Education

      One of the important opportunities provided by the Lehigh County Log Cabin Trail is providing resources for teachers and students who wish to learn more about our eighteenth and nineteenth century ancestors and the buildings in which they lived. Teachers and students alike can make use of various components of the log cabin trail and its website such as:

•      Use one or more sections of the log cabin trail to plan and go on log cabin viewing field trips
•      Use some of the photographs on the website to illustrate history class reports and other writing assignments, carpentry class assignments, etc.
•      Make mathematics class assignments pertaining to measurements of log buildings
•      Make art class assignments (drawing, painting, ceramics, model building, etc.) pertaining to log buildings
•      Using several of the 18th century log buildings as a starting point, discuss some of the religious and political reasons why 18th century Germans came to America to begin new lives
•      Teachers may want to create lesson plans based on the Lehigh County Log Cabin Trail and its website, and use the following link to assist in that process:
      www.nps.gov/history/nr/twhp/whyplaces.htm
•      Compare some of the agricultural methods and equipment used by 18th and 19th century farm families living in log buildings in Lehigh County with modern farm families living in the same area
•      Discuss the “soul window” found in the Stanley and Zeisloff Log Houses and their sociological and religious connections to those odd log house features
•      Using the Zeisloff Log House, and rebuilt Fort Everett, as starting points, discuss relations between 18th century German settlers and Native Americans on the American frontier during and after the French and Indian War—including the massacre of many members of the Zeisloff family

•      Discuss the three stage evolution of the architectural design and construction of the Shelter House, and some possible reasons why these architectural changes were made
•      Trace the origin of the architectural design of 18th century continental (Germanic) log cabins and houses built in America from their original European origins
•      Compare the general architecture of 18th and 19th century log buildings on the Lehigh County Log Cabin Trail, and discuss the architectural changes and evolution of the buildings
•      List and discuss the importance of several types of corner notching used in 18th and 19th century log buildings found on the Lehigh County Log Cabin Trail
•      Compare and discuss the sociological composition and structure of 18th century German families living in log cabins or houses in what is now Lehigh County
      with those of a current American family living in a rural Lehigh County township
•      Beginning with the Frederick Leaser Log Cabin, and Frederick Leaser’s role in helping to save the Liberty Bell, discuss how many important historical facts sometimes are lost over time
•      Compare and discuss the transportation methods and options used by 18th century families living in log buildings in Lehigh County with people now living in the county
•      Discuss some of the possible reasons why some log buildings on the Lehigh County Log Cabin Trail were moved from their original locations
•      Compare the use of energy for heating and lighting 18th century log buildings on the Lehigh County Log Cabin Trail with modern changes in energy use for heating and lighting our homes today
•      Establish a History Club in your school and include part of its focus on historic buildings in Lehigh County