This camp is history

GOSHEN — At the second annual Goshen History Camp, 11 children learned about four important Goshen figures: pioneer Sarah Wells, musician Willie “the Lion” Smith, artist Horace Pippin, and dictionary-maker Noah Webster.
They also learned about the history of dairy farming in Goshen thanks to two farmers, Bill and son Phil Johnson, owners of Fort Hill Farm. They got up close and personal with a John Deere tractor, and they even made butter, which they ate on top of corn bread. They delivered wheelbarrow loads of hay, used real horseshoes, and ate ice cream.
Their education continues even now, after the camp has ended, because each child went home with an instruction sheet with further activities.
Children and their families can visit the Bull Stone House where Sarah Wells raised her large family. See the historic marker at the Town Hall at 41 Webster St. , a building that contains the walls of the school where Noah Webster taught.
Visit the historic marker by the African-American church on 207 West Main Street honoring Horace Pippin, and go to the Historic Track, which inspired some of Pippin's primitive-style paintings.
Drive by the house on Sayer Street that once was the “Colored School” attended by Willie “the Lion” Smith and other black elementary school-age children.
Next year’s camp will introduce more of Goshen’s historic figures to elementary school children. Who knows? Maybe one or more of these campers may someday be famous, and be themselves the subject of study for future generations.
The camp was sponsored by the Junior Friends of the Goshen Public Library and Historical Society.