Neighborhoods in Time
Goal: To learn about how your community has changed over time
Today you might live in a small community, a town, a big city, or maybe the country. But do you know who lived there one hundred years ago? Or two hundred years ago?
Even if you live in a new housing development, people used the land in different ways long before you were born. Some of our communities are very old and have been settled for over 300 years. Other communities are new. But the land has been used in many ways during the history of our country.
Maybe where you live was once a big farm. Maybe it was a hunting ground for Native Americans.
This project lets you be an explorer into the past. How has your town changed over a long period of time?
1. With your Girl Scout Troop Leader's help, contact your local library or historical society or ask your teacher at school. Find out where you can learn about your neighborhood's past.
2. Pick two or three eras (time periods) you want to focus on. For example, you could pick 1800 and 1900. Or 1650 and 1750. Or you could use the date of important events, like the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, or World War II. The eras will depend on where you live and what sort of information you have.
3. By reading and asking questions from teachers, historians, librarians, and museum staff, you can find out lots of information about your neighborhood. You will want to learn the number of people who lived there (the population), what crops they grew or products they made, and how the area grew. Keep notes so that you can remember it all. Draw your own pictures or photocopy maps, illustrations, and photographs.
4. Using a poster board or oak tag, assemble your information and illustrations. You can draw a big timeline showing how your community has changed or you can divide your poster into sections for each era you have explored.
5. If possible, add a map or photograph of your community as it looks today.
Now you have a poster that shows changes in your neighborhood over a long period of time. Changes over time are what creates history.
By exploring the past, you have learned about the history of your neighborhood. Congratulations!
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