New Focus on Horticulture Revamps Popular Museum Program

The beauty and bounty of Hershey Gardens in autumn will be the ideal setting for a new program being offered to school groups in October. Teachers and students visiting Hershey Gardens will have the opportunity to take part in an exciting new school program, “A Day in the Life of an Eastern Woodland Indian.”

Designed for students from preschool through fifth grade, this interactive program will utilize the Native American and Pioneer Patch gardens in the Children’s Garden.

“Students will learn through hands-on activities how the Native Americans used nature and their surroundings to meet their needs,” said Mariella Trosko, director of education. “Children can learn by doing. They’ll grind corn, use pump drills, furnish a wigwam and examine the plants that were vital to the people of this region.”

Over the years, similar programs offered at Hershey Museum were among the most popular with educators and students alike. This new program, now with a horticultural focus, will be enhanced with educational materials and expertise from the Museum. All Native American collections will continue to be maintained at The Hershey Story and utilized for research, loans to other museums and special exhibits. However, the educational materials specific to the Eastern Woodland Indians will now be shared with Hershey Gardens in this special new collaboration.