Kids learn colonial history hands on

Seven-year-old Annabel Barbour said she had never made butter before Saturday.

“A lady poured cream into our pot and we shook and shook it and made butter and put it on our bread and ate it,” she said. “It was really, really, really yummy.”

Barbour was one of more than 115 people who attended the seventh annual Colonial Kids Day Saturday.

The event was held at the Burwell School Historic Site in Hillsborough and was sponsored by the Alliance for Historic Hillsborough, Burwell School Historic Site and Orange County Historical Museum.

Eventgoers participated in colonial games, a lemonade party, quill writing, butter-churning, a fashion show and colonial dancing.

“I really liked the dancing,” said 7-year-old Lucy McCara. “But I was very — what’s the word? — dizzy from all those turns.”

Colonial Kids Day was the last event in Hillsborough’s Family Fun Day series, which takes place on the second Saturday of the month from June through September.

“The summer program of activities caters to families and encourages heritage tourism,” said Rebecca Ryan, executive director of the Historic Hillsborough Commission, which oversees the Burwell School Historic Site.

“We want people to visit historical sites, eat at local restaurants, shop at local businesses and see what Hillsborough’s all about.”

Colonial Kids Day has been held at different locations throughout its history. It is now held at the Burwell School because of the location and history of the site, said Sarah DeGennaro, the acting executive director of the Alliance for Historic Hillsborough.

The school is located in historic downtown Hillsborough.

It was constructed in 1821 by Robert and Anna Burwell and operated as an academy for young women from 1837 until 1857.

During that time, the school educated more than 200 women from around the country.

It was also the childhood home of Elizabeth Hobbes Keckly, the Burwells’ slave who would later become famous as Mary Todd Lincoln’s personal dressmaker and confidante.

Ryan said she thinks events like Colonial Kids Day bring attention to the rich history of Hillsborough.

“We want to show people who don’t know about Hillsborough what we’re all about,” said Ryan. “It’s still Orange County, just a little further down the road.”

DeGennaro said she thinks events like Colonial Kids Day are an important part of getting people actively involved in the history of Hillsborough.

“Colonial Day is a hands-on experience with history,” she said. “Rather than look at a historic house from the road, or reading a history book, you’re getting engaged in an act that would have been a part of the past.”

Contact the desk editor at city@dailytarheel.com.