The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
CELEBRATING NATURE, HISTORY
Fall Migration Festival: Annual event opens up 1840s schoolhouse, offers lessons in conservation
CANASTOTA, N.Y. » At the Great Swamp Conservancy’s 18th annual Fall Migration Festival, people got a chance to look inside a 19th century schoolhouse and the work that’s gone into it.
Originally from Oneida Lake, the single room schoolhouse dates back to the 1840s and was rebuilt on the GSC’s property. The plan is to not only refurbish and restore, but to use as an active schoolhouse. Currently, renovations for the schoolhouse have stalled due to a lack of funding. At the moment, an original desk, books and a bell sit in the schoolhouse, alongside original slate chalkboards. Up until the Fall Migration Festival, the public were not allowed inside.
Karlene Brazie works at the Camden High School in the testing center and got a chance to check out what teachers had to work with years ago.
“I actually like the idea of having all the ages together in a small group,” Brazie said. “That way, they can learn from each other and work with each other. I’m sure it was trying for the teachers, but I
“In the future, who knows what might be taught. Wemay have someonewho could do some period teaching and give us a history lesson.” — President and CEO Michael Patane
also think there was a certain value to it.”
Brazie said it would be great to see the old schoolhouse used for teaching again and keep it as true to the old school house as they can.
“If they keep it to the original look and feel, I think it would be perfect. I think it’s a lost setting,” Bezie said.
President and CEO Michael Patane said the Great Swamp is looking to do just that.
“The future plan for the schoolhouse is to use it as a true historical piece as it is, because it’s probably the last original one room schoolhouse definitely in the town of Lenox. I don’t know about the other surrounding areas, but I know in the town it’s the last,” Patane said. “But we also want to use it as a working one room schoolhouse. And from time to time, we want it to be used as a period schoolhouse, with a teacher dressed in period clothes and show the students what it was actually like back in those days, in the 1840s.”
There’s talk of teaching multiple subjects in the schoolhouse, but Patane said the plan at the moment is for conservation educator Camille-Warner to teach environmental education.
“In the future, who knows what might be taught. Wemay have someone who could do some period teaching and give us a history lesson,” Patane said.
The schoolhouse sits right next to the Arcadian, a 30-foot-long canal barge dating back to 1911 and leased to the GSC in 2015. Plans are to add a walkway up to the canal barge for people to see and learn what the old laker boat would do out on the canals and lakes of New York.
And while there’s always good music and a fun time at the Fall Migration Festi- val, there’s an undercurrent of education in everything people interact with.
Cindy Page, of Pages wildlife Center, brought a number of birds of prey with her. Page has been rehabilitating wild animals for more than 30 years, specializing in birds of prey. Her programs focus on predator-prey relationships, adaptations birds develop for their specific environments, and the role birds of prey have in the ecosystem.
Alongside her birds, Page brought a lesson; wild animals should remain wild.
“A lot of my work is undoing the damage done by people,” Page said.
Page walked attendees through a scenario where a member of the audience hypothetically brought a fawn into their home after finding it. While the fawn would be cared for and grow up, the Department of Conservation would want to have a talk with the family.
Page said in those kind if situations, it isn’t right to take the wild out of the animal and in a situation where a deer ends up domesticated, sometimes the most appropriate thing to do is put the deer down.
But for some animals, they can’t go back into the wild for whatever reason. And Page showed the crowd a number of her birds of prey that were with her, from owls to turkey vultures.
And while everything has been going good so far for the GSC, there is a problem they face when renovating the schoolhouse.
“The only major snag we’ve had is that we’ve run out of money, the funding to help finish the project. We’ve got a lot of the original materials and we’re waiting to put those up,” Patane said.
Until funding comes in, the GSC can’t go any further with the renovations.
Those looking to make a donation to the Great Swamp Conservancy or for more information can visit www.greatswampconservancy.org/, call 315- 6972950 or email greatswampconservancy@gmail.com.