The Smoky Mountain Heritage Center in Townsend
As always, Tennessee History for Kids will produce and host all-day summer inservices across the state — each with a unique topic.
Our first event will be on Monday, July 15, at the Smoky Mountain Heritage Center in Townsend. The theme will be the history of the Smoky Mountains. The day will include guided tours of the Heritage Center (led by the its full time staff) and the Little River Lumber Company Museum (led by Neal Stone, president of the museum’s board).
Robin Goddard
In addition to the tours, we will have presentations by Robin Goddard on the culture of the Smoky Mountains and by “History Bill” Carey on Tennessee’s long-forgotten mineral springs hotels (where people used to vacation before the Smokies came along).
Click here to register for the Monday, July 15, event in Townsend.
State Park Ranger Chip Hillis gave our teachers the CCC Museum tour the last time we had an event at Cumberland Mountain State Park.
Our second event will be Thursday July 18 at Cumberland Mountain State Park near Crossville.
The Cumberland Homesteads Museum.
The Cumberland Mountain event will have two themes: The first is early transportation routes in Tennessee history (such as the first road across the Cumberland Plateau). The second is the Great Depression in Tennessee. Our guest presenter will be Charles Tollett, a Cumberland County native and longtime members of the board of the Cumberland Homestead Tower Association.
This event will include a tour of the state park’s CCC Museum (led by state park manager Chip Hillis), as well as a trip to the nearby Cumberland Homesteads Museum. We will have lunch at the restaurant at Cumberland Mountain State Park.
Click here to register for the event at Cumberland Mountain State Park.
Here we are at the Hermitage, in July 2021
Our third event will be Monday, July 22, at the Hermitage, the Home of Andrew Jackson, in Nashville.
The focus of this inservice will be on the Life and Times of Andrew Jackson and the changes that occurred during his adult life — such as the arrival of the steamboat, the spread of slavery, and the coming of the railroad and telegraph. These topics are all discussed in Bill Carey’s newest book True Tales of Tennessee: Earthquake to Railroad.
Erin Adams
Erin Adams of the Hermitage will be a guest presenter, and all attendees will tour the home and grounds.
Click here to register for the July 22 event.
Points about our inservices:
Teachers who register will be charged $40 per person — an amount that includes all admission fees and lunch! We accept checks and venmo, and our venmo address is @tnhistoryforkids.
These are all-day events that will begin at 9 am and end at 4 pm. Please remember that Townsend is in the Eastern Time Zone, while Cumberland County and Nashville are on Central Time.
Participating teachers will receive a certificate showing 6 hours of professional development.
We expect these events to fill up quickly with public and private school teachers. However, if there are openings, we will begin accepting reservations for homeschool parents and the general public on Monday, July 1.
