A couple of weeks ago when we were in Arkansas I thought it would be fun to take the kiddos on a field trip to The Fort Smith Museum of History. Fort Smith is our hometown, where myself and both of my kiddos were born, so I thought it's never too early to get started on its history. :)
Fort Smith was built right on the edge of Indian Territory, so we got started at the Native American exhibit.
We stopped to stone grind some cornmeal. That was a big hit!
We moved on into the Telephone Room. That was a lot of fun!! There were all kinds of telephones showing its progression through the years.
There were some that you could call each other on and watch the inner workings of the phones.
There was even an old switchboard for the kiddos to play on (they had other, nicer antique switchboards that you couldn't play on). This was the kiddos' favorite room in the whole museum!
Here we are with Nana looking at a beautiful antique quilt. I come from a family of quilters, so we love to look at these.
The kiddos were quite interested in this old Model T Ford. It was so funny to see how little there was under the hoods in those days!
This was a bell from the old county courthouse. This was another favorite of the kiddos.
I personally love this old horse-drawn fire engine! It's so beautiful!
I don't think I've ever seen a real matchstick house. It was quite amazing!
This was an old Holsom Bread toy truck that the kiddos so badly wanted to climb inside, but I didn't think the museum would like them busting through the rusty bottom.
And last, but certainly not least, was the old fashioned soda fountain. They have part of it set up as a drug store and it's so fun to look at all of the old products in the cases.
Nana treated us all to some ice cream while we were there, too. I had a Coke float..mmmmm.
Fort Smith was built right on the edge of Indian Territory, so we got started at the Native American exhibit.We stopped to stone grind some cornmeal. That was a big hit!We moved on into the Telephone Room. That was a lot of fun!! There were all kinds of telephones showing its progression through the years.There were some that you could call each other on and watch the inner workings of the phones.There was even an old switchboard for the kiddos to play on (they had other, nicer antique switchboards that you couldn't play on). This was the kiddos' favorite room in the whole museum!Here we are with Nana looking at a beautiful antique quilt. I come from a family of quilters, so we love to look at these.The kiddos were quite interested in this old Model T Ford. It was so funny to see how little there was under the hoods in those days!This was a bell from the old county courthouse. This was another favorite of the kiddos.I personally love this old horse-drawn fire engine! It's so beautiful!I don't think I've ever seen a real matchstick house. It was quite amazing!This was an old Holsom Bread toy truck that the kiddos so badly wanted to climb inside, but I didn't think the museum would like them busting through the rusty bottom.And last, but certainly not least, was the old fashioned soda fountain. They have part of it set up as a drug store and it's so fun to look at all of the old products in the cases.Nana treated us all to some ice cream while we were there, too. I had a Coke float..mmmmm.It was a very fun field trip! The kiddos are still talking about it!