Students learn how to bring old ways to life

The junior docent program at Heritage Village in Largo teaches students about pioneering days in Florida so they can teach others.

By THERESA BLACKWELL
© St. Petersburg Times
published June 17, 2002

LARGO -- Ashley Ratliff can't say when she first visited Heritage Village.

"It's been so long ago when I first started coming here that I really can't remember," the Largo 13-year-old said. "I know I was very little."

She would spend Friday nights with her grandmother, Jackie Scarbo of St. Petersburg. Nearly every Saturday, they went to breakfast and then to the village to hear a docent tell stories of pioneer life in what is now Pinellas County.

Now Ashley will share her love of history with others. After a week of training, she takes the test to become a junior docent today. The shy, home-schooled girl will talk with visitors while wearing a long green dress that brings out the green in her eyes.

"My grandmother made my costume last night," she said. "She thinks this is really great."

Nine girls and two boys from Largo, Clearwater, Seminole and St. Petersburg studied last week to become junior docents at the county's Heritage Village in Largo. They will act as guides through the McMullen-Coachman Loghouse, Lowe Barn, Sulphur Springs Depot and Harris School this summer.

Their weeklong training covered the buildings through which they will lead tours and how Florida pioneers lived -- from the heat and the bugs to the weekly bath, building a home and feeding the family. Each chose an old-time craft like making corn-husk dolls or embroidering samplers to demonstrate.

"They have stars in their eyes -- oh, yeah," said Pamela Norris of Largo, mother of junior docent Ashlee Ortega. "I think it's a great opportunity for them -- an educational process and somewhat of a maturing process."

Ashlee, 13, wasn't too sure about the program when her best friend, Danielle Moentman of Largo, 12, suggested they become docents together.

"At first, I didn't think this was how I wanted to spend my summer," Ashlee said."But when I came here, I thought this was really cool. I like talking to people and the interacting with the old things, the things that are a part of history."

At class Wednesday, Ellen Babb, the curator of education for Heritage Village, introduced the class to their teacher for the morning, volunteer docent Hank Hardy of Clearwater, 76.

Hardy takes her docent work seriously.

"I'm involved," she said as they walked across the grounds to the loghouse. "It's not that I'm here to keep the house open or something."

The group listened to Hardy outside the McMullen-Coachman Loghouse.

"I was born in Florida and I love it -- so I hope I can inspire you to love Florida as I do," she said. "I grew up in Florida with no air-conditioning -- no air-conditioning, boys and girls."

But at night, her father put a fan by her bed. Beds also were higher to catch the breeze that came through big, open windows. "But it was a different world," she said.

She took her students back to 1850, to the lives of the Florida pioneers. After new settlers found a green spot they liked, close to water, the work began. First up was clearing an area to plant a garden so they would have food to supplement what they gleaned through hunting and fishing.

Then they built a house from logs.

The McMullens, James and Elizabeth, built the heart-of-pine loghouse in 1852 on what is now Old Coachman Road in Clearwater. Eight of their 11 children were born in the unchinked log home, later chinked by the Coachmans. The cracks between the logs let in some air, making the house colder in winter, but that wasn't the main problem.

"Think of living in this house for 50 years and all the bugs," Hardy said. "You can put on more clothes to get warm, but imagine living here with mosquitoes coming in and out."

When they went inside, she showed them a treadle that mothers pushed with their feet to rock a cradle, keeping their arms free for other work. She showed the students how butter, candles and soap were made.

Before long, they had to escape the heat and get back outside.

"You'll learn that you wear just as few clothes as you can get away with," Hardy said.

The lesson continued through a tour of the Moore House built in 1879, when wood cut in planks was available. Hardy demonstrated how wool was spun into thread and then the class finished the day with Sarah Wheaton of Largo, a former junior docent.

Wheaton showed "The What is it?" box, full of objects from the past that students examined to guess what they might be.

Babb has watched Wheaton grow through the junior docent program.

"It's just great to have these kids around who love and appreciate history," Babb said. "We have kids who come here who are so shy and by the end of summer, they are just full of confidence. Their speaking skills improve and they have a much greater appreciation for their community and its history."

Babb said Ashley will be no exception.

"She'll be one of those that'll just blossom."

If you are interested

The program is for students from 12 to 16 years old and is closed this summer, but call Heritage Village in April if you are interested in next summer's junior docent class. Interviews are in early May. Call 582-2123.

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