Trails and Rails Museum, Buffalo County Historical Society, (Brian Neben, Central Nebraska Today)
KEARNEY —Every May, Kearney Public Schools fourth-grade students “travel back in time’ at Pioneer Days at Trails and Rails Museum. May 3, 6, and 8 are the remaining three days of Pioneer Days.
In fourth grade, students study pioneers and Nebraska history, and this enrichment day brings that history to life and cements their learning. For the past 25 years, KPS fourth-graders have visited the Trials and Rails Museum, where they experience what life was like in the 1800s.
Dressed in pioneer clothing, students punch tin at the Blacksmith shop, experience handwriting lessons at the one-room school, create beading projects in the Indian tipi, and make cornhusk dolls and marble bags in the old hotel. At noon, the students eat a pioneer lunch of beef stew and cornbread before playing pioneer games. Students also tour the Shelton Depot and steam locomotive, learn about the function of a depot, and tour the Freighter’s Hotel
One teacher expressed, “This day brings our curriculum to life, it is living history.”
Pioneer Days at Trails & Rails Museum happen because of numerous volunteers, including museum volunteers, retired teachers, and parents.
