Prince William Historic Preservation Traveling Trunks

The Office of Historic Preservation has several traveling trunks to help children learn about the history of Prince William County and Virginia. Trunks are lightweight, easily transportable and contain all the materials you need for the lesson and to reinforce Virginia's Standards of Learning (SOLs). Call 703-792-1731 or fill out this form and send it to us to schedule your Traveling Trunk program today!

Traveling Trunk Forms:

Traveling Trunk Registration Form

Traveling Trunk Program Overview by Grade Level

Brentsville Courthouse Historic Centre Trunks

Agriculture in Prince William County Trunk

The STEM and STEAM Agricultural Traveling Trunk offer an understanding of the importance, developments and evolution of agriculture in the Prince William community. They are designed for students in the third through seventh grade. Materials in the trunks cover a wide array of agricultural topics including best agriculture practices discovered throughout history, erosion and its effect on Prince William County over time, hands-on activities about collecting plants and growing vegetables, and advances and changes in agricultural practices.

Lucasville School Traveling Trunk

The Lucasville School Traveling Trunk offers students the chance to learn the history of Lucasville School from within your classroom! Through six suggested lessons, use hands-on learning materials to learn about the resources that were available to students in African American schools at the turn of the century. Critically examine primary resources to learn about the impact and legacy of school segregation and learn about how this important part of American history is preserved by historians through oral histories.

Trunk Rental Details

To reserve one or both trunks, contact Brentsville Courthouse Historic Centre at 703-365-7895. Each trunk costs $30.00 for a one week rental. Office of Historic Preservation staff can conduct an hour-long interpretive program with trunks at a cost of $50.00 per program. Each trunk has a check sheet to assure all items are returned after each rental.

Trunks are light weight plastic and on wheels for easy transportation. Teachers are responsible for picking up and dropping off the trunks at one of our Office of Historic Preservation sites. Special accommodations can be considered for delivery and pick up.

Ben Lomond Historic Site Trunks

Civil War Trunks

The Civil War Trunks are based on two people from different and diverse backgrounds. Both men traveled to Prince William and fought battles here during the American Civil War. These trunks give teachers and students a series of tools and resources to enhance the classroom experience. Educators are at liberty to use as many components as they desire. The letters, diary entries, and reports are transcriptions from primary sources. Their thoughts have been transcribed just as they appeared on the original page exactly including occasional misspellings.

Civil War Confederate Soldier Trunk

Based on the life of 21 year old college student William B. Ott, who was a student at Washington College and fought in the Battle of First Manassas on July 21, 1861. This trunk Includes transcribed primary source material including letters/diary excerpts written by an officer in company I, 4^th Virginia and letters/diary excerpts written by civilians who shared similar views of Private Ott. As well as accurate reproductions of his uniform and accoutrements used by Private Ott and a flash drive containing historically accurate, printable forms and primary source material for hands on activities.

Civil War Union Soldier Trunk

The Union Trunk is based on the life of Sergeant Daniel Corrigan, an Irish immigrant who lived in Braintree, MA at the time of the Civil War. He was new to the United States arriving here in July 1861. He worked as a flax dresser/factory worker. He enlisted in Company E, 19^th Massachusetts Volunteers on September 2, 1861 as a Private. Sergeant Corrigan and five other men from companies E and K captured three pieces of artillery from Confederate Major David McIntosh's Battalion on October 14, 1863. This trunk includes accoutrements and uniforms accurate to Massachusetts soldiers, transcribed primary source material including letters/diary excerpts, and a flash drive containing historically accurate, printable forms and primary source material for hands on activities.

Enslaved Life in Virginia Trunk

This trunk offers hands-on learning material that allow students to touch materials that were used to make clothing and shoes for enslaved people. Students can also interact with everyday items that enslaved workers used daily. Documents from Frederick Douglass, John Brown, and others illuminate how enslaved life influenced their views about the institution of slavery. Students will critically examine these documents and answer an accompanying set of questions to learn more about these men and their role in the abolition of slavery.

Trunk Rental Details

To reserve one or both trunks, contact Ben Lomond Historic Site at 703-367-7872. Each trunk costs $30.00 for a one week rental. Office of Historic Preservation staff can conduct an hour-long interpretive program with trunks at a cost of $50.00 per program. Each trunk has a check sheet to assure all items are returned after each rental.

Rippon Lodge Historic Site Traveling Trunks

Washington and Rochambeau Revolutionary War/Colonial Life Travelling Trunk

In the fall of 1781, General George Washington learned that the British army was in camp around the small seaport of Yorktown in York County, Virginia. British General Lord Charles Cornwallis was hoping for General Henry Clinton to provide the British troops transportation north to join his army in New York. Washington met with French ally General Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau and together they began planning for a march from New Jersey where their troops were camped to try and trap the British army at Yorktown. Washington and Rochambeau divided their armies, where some troops went by boat down the Chesapeake Bay, and some marched through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and finally through Virginia. The march was long, hot, dusty and very tiring. The troops that took the land route followed the Kings Highway, which ran from Boston, MA to Charleston, SC. What did the common soldier carry in their knapsack for such a long march? What did they do for entertainment when in camp? What did they eat? What types of uniforms did the different armies wear? Did their wife and children travel with them? The Washington & Rochambeau Revolutionary War/Colonial Life Trunk will help students discover these answers.

This education trunk contains reproduction items and primary sources that will help an educator teach the included lesson plans. Furthermore, it will provide an opportunity for a greater discussion about life during the colonial and revolutionary periods for their students. These lesson plans meet the current Virginia State Social Studies curriculum and the SOL standards for elementary and middle school aged students.

Trunk Rental Details

To reserve one or both trunks, contact Rippon Lodge Historic Site at 703-499-9812. Each trunk costs $30.00 for a one week rental. Office of Historic Preservation staff can conduct an hour-long interpretive program with trunks at a cost of $50.00 per program. Each trunk has a check sheet to assure all items are returned after each rental.