Our school-tour guides are specially selected for their skill in communicating with children and are trained to offer age-appropriate opportunities for learning. Hands-on and interactive components encourage student engagement, and each learner returns to the classroom with a greater understanding of the history of Madison.
At the MHS, our history-based school programs, house tours, and walking tours fulfill the following content standards for Social Studies, grades K-12, listed in the CT State Department of Education document, Connecticut’s Common Core of Learning:
- Students will develop historical thinking skills, including chronological thinking and recognizing change over time.
- Students will use historical thinking skills to develop an understanding of major historical periods, issues, and trends in…local and Connecticut history.
- Students will apply their understanding of historical periods, issues and trends to examine such historical themes as ideals, beliefs, and institutions; conflict and conflict resolution; human movement and interaction; and science and technology in order to understand how the world came to be the way it is.
- Students will recognize the continuing importance of historical thinking and historical knowledge in their own lives and in the world in which we live.
Additional content standards in the arts, language studies, and geography are also addressed and can be emphasized upon advance request.
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Specially designed for youngsters in the fourth and fifth grades, MHS school tours at the Allis-Bushnell House focus on architecture, furnishings, decorative arts, and such artifacts as domestic, agricultural, and maritime tools and implements.
 For 2009, the Madison Historical Society proudly offers A Visit to Chloe’s House, a hands-on “living history” program, designed to meet the content standards of the fourth-grade social studies curriculum.
Background: Chloe Scranton Bushnell was born in 1784, a year before the Allis-Bushnell House was constructed across the street from her home. As a child, she was probably very familiar with the house, as it was the home of her cousins, the Allis family. In 1825, Chloe moved into the house with her second husband, Nathan Bushnell, and lived there until her death in 1873. Chloe’s life spanned from the end of the Revolutionary War to the end of the Civil War. Her son Cornelius Bushnell was the promoter and partner in the building of the USS Monitor, the iron-clad Union Civil War vessel that defeated the Confederate ship Merrimack. The highlight of A Visit to Chloe’s House is a tour of the Allis-Bushnell House given by a costumed re-enactor who portrays Chloe Scranton Bushnell.
A Visit to Chloe’s House includes:
- An in-school introductory visit from an MHS educator prior to the trip
- Chloe’s Tour of the Allis-Bushnell House
- What Children Wore
- Tour of Chloe’s Herb Garden
- The Merchant’s Trunk
Total visit time: 1½ hours
Fourth Grade Social Studies Content Standards Addressed:
1.1 Compare and contrast the cultures and traditions of American Indian people.
Compare and contrast the impact of exploration and colonization on both native peoples and the colonists.
1.2 Identify events, people, and historical sites important in CT history.
Analyze the impact of individuals on the history of CT.
1.3 Trace the national origins of prominent individuals—past and present—in CT.
1.4 Locate man-made and physical characteristics in CT.
Compare and contrast map types.
1.5 Describe how physical systems have affected the lives of people in CT.
Explain the relationship between the environment and way of life of American Indians.
1.11 Compare and contrast barter and cash exchanges.
1.12 Analyze how trade among colonists with American Indians affected each group.
2.1 Identify the difference between primary and secondary sources.
2.4 Respond appropriately in a discussion, both listening and participating with relevant information and/or questions.
Description of Individual Components
The Pre-Program Visit to Your School
A brief multimedia presentation, compliments of an MHS Educator
Arrangements can be made for a volunteer from the Madison Historical Society to visit your classroom with a ten-minute PowerPoint presentation to prepare students for A Visit to Chloe’s House. A CD with the presentation and a script is also available if you would prefer to prepare the children using our materials.
The Tour of Chloe’s House
a “living history” tour of the Allis-Bushnell House, given by a costumed re-enactor
Upon their arrival at the Allis-Bushnell House, students are met by Chloe Scranton Bushnell, who is preparing her house for a visit from her grandchildren. Chloe takes time from her preparations to reminisce with students about her own childhood in Madison. She also tells them stories she remembers hearing about the Revolutionary War. Reminded that her grandchildren will be arriving shortly, Chloe hustles her young visitors into the kitchen where she puts them to work churning butter, chopping wood, making candles, and other daily chores.
When the work is done, Chloe suggests a few moments of rest in the parlor, where she settles into her rocking chair and invites the children to gather on the floor for storytelling. Like all mothers, Chloe loves to brag about her children, especially her son Cornelius Bushnell, who personally convinced President Abraham Lincoln to let him build the ironclad warship, the USS Monitor.
What Children Wore
a hands-on segment in which students dress in replica eighteenth- and nineteenth-century costumes
When Chloe was a child, she and her brothers probably had only one set of clothing for daily use and perhaps something special for Sabbath Sunday. Children wore much what their parents wore, but in a miniature version. Using replicas of clothing worn by children in the 1700s and 1800s, students experience what it felt like to dress as the Allis or Bushnell children did when they lived in the house. Discussion focuses on the sources of clothing (homespun or imported), the ways that one set of clothing could serve year round, and the all-important question of how to clean the clothing—without washing machines or detergent!
Chloe’s Herb Garden
an interactive segment that reveals the uses of herbs in eighteenth-century America
While the Bushnell men worked in the fields adjoining the property, Chloe and her children tended the family “garden spot” or kitchen garden. Originally designed by the Madison Garden Club, the Allis-Bushnell House garden features herbs grown during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Fun-loving, knowledgeable members of the Garden Club lead our student tour, explaining the importance of herbs in the lives of our ancestors. In a short presentation, the students learn about the culinary and medicinal uses of herbs, as well as their uses in textile dyes and for fragrance. Students are always fascinated to learn the history behind our oyster-shell pathways in the garden.
Please note that, to avoid any possible allergic reactions, children will not handle the plants in the garden. In the event of rain, the program moves inside the Annex Museum of Madison History on our property.
The Merchant’s Trunk
a hands–on component that uses replicas of historic items
Chloe’s brothers and cousins were merchants in Madison. These men owned sailing ships that went to New York or New Haven loaded with the products of Madison and surrounding areas. On the return trip, their ships brought back goods available only in large cities or imported from other countries. They sold these goods in their local stores in Madison. In this segment of our program, students unpack a trunk load of merchandise that might have been brought back by the merchants of Madison at East Wharf or West Wharf. As the students unpack the trunk, they are asked to discuss the items. What are they? How do they compare to items we use today?
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Grade Two Walking Tour of the Town Green
This walking tour is specially designed to address the content standards of the Grade Two social studies curriculum, but it can be adapted for older students and for varied levels of home-schooled students as well. Four classes can be accommodated in a one-hour period. Classes rotate through four locations on the Madison town green. Each stop at the four learning stations last for approximately 12 minutes, with three minutes added for walking transitions.
The four sites are:
- The green itself. Here our town historian shows students a large photograph of the green at the turn of the twentieth century. Students then compare and contrast the green of the past with the green they see in the present. Then students are led on a brief walking tour of the green’s prominent historic features, such as its living descendant of CT’s original Charter Oak tree.
- The First Congregational Church of Madison. Here students are met by a former pastor of the church. Dressed in period clothing, he tells the story of the church's history. As the students exit the church, the sexton rings the steeple bells.
- The Lee Academy. Here a guide from the MHS tells students the early history of one of Madison’s first schools and explains how Madison was named and the importance of Captain Frederick Lee in town history.
- The Charlotte Evarts Memorial Archives. Here the head archivist gives students a tour of the vaults where historic documents and photographs are kept. She shows maps and pictures of the Madison of yesteryear and shares interesting local lore.
Second Grade Social Studies Content Standards Addressed:
1.2 Explain the significance of events, sites, and people in the history of one's own town.
Identify and explain the significance of local historical sites.
1.4 Compare and contrast man -made and physical characteristics in one's own town.
1.13 Identify social institutions in the community.
2.4 Ask relevant questions on Social Studies topics.
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Schools tours are generally limited to the months of May and June.
For Allis-Bushnell House tours, up to 60 children can be accommodated at one time.
Access for children with disabilities can be arranged in advance, but our upper floor cannot be reached by wheelchair.
We cannot at this time offer meals or restrooms. Picnicking is permissible, weather permitting, on our grounds; a public restroom is available at the Scranton Library (0.10-mile distant).
To protect our fragile furnishings, household objects, and fine and decorative arts, we ask that all backpacks be left at school (or on the school bus, if your visit will include a picnic lunch on our grounds).
To arrange a school tour, please call the Madison Historical Society, (203) 245-4567 or contact us by email.
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