Water Features and the Development of Virginia-
Great Falls Field Trip to See the Patowmack Canal
Materials:
Objective: The student will become a primary source and use their experience to gain an understanding of how water features contributed to the development of Virginia.
Key Questions:
- Great Falls National Park
- Bus to get to Great Falls
- Money to park buses
- Chaperones
Objective: The student will become a primary source and use their experience to gain an understanding of how water features contributed to the development of Virginia.
- Organize a field trip for the students to Great Falls National Park to see the Patowmack Canal. Visit the Visitor’s center so that students can walk around and read the displays that contain information about the construction of the canal so that they have a basic understanding of it’s significance before walking to the canal itself. If the class is not able to take a trip to Great Falls, have students use the "Virtual Field Trip" tab on the left hand side of this website to learn about the Patowmack Canal and Great Falls. After they have explored the website, host a class discussion like that in step 4.
- Walk with the students to the site of the remains of the Patowmack Canal. During the walk, stop at several different spots to take in the scenes. During these breaks, tell the students about George Washington’s plan to rebuild and reunite the nation following the Revolutionary War, and how better transportation and trade would contribute to a more productive rebirth of the nation. Explain that the Potomac was long and wide that by traveling by boat, it took almost a month each way to navigate. Washington’s plan to build the canal would shorten the trip, cutting transportation time in half and allowing for easier access to trade.
- Hold up a picture that shows where the construction of the canal was to take place so that students can get a better understanding of what the canal did by “providing a short cut”. Explain to the students that the canal was a large construction project that required the help of many hands. Tell them that the construction company, the Patowmack Company, and it's construction workers who were helping build the canal needed a place to live while completing their work, and therefore an entire town grew up around the construction site of the Patowmack Canal.
- Upon returning to the classroom, have the students participate in a question and answer discussion about their experience at Great Falls. Use the key questions as a guide for discussion (interpersonal). -
Key Questions:
- How did the water features such as the Patowmack Canal along the Potomac River influence the development of Virginia?
- What do you notice about the construction of the canal?
- Why was it necessary for the canal to be constructed this way?