Homeschool Wednesday Workshops
September 30th & October 14th
Make a day of history at Historic St. Mary’s City! Homeschool Wednesday Workshops combine hands-on activities, exploration, and immersive learning across the museum’s historic sites. Choose a morning workshop, an afternoon workshop, or stay for both and spend the day discovering how plants and cargo shaped life in early Maryland.
The morning workshops explore Powerful Plants—from the ways plants were used for food, medicine, and everyday life to the knowledge and skills needed to work with them. In the afternoon, Cargo takes participants from shore to ship and back again, exploring the science, technology, and teamwork behind moving goods in the 17th century.
With opportunities to explore, experiment, create, and solve problems, these workshops turn history into an experience kids can see, touch, and do. Choose one or make a full day of it—there’s more to discover!
Workshop sessions: 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
$10 general / $8 members. Additional workshops $7 general / $5 members.
Space is limited. Preregistration with full payment required. Email hsmcc.groups@maryland.gov or call 301-994-4372.
Registration opens August 3rd.
Powerful Plants I: Colonial Medicine
Tobacco Plantation
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Ages 5 and up
Join us at the Tobacco Plantation to learn about the power of plants in 17th century Maryland. Participants will learn about herbal medicine by exploring the kitchen garden, creating their own “mini herbals”, and making several types of colonial medicine. This knowledge will then be put to the test; will you be able to accurately diagnose and treat an ill colonist?
Cargo: From Ship to Shore
HSMC Waterfront
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Ages 8 and up.
Combine STEM principles with history in this cargo-focused workshop on the HSMC waterfront. Participants will learn about the logistics behind the ladening of cargo aboard ships in the 17th century and explore the science behind this ladening process through activities that demonstrate how buoyancy is affected by factors such as ballast and cargo. This workshop will also provide the opportunity to assist staff in a simulated ladening process; help load cargo from ship to shore, with a final delivery point at Town Center.
Powerful Plants II: Trek for Tech
Woodland Indian Hamlet
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Ages 5 and up.
Join staff from the Woodland Indian Hamlet as they explore how people once gathered food, clothing, shelter and tools from the world around them. In this program, students and parents will join staff on a nature walk around the landscape, discovering native plants that have proven useful for thousands of years. After the nature walk, participants will have the hands-on opportunity to process plants such as acorns and black walnuts.
Allergy Note: This workshop involves working with acorns and black walnuts, as well as walking a nature trail with plants some people may be allergic to (poison ivy, etc.). Parents are required to accompany students on the nature walk.
Cargo: From Shore to Store
Town Center
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Ages 8 and up.
What would you need to start a new life over 3000 miles from your home? In this workshop students will help move a load of cargo from the Waterfront to Town Center while exploring the realities of life on the early Maryland frontier: hauling cargo with block and tackle, trying on period clothes, learning about period skills and doing their best to survive.
