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“Georgia On My Mind Day” was being held there, so I thought it might be cool to teach the folks in the area a little bit about archaeology! A lot of the school children that visited with me throughout the day said that they had a great time. Actually, I’m not sure who had more fun—me or them. One of the youngsters thought I was so cool that he tried to buy me for $10.00!
Throughout the day, I got to meet re-enactors from the War Between the States (aka The Late Unpleasantness) representing the Washington Light Artillery. They fired cannons and muskets and wielded swords during demonstrations. I also saw re-enactors from the colonial period and met a guy in Native American attire who crafted his own canoe and tans hides, too! Mr. Steve can make bows and arrows, stone knives, cordage, and lot of other things that people once used in everyday life many years ago. I sure had the pleasure of meeting a lot of interesting people, including the Mayor of Sylvania. Mrs. Margaret thought I was pretty cool—and I think she is awesome, too!
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Tammy Herron, Maggie Needham, and George Wingard were my handlers for the day. They work for the Savannah River Archaeological Research Program (http://www.srarp.org/) and had loads of fun teaching visitors about archaeology, too! And, boy oh boy, did we have visitors! According to Mrs. Ann, Assistant Manager of the Visitor Information Center, 236 school children from Screven and surrounding counties were registered to visit and learn with me throughout the day! This number does not include all the other folks from the community that showed up for the event, so whew did we have a busy day! At times, we were swamped!
Did you know that there are various “Georgia On My Mind Day” events held at the various Georgia Visitor Information Centers throughout the state? Be sure and check the calendar for a similar event in your area by visiting this webpage. You sure can learn a lot there and meet some very interesting folks along the way.
I wish to thank Mrs. Ann, Mr. Robert, and Mrs. Dot for inviting me to Screven County—I had a really great time spreading the news about Georgia archaeology!
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