General Tours
A general tour introduces students and visitors to a particular site of the Trust. These tours can be adapted for any grade level or age group. Guided tours of the full site cover a broad variety of subject matter and time periods.
Historical Society Museum (250 East Market St.)
This museum emphasizes the breadth of York County history from its earliest settlement through the turn of the century. The first floor of the museum includes a Street of Shops with a one room log cabin, print shop, an apothecary, and a 19th century toy store. York County tall case clocks, decorative arts and furniture, original drawings by local artist Lewis Miller, and the community exhibit A Place to Call Home are featured on the second floor. Students can also explore a comprehensive exhibit that covers York County history from its beginnings to the mid-nineteenth century and includes the Susquehannock Indians, the American Revolution, and the Civil War. Temporary exhibits highlight specific York contributions and events.
Average tour length: 60-75 minutes
Agricultural and Industrial Museum (217 West Princess Street)
Learn about York County’s many contributions to agricultural and industrial progress on a visit to the Agricultural and Industrial Museum. Agricultural artifacts produced or used in the county over three centuries include locally made wagons, tractors, steam engines and farm tools. Visit our newest exhibit Marvelous Milk: From the Farm to Your Table, where students learn about dairy industry in York County and get the opportunity to milk our (reproduction) cow, Annabelle. Working industrial exhibits include a 72-ton A-Frame ammonia compressor, once used to manufacture large blocks of ice, and three-story gristmill. Exhibits on pottery, casket manufacturing, dental supplies, piano and organ manufacturing, as well as York’s industrial contribution to World War II are also featured. Air, Land, & Water: Transporting People & Products, housed in the Trust’s 12,000 square-foot transportation wing, includes York manufactured automobiles, a Conestoga wagon, a York trolley car and a 1937 Aeronca K airplane.
Average tour length: 60-90 minutes
Colonial Complex (corner of West Market Street and North Pershing Avenue)
The Colonial Complex includes some of the most historic buildings in the city. The Golden Plough Tavern, a Germanic half-timbered building built in 1741, is the oldest structure in the city of York and served York residents and travelers into the early 1800s. The General Gates House (c. 1751) was the temporary residence of General Horatio Gates, newly appointed President of the Board of War. The Barnett Bobb Log House is a 19th century squared-timber dwelling, typical of those built in the Pennsylvania frontier in the early 1800s. All three buildings contain period furnishings, textiles, tools, and utensils. The Complex also includes the reproduction of the 1754 Colonial Court House, created to represent the headquarters of the Continental Congress, which met in York from September 1777 to June 1778 and adopted the Articles of Confederation.
Average tour length: 60-75 minutes
Bonham House (152 East Market Street)
Built in 1840, this three-story dwelling was purchased by artist and prominent Yorker Horace Bonham in 1875. With its original family furnishings and rooms that include an 1860s parlor and a 1920s library, visitors learn about life for an upper-middle class family in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. While Horace trained as a lawyer, he spent most of his life as a painter of portraits, landscapes and genre scenes. Several of his works are displayed in the house.
Average tour length: 30-45 minutes
York County Fire Museum (757 West Market Street)
Located in the 1903 Royal Fire House, the museum allows visitors to see how York fire-fighters worked, lived and played. It holds more than 225 years of fire-fighting equipment, representative of the 72 fire companies of York County. Objects on display include 6 mechanical fire trucks ranging from the 1920s to the 1950s, 19th century hand-pumped equipment, the original stalls for the fire horses, alarm boxes, parade uniforms and photographs.
Average tour length: 45-60 minutes
Thematic Tours
Life on the Pennsylvania Frontier- Grades 3-5
The Colonial Complex and the Agricultural & Industrial Museum combine to provide students with a complete experience of the early settlement years in York County. Students learn about daily life of the settlers, the role of the tavern in society, why settlers chose York County, and the resources they had available to them. Highlights include a visit to some of York’s most historic buildings and watching a 3 story water-powered grist mill in action.
Average tour length: 2½-3 hours
You Say You Want a Revolution - Grades 8-12
Students are introduced to a time when York was the provisional capital of the United States. In the Colonial Court House, students will re-enact the trial of Anglican minister the Reverend Daniel Batwell, who because of his British (Tory) sympathies, was accused of treason in 1778. A tour of the General Gates House will include a discussion of Marquis de Lafayette and Conway Cabal. A walking tour highlighting colonial sites in downtown York, including Colonel Thomas Hartley’s House and St. John’s Episcopal Church, rounds out your tour. The walking tour does not include interior visits of the buildings.
Average tour length: 2 hours
York County During the Civil War - Grades 4-6
Students learn about one of our nation’s most tragic times. While at the Historical Society Museum students will discuss some of the underlying causes of the Civil War, the Underground Railroad, and the occupation of York County by Confederate forces in June 1863 (just before the Battle of Gettysburg). Students will meet a Civil War soldier who will train them in the proper way to march and tell them about the life of a soldier. They will also visit The Bonham House, home of a prominent 19th century York family, to experience domestic life around the time of the Civil War. The tour concludes with a walking tour of some of the Civil War era buildings in downtown York, including the Phillip Small House and the William Goodridge House. The walking tour does not include interior visits of the buildings.
Average tour length: 2 hours
Traveling Trunks
The following materials are available for use in classrooms or off-site. Trunks can be picked up at the Agricultural & Industrial Museum between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Tuesday – Saturday. The Education Department should be contacted at least three weeks in advance to sign out a trunk for a one-week period. Trunks are offered free of charge to our educational members. Trunks are $75.00 each for non-member schools and children groups. A school may only sign out one trunk at a time. Trunks are most appropriate for grades 2-4 and include detailed lesson plans and activities.
All of these trunks are currently being updated and therefore are unavailable for classroom use at this time. Please contact the Education Department at (717) 846-6452 for details.
William Penn and the Indians
This trunk includes illustrations from the life of William Penn, "props" for students to role-play the purchase of Pennsylvania land, and game boards for the Pennsylvania Pathways game (includes instructions).
Selinda's Journey
Hear the story of Selinda, a young German girl who came with her family to York County in the 1700s. Reproduction 18th-century objects illustrate life in the wilderness. (Based on the book Little Pilgrim to Penn's Woods by Edna Albert)
Colonial America and the Revolution
Learn about colonial life through reproduction 18th century objects with an emphasis on processes such as fire making, spinning, weaving, candle-making and antique lighting fixtures. Examine copies of Revolutionary War documents including newspapers, military records and letters from soldiers and civilians. A lesson plan comparing and contrasting the Articles of Confederation with the U.S. Constitution is enclosed.
On the Underground Railroad
Learn about slavery, its impact on people and communities, and the differences between slaves in York County and slaves on a southern plantation. Hear about the Underground Railroad, and follow the lives of several slaves who followed it to freedom here in York County.
Civil War Soldier
Artifacts and reproduction items illustrate the life of a soldier during this time period. Also included are transparencies and information regarding the Confederate occupation of York.
One Room School
Turn back time in your classroom. Slates, pens, inkwells, copybooks, bell and activity list included.
World War II-The Home Front in York
Period objects, printed material, and photographs bring the war experience to life in the classroom. Includes taped interviews of Yorkers who lived through this tumultuous time.
