Blydenburgh County Park in Smithtown lets kids get in touch with history

In late November, my class went on a field trip to Blydenburgh County Park. We ended up having a lot of fun. We lived like pilgrim kids for the day.

We cooked, made metal S-hooks and more at Blydenburgh. We visited the old Blydenburgh family house and went inside, too. If you visit, there is a nature trail and a unique house by the lake. It was pink!

In the Blydenburgh house there are different stations to visit: cooking, tech, carpentry and blacksmith. It's very fun.

At cooking, we made Dutch apple pancakes. We used a spiral cutting tool to take off the apple skin and shred it. We also mashed up the apple. We made veggie soup, too. We added spices and we used an old stove that still worked.

At the tech station, we braided yarn and used a machine to make embroidery and plastic textured rugs. We also ate our lunch in there. It was fun, and we were in a room where we saw tiny versions of the embroidery machine. After tech we went to carpentry.

In carpentry we used old tools that farmers used back then: sharp tools and wood tools. It was a gray hut that had more tools inside. There was a man helping us with the station. He ran the station and showed us which tools were made for what. I think carpentry was my favorite station.

In blacksmith there was a big black cauldron oven, and we got hot metal and shaped it into metal S-hooks. We had to wear fire-retardant suits, and we banged the half S into a full S. Blacksmith was my second favorite.

Those are the reasons why your class should go to Blydenburgh County Park.

Info: Veterans Memorial Highway, Smithtown

Kerry Abernethy’s fourth-grade class, Waverly Avenue Elementary School, Holtsville