Living in the Bay Area
provides a plethora of destinations to learn about history. Learning about the
past can be an exciting adventure for children, providing fodder for their
active imaginations. Take time this summer, while the children are off of
school to visit one or all of these historical places. 1. Drawbridge GhostTown Drawbridge is the San
Francisco Bay Area's only ghost town. Originally a hunting village, it became a
true ghost town in 1979 and is sinking into the marshlands. The only path that
leads into Drawbridge is an abandoned railroad track, which is somewhat
dangerous and means possible falling into waist-deep marsh for those who
attempt the trip. At one time 10 passenger trains stopped in Drawbridge every
day, and the one small cabin was for the operator of the railroad's two
drawbridges, which were removed long ago. 2. Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum The Essanay Studios was the
earliest home of California's motion picture industry. This is where Broncho
Billy and Charlie Chaplin made silent films between 1912 and 1916 -- remember
Chaplin’s “The Tramp”? The non-profit museum is in the century-old Nickelodeon
Edison Theater. Every Saturday evening there are screenings of those early films,
many of which were done locally. 3. Ardenwood Historic Farm Opened to the public on
July 28, 1985, the park includes a large forest, what is still a working farm
producing vegetables and wheat and a large pumpkin patch in the Fall, and a
mansion which was first constructed in 1857 by George Washington Patterson. He
called the estate "Ardenwood" after England’s forested area described
in Shakespeare's As You Like It. One large Queen Anne Victorian section was
added in 1889. In 1915, a remodel of the old farm house added a kitchen with a
large bedroom above it, a sun porch, a nursery, and a bathroom that had indoor
plumbing. The park’s Railroad Museum
operates the recreation of a narrow gauge horse-drawn railway and has a
collection of railroad cars and other artifacts. The park hosts many events
including a celebration on Independence Day, an antique fair on the last Sunday
every August, a Railroad Fair on Labor Day, a Harvest Festival in October,
numerous Halloween celebrations complete with a haunted railroad, and more. 4. Mayhew's Sulphur Spring This is located 600 feet
north of the Niles railroad depot. In September 1869, a short four months after
the famous Promontory Summit, Utah, golden spike ceremony, the Central Pacific
Railroad was able to complete the long-awaited transcontinental link between
the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento and finished the track through the nearby
Niles Canyon. 5. Mission San Jose in Fremont One of the oldest of the
California historic Spanish missions, the church building is a re-construction
dedicated in 1985 of the adobe church of 1809 that unfortunately was destroyed
in the Hayward-fault earthquake of 1868. The original quadrangle had one side
that remains and is a museum.
Schedule a tour atThe Montessori School in Newark applies the educational philosophy and methods of Maria Montessori, M.D., a renowned Italian physician and child educator. The Montessori concept of education allows children to experience the joy of learning at an early age. To learn more about our Montessori Primary and Kindergarten program contact us to schedule a tour.
