by Marge Rockwell

I have taught in the lower school at Cincinnati Country Day School, a pre-k through grade twelve independent school, for eighteen years.  History had never been my favorite subject, so the idea of teaching my first grade class about local early settler history did not immediately excite me.  How could I engage my class in this historical study?  In teaching six and seven year olds I knew that the teacher’s enthusiasm for subject matter spoke to the students. 

I also realized that concrete hooks supported young students’ ability to make connections to concepts and ideas.   What concrete evidence of early settler life existed in our community?  The Broadwell House!

On the Cincinnati Country Day School campus sits the stately Broadwell House (ca. 1804), a two-story limestone structure that served as a private home through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.   Although previously used as a residence by CCDS Heads of the School, the house currently served as a place for various school meetings and functions, but I had not thought of it as a resource while driving past it to and from school.  Then, while searching for a concrete historical hook, I realized that a class field trip to the Broadwell House could provide authentic support to a unit of study about early nineteenth-century settlers in the Cincinnati area.  After all, wasn’t this an actual early settler house?  As I attempted to gather teaching material related to the Broadwell House I began to realize that the information did not exist in one neat and tidy bundle.  When library visits and communications with the local Indian Hill Historical Society yielded helpful but brief results, the enormity of answering what had seemed like very basic questions began to dawn on me. 

Motivated by my own questions about the Broadwell family and house, I learned to access primary sources such as early deeds, census records, and old maps.  I visited the Hamilton County Recorder’s Office to search for 200 year-old property deeds, found the name Phebe Broadwell (d. 1865) on a broken tombstone in nearby Clermont County, and examined hand hewn beams in the Broadwell House attic.  Experiencing the thrill of discovery, I developed an ever-growing passion for reading and researching late seventeenth and early eighteenth-century American History.  Slowly the history of the Broadwell House began to emerge.

With my enthusiasm in place, I focused next on how to generate enthusiasm among my students:  getting first graders connected to history can present challenges! Primary teachers know the significance of using “real-life” context in teaching, and the Broadwell House offered a genuinely real-life experience.  It provides CCDS students the unique opportunity of working with a historical artifact on their own campus and abundant opportunities for authentic learning experiences. As a concrete resource, the house supports opportunities for students of all ages to construct meaning. Meaningful connections to history through a focus on the Broadwell House could be extended to students’ own personal stories and stories of others. The house contains rich opportunities that could support a wide variety of learning styles.

CCDS first graders used the house to connect to several authentic learning opportunities.  The early settler unit began by asking students to identify the oldest and newest CCDS structures.  This question led to a trip to compare the Broadwell House and the newer CCDS Upper School.  Although first-graders visit the Upper School daily for lunch, most had not visited the Broadwell House.  During the trip, students carefully observed and noted similarities and differences in interior and exterior building materials, structure size, and architecture.  With curiosity piqued, first-graders looked, touched, and discussed structural materials (limestone, wood beams, iron latches and fixtures), which helped them understand early Ohio settler home construction.

Many questions arose, such as wondering where the building materials came from and how they were transported to the building site.  Students wondered about the Broadwell family.  Where did they come from and why did they come to Cincinnati?   They thought about the types of transportation the Broadwell family might have used to travel from their former home in Morristown, New Jersey, to Cincinnati, Ohio. These questions gave students a curiosity for and connection with local early settler history. The house provides an abundance of questions and connections to ponder.

The house visit sparked several follow-up lessons.  Utilizing information about early settler life learned through books, class discussions, and other resources, the students made further connections.  The students imagined how the Broadwell House rooms might have been furnished and used in 1804.  Tablet computers enabled them to draw early furnishings on photos of Broadwell House rooms. The class constructed a model stone Broadwell House and made furnishings including “corn cob beds.”  First grade held an early settler exhibit in the old house and celebrated with a luncheon in the newer Broadwell House conference room.  Students demonstrated their knowledge and understanding in skits they wrote and performed about early settlers.  First-graders teamed with CCDS sixth-graders to enhance the house’s exterior by planting and caring for bulbs and perennials.

First-graders’ Broadwell House focus has attracted the attention of the CCDS school community.  CCDS has formed a Broadwell Committee that has begun the work of placing the Broadwell House on the National Historic Register, which has enhanced appreciation of the house.  The committee has begun working with Upper School students to organize and display the school’s history in the Broadwell House. The exterior and interior of the house have begun to reflect this increased focus and appreciation.

Although not every school campus has a Broadwell House per se, your campus environment probably has hidden resources that connect with your curriculum.  If you are fortunate enough to identify such a resource you have the opportunity to experience an intense interest in learning, the thrill of discovering information, and the excitement of making connections that will translate to your students.  You may be surprised by an aspect of your curriculum that now excites you.  Answering questions that cannot be answered easily with a quick trip to the internet requires persistence, tenacity and the attitude that answers probably can be unearthed.  As with most situations in life, the hard work and subsequent discoveries yield very satisfying rewards for both teacher and students. 

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