At Conner Prairie in Indiana, visitors are immersed in Native
and 19th-century American history.
By John Handley

Kids love to throw tomahawks at Conner Prairie. Not at each other, but at a target. It’s a fun way to learn American history.

A boy tests his tomahawk skills. © Conner Prairie photo In title: Mike Pace, an interpreter in the Lenape Indian camp, engages children with stories. © Shawn Spence photo

“Throwing tomahawks is the first thing kids want to do,” says Mike Pace, who is dressed in leather leggings, moccasins and beaded belt. Pace is an interpreter at Conner Prairie, the living history museum in Fishers, Ind., about a 20-minute drive north of downtown Indianapolis. Throwing tomahawks represents one of the museum’s new ways to teach history through interactive, hands-on activities.

A ticket to the past

Rated as the most authentic living history museum in the country after Williamsburg in Virginia, Conner Prairie re-creates the 19th century in Indiana with vintage buildings and activities. But it’s really the people that make yesteryear come to life. Historic re-enactors dress and speak in period style. Conner Prairie pioneered this first-person technique in 1974.

The best way to navigate a trip to the past is to start at the earliest time period and move forward. Follow the timeline from a Lenape tribal settlement to a pioneer community of 1836 and finally to a rural village of 1886.

Pace is qualified to be an interpreter at the Lenape Camp.

“I’m a Delaware from Oklahoma. My tribe lived in Indiana from 1800 to 1820 then moved to Missouri, Kansas and finally Oklahoma,” he says. “There are many misconceptions. It’s fascinating that most kids are unaware that Native Americans are still alive.”

Pace creates interest in history by telling about the daily lives of people back then. “There was no money then; only a barter system. Indians hunted and trapped animals and traded with white fur traders for guns, tools and other items.”

Visitors at the Lenape Camp can enter a wigwam made of bark and cattail mats, and then check out a fur trader’s log cabin. Hear the trader’s story about his wife, the daughter of an Indian chief, leaving him when the tribe moved away.

In Prairietown, visitors see several residences, a blacksmith shop, a pottery shop, a doctor’s office, an inn and a schoolhouse. Watch a pioneer woman making candles by dipping wicks into beeswax heating over a wood fire. She says it takes 50 dips to make a candle. In the one-room schoolhouse, learn that children went to school for only three months during the winter because they were needed to help on the farm the rest of the year.

Guests won’t be tempted to stay overnight at the Golden Eagle Inn, where two to four people had to share a single bed. But the price was right; 12 cents a night and meals were 25 cents.

Elizabeth Milikin, a costumed interpreter, plays characters ranging from the wealthiest to the poorest woman in town. One of them is Maggie Miller.

“Maggie has fallen on hard times because her husband left her. She now works for a doctor. When I tell kids I’m having a hard time, they may give me a hug,” says Milikin.

But she adds that children sometimes are intimidated by her costume. “Then you have to put them at ease, but stay in character at the same time,” Milikin says, adding a script for a character can be as long as 60 pages.

What motivates Conner Prairie interpreters?

“Everyone has a theatrical side. They want to perform and get before an audience,” Milikin says.

“A vast number of people don’t know history and some don’t care. Not many know about 1836. Falling between the War of 1812 and the Civil War, it was not the most exciting time in American history.

“Some visitors want to get you out of character. They’ll ask if you’ve ever heard of McDonald’s or know how to use a cell phone. At that point, we’ve been trained to redirect the conversation,” she says.

Now leave 1836 and jump ahead to 1886 at Liberty Corner. Cross a covered bridge to a rural village with a Quaker meeting house, a Victorian home, a schoolhouse and a working farm. One of the farmers is Adam Bouse.

“I play a field hand, plant crops, drive a team of horses and feed the animals,” he says. “We show visitors how to plow and even let them do it. People are shocked at how hard it is. It takes a lot of upper body strength, as the horses turn over six to eight inches of soil.”

Wearing cotton pants, a long-sleeve cotton shirt, a vest and straw hat, he says it’s easy to stay in character, which is based on diaries from the era. Bouse, who used to work in a traditional museum, believes Conner Prairie is the best way to teach history.

“We show daily living, what people ate, what housewives did,” he says.

Tour Conner House, the first brick home in central Indiana. A costumed host leads the tour at 2 and 4 p.m. daily.

Updating history

While Conner Prairie is grounded in the past, it constantly looks for a more interesting future.

“Five years ago, we redesigned our approach to become more family friendly. The idea was to get kids more engaged so the whole family would be more engaged. We did that by talking to our guests more and through animals,” says Dan Freas, director of Museum Experience.

“We always had farm livestock, but they were considered just lawn ornaments. Now, we’ve turned the animals into stars. Kids can hold lambs and see baby chicks that have just hatched. It has been a huge success.

“Over the years, interest in American history has waned and has been downplayed in schools. We’re trying to get people excited about history by going outside the boundaries of history museums,” he says.

One of the new developments is Discovery Station, an indoor play area for children and families. Kids dress up like a farmer and “milk” a fiberglass cow or harvest a garden. They run the cash register at the market or collect tickets at a train station. They can dress as Victorian ladies and gentlemen or as farm animals. Admittance is free with general admission.

Scheduled events

Special events scheduled this year include:

• Civil War Days, May 17 and 18. There will be battle re-enactments, artillery demonstrations and infantry drills.

• Indiana Festival, June 7 and 8. Music, dancing, food and art–including the work of artisans and craftsmen–will be showcased.

• Glorious Fourth, July 4 to 6. See how this holiday has changed over the years, taste homemade ice cream and hear patriotic music.

John Handley is a contributor from Northbrook, Ill.