Last Saturday, I went with Josh to a small cub scout den outing to visit a historical place in our town, which I think is interesting in its own right, but would also satisfy a requirement for one of his achievements listed in the cub scout handbook. All of a sudden, my wife and I realized that there are all of these achievements that he has to reach by Jan or Feb 2013, or he won’t be able to move on up to earn his Wolf badge. Um, yes, I am well aware of the irony that it should be Josh taking charge and managing his achievements. He’s only seven years old, so we have to help him with this. We have to enable him.
Any case, bright and early, we were up and met the rest of the pack at 10am outside of the museum. Members of the Hightstown-East Windsor Historical Society opened up the museum, brought us in, and acted as our tour guides. They took us around to explain some of the memorabilia, the history of the town, talked about the old railroad that used to come through town to pick up produce and take it to the burgeoning populations of Philadelphia and New York City. The guides later took us up through the rest of the Ely House and Freight Station Museum to learn about life back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. FYI, after checking out the beds and the chamber pot set up, I’m pretty glad I was born and raised during the late 20th century. It was not an easy life back then without the creature comforts (like running water) that we have today.
After the end of the tour, Historical Society gave the boys some commemorative medallions, and we all took a picture outside that might be submitted to our local paper. That’s cool. So all and all, an interesting journey to learn more about the history of our little town. I definitely learned something.
BTW, just as a small explanation, for that last group photo, it was very sunny outside, so it was a little difficult to see. That’s why the slightly odd grimaces.
