Essex National Heritage Commission Announces New Educational Partnership

All of us at Essex Heritage hope that your Thanksgiving Holiday was pleasant, and that you enjoyed time with family and friends. The year-end holiday period is “roaring up” on us, and we wish you all the best as you celebrate in the weeks ahead. If you will allow me a brief personal note, my wife and I along with a wonderful group from the Danvers Senior Center, enjoyed a trip to Italy late in the month of October. For someone who has spent the last decade focusing on the preservation of the two to three century old buildings in this region, it was quite an experience to view sites in Italy that in some cases went back thousands of years. It provided me with a new appreciation of the needs we have in this region to continue the work we are undertaking to preserve the heritage of this part of the country. For the last half a dozen years, I have been associated with the Danvers Senior Center as the Chairman of their volunteer Board of Directors and it was nice to experience the planning that goes into the trips they offer to their members first hand.

Final Report on Trails and Sails

The sixth annual Trails and Sails: A Weekend of Walks and Water, was a tremendous success, with our highest site and audience participation numbers ever. Eighty-Seven sites and organizations in 27 of the 34 communities that are a part of the Essex National Heritage Area hosted events this past September. There were 150 free events that hosted almost 4000 participants. ENHC is appreciative of the efforts of all of the sites that participated and particularly thanks the sponsors of the event, who made the weekend possible and successful. I had the personal good fortune to visit sites in Salem and Danvers during the weekend, and listened to many of the participants and event hosts who expressed their interest in seeing the event grow. This year when the event was completed, ENHC surveyed participating sites to learn if there was a willingness to meet as a consortium to discuss ways to make the event even bigger and better in the future. The response has been gratifying, as dozens of participating sites have indicated a desire to join with ENHC to plan the 2008 event. A meeting has been scheduled early in 2008, and the expectation is that the 2008 edition of Trails and Sails 2008 will be bigger and better than in the past.

ENHC Participating in New Education Grant

For the last two years, ENHC has been a partner in a program funded by a Teach American History Grant called Using ESSEX History. This program is an educational resource to the communities in the area. In the two years over 85 high school and middle school teachers from 27 school districts in the Essex National Heritage Area have attended 13 seminars and 2 summer institutes. The program has been exceptionally well received and the mission of Using ESSEX History to connect area teachers and students to local resources and treasures is being achieved. Now the same partners who formed the first association, The Essex National Heritage Commission, the Beverly Public Schools, Salem State College and the National Archives and Records Administration has received a second grant from the Federal Government. The new program that was introduced to the region at the Beverly Public School headquarters by Congressman John Tierney in mid November is a similar program with a focus on Elementary School students called Essex Lincs. LINCs is an acronym for Local History in a National Context. The program is designed to provide elementary school teachers in this region with access to local primary source material to enhance their social studies lessons. Through this program, Essex County educators will gain insight into national events and trends in American history, and enhance their ability to teach the subject. The program will provide teachers with tailor made lesson plans designed by a museum educator, as well as an opportunity to visit historical sites and view primary documents first hand. Then, the local educators will produce their own lessons and activities to best meet the needs of their students. The Essex National Heritage Commission is pleased and proud to a partner in this important regional initiative and is excited to help build enthusiasm for history in Essex County. For more information on this program or to learn how your school district can participate contact Rebecca Zimmerman at rzimmerman@essexlincs.org