Published January 28. 2019 11:00PM
Fourth grade students throughout the Bethlehem Area School District got some firsthand canal experience using the book “Tales of the Towpath,” which was written by canal education manager Dennis Scholl, for the curriculum.
Each class also visited the Freemansburg Canal Education Center on a class field trip. The story is told through the eyes of a 10-year-old and depicts life along the canal during the 18th Century.
Students from each elementary school learned how a grist mill works, how you fed your family as a lock tender, how locks work and what a canal boat was like. Students enjoyed interactive fun harnessing a mule, sketching a mule, churning butter and making horseradish.
Freemansburg ES students were among those participating and visited the canal education center during October. The sessions were sponsored by the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor and the Old Freemansburg Association.
PRESS PHOTOS BY DANA GRUBBStanding on the canal bed in an outline of a canal boat made from rope, volunteer Patti Brahler explains to a group of fourth grade students from Freemansburg ES the basic activities on a canal boat that carried coal.
