Indiana Master Naturalist 2024 Gathering: Historical Interpretation Focused on Canal Life

​The Indiana Master Naturalist Program provides a statewide Gathering each year. This is a time to earn education points, practice new skills, network, and have fun. Each year the Gathering is held at a different part of the State. In 2024 the Gathering was held in Northeast Indiana. Sites included downtown Fort Wayne, Fox Island County Park, Eagle Marsh and L.C. Nature Park. The first pre-Gathering Day was held at downtown Fort Wayne and Fox Island County Park. The first full day of the 2024 Gathering was held at L.C. Nature Park. The evening had events and a lecture at Eagle Marsh and the last morning was at Chief Richardville House.
 
The first presentation at LC. Nature Park was on the use of Historical Interpretation. This is a technique in which the presenter dresses to reflect the time and location being depicted. The presentation is based on writing, logs, and histories. The goal is not to simply present “facts.’ This is more subjective and more dynamic. The goal is to present facts in story form that help the participants to generate their own questions. It is to help them wonder.
 
Bob Dispenza, Advanced Master Naturalist and the Park and Education Manager at Metea County Park presented on Canal Life in Northeast Indiana. This focus integrated all the sites of the Gathering. Downtown Fort Wayne was the center of the canal system in the area. The other sites were all withing the Little River Valley. The Little River was a portage area connecting Fort Wayne to Huntington and the Wabash River. The Wabash connected to the Mississippi River. Eagle Marsh is a continental divide connecting the Wabash to the West and the Great Lakes via Lake Erie to the East.
 
Bob used period dress, song, models, historical records, and lecture to make canal life and the specific life of one captain come to life. It was a powerful way of having the other Master Naturalists consider adding historical interpretation to their repertoire of educational tools. 

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