A revived field trip through the Lackawanna Valley is chugging full steam ahead this month.
More than 1,000 fourth graders from the region learn from historical figures from the past while aboard the Heritage Express Train.
"You live in a place that was very important to the development of the United States and its industries. What do you think of that?” Character actor Robert Olyphant asked the group of Howard Gardner MI Charter School students in commuter car 303.
The field trip is a collaboration between the Steamtown National Historic Site and Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority (LHVA), Northeastern Intermediate Educational Unit 19 and Lackawanna Historical Society. The authority ran the program from 1998 to 2003. This year, LHVA received a $24,000 grant from the National Park Foundation to revive it.
Olyphant, president of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company (D&H) until 1903, was portrayed by Karl Barbee. The town of Olyphant was named after his brother, who first served as president of the railroad company. The students road on the original D&H line along the Lackawanna River.
Park rangers visit the schools before the fourth graders take the ride. They learn about the National Park Service and life in the Lackawanna Valley. At the Steamtown National Historic Site, students climbed on the trains, rang bells and watched the Baldwin Steam Engine emerge onto the turntable in the middle of the park.
They boarded the train around 11 a.m. and headed off to Carbondale, the park rangers and historical figures pointed out towns along the route.
The students also heard from characters Molly, a silk worker originally from Ireland, and Julia Gallick Vorozilchak, a Hungarian immigrant. Julie Esty portrayed Vorozilchak, her great-great grandmother, who lived in the very first house in Dunmore. She helped take care of babies and did laundry for her community, among other things.
“I'm going to tell you that back in my time, you boys would not have been in school or on a field trip like this, you would have already probably been working in the mines," she said.
Fourth grader Calleigh Moore learned about the region’s importance to the country.
"It was fun like seeing all the stuff out the windows," she said.
