×

Playground would enhance Fort Roberdeau

This letter is in response to John Hunter Orr’s letter chiding the proposed playground at Fort Roberdeau historic site.

In the piece, he argues, “In the late 1700s, Colonials mined lead and held down their frontier fort in a beautiful, largely untamed wilderness. No playground then for kids.”

True, but the site also has 19th century structures that were not there either yet serve valuable educational purposes.

While I agree with his claim that the environment of the site is an ideal “nature’s playground” already, that does not mean that context cannot be added in an engaging way for young visitors.

One only needs to look at thematic playgrounds at Fort Necessity National Battlefield or Blair County’s own Canal Basin Park to see that such amenities are valuable educational resources to students.

The National Park Service writes of their Fort Necessity playground: “The multiple climbing structures on the playground are evocative of the circular fort; the storehouse inside the Fort, and a Conestoga wagon, which allows kid’s imaginations to run wild.”

Similarly, Canal Basin Park’s grounds allow youth to explore a kid-friendly recreation of an 1800s canal boat.

As a history instructor and former park ranger, I can attest to the fact that supplementing the power of nature and historic sites with innovative, hands-on activities for young people is both effective and necessary – especially as history is generally being taught less and less in the wake of standardized testing.

In short, if local historic sites such as Fort Roberdeau wish to remain sustainable in the long term and continue to reach out to broader audiences, new visitor opportunities and assets need to become available over time.

Interpretive playgrounds serve as an engaging means to foster connections to regional youth and help evoke the power of place.

Jared Frederick

Altoona

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.39/week.

Subscribe Today