A Hero on the Frontier

Day 7: St. Louis, MO to Dayton, OH
National Park Visited: George Rogers Clark NHS

by Briana

Today when we arrived at the George Rogers Clark NHS we were greeted by a nice woman who showed us to the stamps, one of our favorite parts of the sites. Then we did something really cool. They had our name on their bulletin board as big as day. Then the woman showed us to the theater room. She first introduced us to George Rogers Clark by explaining to us how he was significant to U.S. History. Once she gave us a brief summary we watched a movie. The movie showed how Clark used his confidence and good leadership to lead the Americans to defeat the British during the Revolutionary War in the frontier. Once the video was over the woman came back and gave us a demonstration of how it would have felt for the American soldiers to travel through the water in the winter, with water up to their necks. She also had a rifle, one that the soldiers would have had during their trek. In order to keep the guns dry, they had to hold the nine pound guns above their heads. That made their journey worse because they were cold, starving, and sore. Then we watched a gun demonstration and got a bit of information about the memorial, that looks a lot like the Jefferson Memorial, commemorating George Rogers Clark.


by Kelsea

Our day was extremely calm compared to the Thursday. We made one stop, and that was to the George Rogers Clark site. He’s William Calrk’s brother. Thomas Jefferson wanted George to go on the Lewis and Clark Expedition but, when George declined, he chose his brother, William. So, finally Teddy Roosevelt allowed a park site to be created in his honor. The first thing we did was listen to a ranger present, and then we watched a brief movie. After that we saw a demo on how to shoot a gun form that time. The gun was really, really, loud! Before we left for Dayton, the same ranger showed us a few places where Lincoln went. Such as where he caught a ferry. It was nice having a good relaxing day.

Kelsea is having fun!