” initiative to interest young people in history. The free program also included a period lunch.

Since many of the Civil War sites are owned by the National Park Service, I also wanted to remind readers about their Every Kid in a Park program. Any fourth grader (or homeschool equivalent) can get a free one-year national park pass. Visit everykidinapark.gov for details.

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Historic Sites:

Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, MD: nps.gov/anti

Confederate Breastworks Interpretive Site, West Augusta: fs.usda.gov/recarea/gwj/recarea/?recid=73663

Gettysburg Anniversary National Civil War Battle Reenactment: gettysburgreenactment.com

Gettysburg National Military Park, Gettysburg, PA: nps.gov/gett

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, Harpers Ferry, WV: nps.gov/hafe

Historic Harpers Ferry, Harpers Ferry, WV: historicharpersferry.com

Virginia Military Institute Museum, Lexington: vmi.edu/museums-and-archives/vmi-museum

Virginia Museum of the Civil War, New Market: vmi.edu/newmarket

Favorite Books:

Alphin, Elaine Marie. Ghost Cadet. Scholastic Paperbacks (1992).

Beitler, Margaret Bigham. Jimmy at Gettysburg. Horner Enterprises (1992).

Fletcher, Susan. Dadblamed Union Army Cow. Candlewick (2007).

Greenwood, Barbara. The Last Safe House: A Story of the Underground Railroad. Kids Can Press (1998).

Raven, Margot Theis. Night Boat to Freedom. Square Fish (2008).

Other Resources:

American Battlefield Trust: battlefields.org

Civil War Reenactment HQ: reenactmenthq.com

Civil War Traveler (reenactment schedule): civilwartraveler.com 

National Park Service Every Kid in a Park program: everykidinapark.gov

Shenandoah Valley Battlefields: shenandoahatwar.org

My interest in American history began in 8th grade with a project I did for History Day on the shootings at Kent State University on May 4, 1970. Since then, I have revisited the topic for a variety of writing and history projects. Here are a few of them:

Youth Activism in American History: A Homeschool Unit Study for Middle School Students [link], developed as a final project for the “Making Meaning of May 4th” NEH workshop run by Kent State University in summer 2021.

Towards a Historiography of the Kent State Shootings [pdf download], a research paper submitted for a graduate history class at Salem State University in December 2003. (Includes professor comments.)

Thirteen Seconds: A Sixty Minute Screenplay [pdf download], a script for a biopic about May 4th survivor Alan Canfora that I wrote for an undergraduate screenwriting class at George Washington University in 1995. (Includes professor comments.)

History Day Report [pdf download], an essay about my initial History Day project that I wrote as an 8th grader in 1989.

During the Progressive Era, one dynamic and visionary businessman-reformer undertook a decades-long project to transform a small, industrial, working-class town into a model 20th century community. A wealthy industrialist by the time this study begins in 1900, the businessman-reformer George F. Willett spent more than a million dollars of his own money trying to turn the town of Norwood, Massachusetts into the “biggest, busiest and best suburban municipality in New England,” and a model for other towns across the country.

Available on Amazon.

Among these eight Virginians were those who established a new nation, drafted our founding documents, fought in numerous battles, led the country through wars and created an international peacekeeping organization. But these men also used their power to force Native Americans off their land, perpetuate the institution of slavery in new states and territories, and prevent women from obtaining the right to vote.

Across the Commonwealth of Virginia and beyond are more than two dozen presidential homes, museums and historic sites that tell the stories of the eight Virginia-born Presidents. While some were originally founded to enshrine the memory of our Founding Fathers, most presidential homes and museums no longer uncritically celebrate their lives. Instead, many of these sites have expanded their interpretation to include a more complicated and nuanced story about our Presidents and include the stories of the other men, women and children–-enslaved and free–-who supported them in their political, military and civilian careers.

My newest book tells the stories of the Virginia Presidents and the historic sites that interpret their lives. It includes profiles of each of the eight Presidents and descriptions of the museums, historic sites and presidential homes in Virginia and surrounding states that tell their stories and, by extension, the story of our nation.

Virginia’s Presidents: A History and Guide is now available! Send me an email (heatherscole @rocketmail.com) with your order to pay via PayPal, Venmo or check.

“Roads Scholars: Caving in Virginia” by Heather S. Cole
VA Homeschoolers Voice, September-October 2019

I am in the dark, dozens of feet underground, covered by mud and perched on a ledge alongside a small group of family and friends. To get here, I lowered myself by rope into a ditch, then crawled on my belly through the cave entrance. We’ve been scrambling over and under rock formations for the past hour. All I can see is the circle that my headlamp illuminates as I turn my head from side-to-side. I have absolutely no idea where we are or how to get out. And our guide has just handed the only map of the cave to my 9-year-old son. Needless to say, I’m a little nervous.

The Shenandoah Valley and West Virginia are dotted with hundreds of caves, formed over centuries by rainwater seeping through the ground and dissolving pockets in the limestone that comprises much of the landscape. Most of the caves are what spelunkers call “wild”—no lights, no handrails, no paved trails—and are located on private land. However, with a licensed guide and the proper equipment, many of these caves can be explored by the novice hiker.

We were first introduced to wild caving through trips offers by our local Recreation Department. A few months later, we organized a group and hired certified guide Lester Zook of Wild Guyde Adventures (wildguyde.com) to take us on a half-day adventure. The spelunkers in our group ranged in age from eight to 65 years old and were all comfortable hiking above ground. We wore helmets, head-lamps and hiking shoes, along with an outer layer of clothing that could (and did) get muddy. Lester spent a lot of time talking about cave safety, taught us how to read a cave map and even the youngest in our group got a chance to navigate. While the formations in the wild cave we explored were not as striking as those in commercial caves, it was more than made up for by the feeling of exploring undiscovered territory.

Most of the trek was hiking upright—on par with many of the moderate trails we’d hiked in Virginia and Arizona. We found that we moved pretty slowly and used our hands a lot more to help us through the cave, as much because the rocks were wet as because it was a difficult trek. We got used to the darkness pretty quickly, and I found the 55 degree temperature perfect. There were a few places where we had to squeeze through smaller spaces or crawl on our knees, so wild caving is certainly not for folks prone to claustrophobia or with health issues.

You should NEVER enter a cave without an experienced guide and the correct equipment. Several municipal recreation departments in the Shenandoah Valley offer guided caving trips for $20-40 per person. There are also several certified guides who lead wild caving treks for small groups, starting at a similar price per person. Search online for “Virginia cave adventures” or ask for a referral at your local hiking outfitter.

When we finally emerged into the sunlight a few hours later, we were exhausted and filthy, but proud of what we’d accomplished and most of us excited to go caving again. (My mom said she’d stick to hiking the desert canyons of Arizona.) We stripped off our outermost layer and threw them into a bag to await our next wild underground adventure.

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SIDEBAR

If crawling on your belly through the mud in the dark is not your idea of fun, then that’s a shame. But you can still see some of Virginia’s amazing underground rock formations by touring a commercial cave. The caverns listed below are fully lit and you will be walking along a paved or gravel pathway, usually with hand railings and stairs. Commercial cave tours generally last one to one-and-a-half hours and rates are $5-$15 for kids, $15-25 for adults. Even with the commercial caverns, the paths tend to be damp and temperatures average 55 degrees year round, so make sure to wear sneakers and bring a sweatshirt. Most of Virginia’s commercial caves are located in the Shenandoah Valley and are listed roughly north to south.

Skyline Caverns, Front Royal: skylinecaverns.com

Skyline is the northernmost commercial cavern in Virginia, located just outside of Front Royal. This cavern includes three underground streams and a waterfall and is one of the only places where you can see a rare needle-like crystal formation called an anthodite. While at Skyline Caverns, visitors can also ride a miniature train and go through a mirror maze.

Shenandoah Caverns, Quicksburg: shenandoahcaverns.com

Shenandoah Caverns is located on Interstate 81 between New Market and Mt. Jackson. It is the only Virginia cavern with an elevator, although you’ll still need to do lots of walking once you get inside. Some of the cool formations at Shenandoah Caverns include Rainbow Lake and formations that look like strips of bacon. Adjacent to the cave are two museums that feature old parade floats and antique department store window displays.

Luray Caverns, Luray: luraycaverns.com 

If you’re driving along Interstate 81 through the Shenandoah Valley, you can’t miss the numerous billboards advertising Luray Caverns, the largest cavern in the eastern United States. Tours of Luray Caverns are mostly stroller-friendly and one of the neat features inside is a stalacpipe organ: a musical instrument made of stalactites. Visitors can make a day of visiting Luray, with an adjacent garden maze, rope adventure park and car museum. Luray Caverns offers a homeschool week in March, and the education page of their website has some geology experiments for kids.

Endless Caverns, New Market: endlesscaverns.com

You’ll know you’re close to this cave when you can see the Hollywood-style sign in the mountains to the east. This is one of two caverns in Virginia to have the unusual shield formations inside. There is a campground on site, in case you want to make a weekend of it and explore some of the historic sites in New Market. Please note, however, that Endless Caverns is closed from mid-November to April 1 and strollers are not permitted on the tours.

Grand Caverns, Grottos: grandcaverns.com

Grand Caverns is our family’s favorite of the Shenandoah Valley caves, both because of the interesting formations and because it’s the closest commercial cave to our Staunton home. There is a small museum on-site and the adjacent municipal park has a playground and outdoor swimming pool. One weekend in early December, Grand Caverns hosts Christmas caroling in the caverns, a popular event. For folks who want something more adventurous than a commercial tour, once a month Grand offers tours of an adjacent cave that has been in disuse since the early 1900s. The Fountain Cave Adventure Tour takes visitors ages 12 years and older along a rugged 100-year-old pathway and requires the use of headlamps (and advance reservations).

Natural Bridge Caverns, Natural Bridge: naturalbridgeva.com/caverns.html

Natural Bridges Caverns is next to the state park complex that includes Natural Bridge and the Monacan Living History Exhibit, the three sites combining to make for a nice day trip. The caverns are open from March through November only, and they offer a homeschool day in the fall.

Dixie Caverns, Salem: dixiecaverns.com

Dixie Caverns is located in Salem, about 20 minutes west of Roanoke. Among its attractions is a wedding bell formation, under which you can get married—with advanced notice.The caverns are adjacent to a campground and an antique mall.

Gap Caverns, Ewing: nps.gov/cuga

Gap Caverns is located within the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, encompassing portions of Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky. The cave tours are described as moderately strenuous and children under the age of five years are not permitted. At the time of writing, bats in Gap Caverns have been found to have White-nose Syndrome, a fungal infection that is harmless to humans but life-threatening and very contagious to bats. See the NPS website for details on what to wear for a tour. Gap Caverns is open April through September and there are a variety of hiking, camping and Junior Ranger programs in the park. 

Heather Cole wrangles two adventure-loving boys in Staunton, Virginia. She is working on an article about homeschoolers hiking the Appalachian Trail. If you and your kids have thru-hiked, slack-hiked or overnight-hiked on the AT, send her an email.

“Road Tripping American History: Westward Expansion” by Heather S. Cole
VA Homeschoolers Voice, September-October 2019

Our homeschool covered the story of westward expansion in two week-long trips to Arizona and Wyoming. There are a number of other places we could have gone, but those coincided well with a visit to family in Phoenix and a family get-together at Yellowstone National Park. (Part of successful road schooling is figuring out how to do it as inexpensively as possible!)

Wyoming & The Oregon Trail

We spent the weeks prior to our trip to Wyoming reading historical fiction about the emigrants who traveled west on the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails during the mid-19th century. Some of our favorite included: Bonanza Girl by Patricia Beatty, Aunt Clara Brown: Official Pioneer by Linda Lowery (a rare portrayal of an African American pioneer) and the graphic novel Donner Dinner Party by Nathan Hale. We also read books written from the Native American perspective: Sing Down the Moon by Scott O’Dell (a fictionalized account of the Navajo’s forced migration from their homeland) and Buffalo Song by Joseph Bruchac (a true story about how the Salish tribe helped save the buffalo after their near-extinction by white settlers). Older students might enjoy watching Ken Burns’ acclaimed documentary The West, or any of the collections of letters written by westward travelers. For the plane or car ride, you can’t beat the retro Oregon Trail video game, now available online or in a handheld format at some toy stores.

We flew into Denver, Colorado and drove north to Wyoming, stopping first where tens of thousands of westward emigrants stopped: at Fort Laramie. This trading post-turned-military garrison is now a National Historic Site and has a number of restored buildings that date to the period of westward migration. After a tour, we stopped at the post store for a few bottles of sarsaparilla.

Not far from Fort Laramie is one of the best-preserved sections of the original Oregon Trail: the Guernsey Ruts. Standing in the marks cut by thousands of covered wagons through the sandstone rock gives one a powerful sense of just how many people traveled along the trail. Nearby, and not to be missed, is Register Cliff—where emigrants carved their names in the rock as they passed.

From Guernsey, we proceeded to the cowboy town of Casper and the National Historical Trails Interpretive Center. Perched on a hill overlooking the town, the interpretive center has sweeping views of what remains of the scrubland and the North Platte River that emigrants traversed. Inside the free museum are exhibits on the trails, the pioneers and the Native American tribes they encountered. There are also activities where visitors can select what items they would bring with them, try pulling a Mormon hand-cart and take a virtual reality trip across a river on a covered wagon. 

But to really experience what it might have been like to be a westward pioneer, nothing beats an actual covered-wagon trip on Oregon Trail. We opted for a bumpy two-hour trek in a reproduction Conestoga wagon, led by the Casper outfitter Historic Trails West. At one point we held our breath and clung to the side of the wagon as our guide expertly navigated us over a fairly modest hill. The nerve-wracking experience helped us understand why so many pioneers opted to walk alongside their wagons instead!

Tombstone, Arizona: The Wild, Wild West

When one thinks of the wild West, likely one of the first things that comes to mind is the infamous gunfight at the O.K. Corral—immortalized by dozens of books and movies. Many of those are more legend than truth, but if you’re looking for a town that captures the feeling of a frontier town, you can’t go wrong with Tombstone, Arizona.

Tombstone is located about an hour southeast of Tucson, the nearest major airport. The historic part of downtown has been recreated into a circa 1881 frontier town. (Think a wild west Williamsburg, without quite as much attention to historical accuracy.) The infamous shootout is reenacted four times per day near the site of the actual event. There is also a small museum and film about the events of October 26, 1881. Several of the buildings along historic Allen Street date to the 1880s and have been turned into themed shops or family-friendly saloons. There’s even a said-to-be-haunted historic theater where visitors can search for bullet holes in the walls left by visiting outlaws.

Part of the story of westward expansion is that many of the towns that sprung up around mines and railroad lines did not survive into the 21st century. One such ghost town is Fairbank, located a short drive from Tombstone. Visitors can take a short hike around the former town site and see the remains of the post office and general store. An old schoolhouse has also been partially restored and is sometimes open as a visitor center and gift shop.

Before driving south to Tombstone and Fairbank, we spent several days sightseeing in Tucson. The Arizona History Museum had several great kid-friendly exhibits about the west, including one about Apache leader Geronimo and a recreation of a copper mine. And if you didn’t see enough gunfights in Tombstone, the nearby theme park Old Tucson offers a number of “western experiences” including stunt shows and can-can dancers.

My kids’ favorite part of our westward expansion unit was learning about the outlaws and lawmen. Among the various tall tales, two favorite mostly-nonfiction books were The Legend of Bass Reeves: Being the True and Fictional Account of the Most Valiant Marshal in the West by Gary Paulsen and Bad Guys: True Stories of Legendary Gunslingers, Sidewinders, Fourflushers, Drygulchers, Bushwhackers, Freebooters, and Downright Bad Guys and Gals of the Wild West by Andrew Glass. The latter added some interesting new lingo to our vocabulary!

Heather Cole is dough boxer, biscuit roller and school marm to a pair of blue belly buttons who take a cotton to seeing the elephant without spending a heap of Lincoln skins. 

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Arizona

Arizona History Museum, Tucson, AZ: arizonahistoricalsociety.org

Fairbank Historic Town Site, AZ: blm.gov/visit/fairbank-historic-townsite

O.K. Corral, Tombstone, AZ: http://www.ok-corral.com

Old Tucson, Tucson, AZ: oldtucson.com

Wyoming

Fort Laramie, WY: nps.gov/fola

Guernsey Ruts & Register Cliff, Guernsey State Park, WY: wyoparks.state.wy.us

Historic Trails West, Casper, WY: historictrailswest.com

National Historical Trails Interpretive Center, Casper, WY: nhtcf.org

Oregon Trail video game: archive.org/details/msdos_Oregon_Trail_The_1990