Last week, Parker's class went to the Thomas Center (a restored turn-of-the-century hotel) and visited the surrounding historic district. I found the entire experience so enjoyable - it made me want to go back to school and take a bunch of history classes! So, I'm mostly including this post for my own future remembering... and recognize that it might not be too fascinating to my blog readers. :)
However, there is also a good sprinkling of Parker pictures among all the boring ones, so you can skim through to find those, if you like.
An old original fireplace in nearly every room:
Doors had little windows above them to let out the hot air... I still don't know how ANYONE lived in Florida before air conditioning was invented!
There was a huge room with a glass ceiling that used to be a courtyard with a garden. The Christmas tree they had in there was AMAZING!
These eagles were above each pillar all around the courtyard room:
After touring the Thomas Center, we walked through the neighborhood around it and our guide told us about each historic home (but we didn't go inside them).
I didn't know that the streets used to have actual names. I'm glad they kept them on the bottom of the signs:
The kids liked these steps that were at the end of each front walk, which used to be for climbing into and out of horse-drawn carriages. Some (like the one in this pic) went up and some went down - depending on which side of the hill the house was on:
Porches galore:
(Bear with me - we're almost back to more kid pictures)
We headed back to the Thomas Center for lunch, but also got to do a little dress-up before we ate. The boys were given stiff white collars & bow-ties and the girls wore beads, purses, and fans. Our guide helped Parker with his:
Parker said his favorite part of the field trip was lunch (which we ate by the fountain near the front lawn). Go figure! You try to give kids a fun educational experience and all they really want to do is run around with their friends.
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