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Washington Court House, Ohio
History students at Washington High School in Washington Court House, Ohio, were studying the Civil War and tying the national saga to local participation to better understand that complicated event. The students used resources, including the National Archives and Records Administration holdings and visits to local cemeteries in Washington Court House and nearby Bloomingburg, to research and document local veterans who are buried there. In the process, they learned a lot about the history of their area. They discovered that many of the Civil War veterans in their area were African Americans, and they brought many interesting stories about the people who had lived in and contributed to their local communities back into local history and living memory. They also discovered that many graves were unmarked or the headstones had deteriorated badly over the years. They found out that the Department of Veterans Affairs provides headstones for honorably discharged veterans at no cost. Using their research, they ordered and installed more than 70 headstones.
The service-learning effort has expanded to include a local Catholic cemetery, where students did similar research and restoration. They are learning about Irish immigrants who served in the Civil War and came to this region in Ohio as railroad laborers and founded the local Catholic community and formed other essential ingredients in the story of their towns and the history of America. These students and their teacher also created a model and process for students across the nation to follow to provide great community service and gain personal knowledge of their community's history.
To see images of the PowerPoint presentation presented at the National Trust conference, click here (19745K pdf). To learn more about the details of the Civil War veterans project and how to emulate it in your community and school system, visit:
http://a614.g.akamai.net/7/614/2201/v001/aetn.download.akamai.com/2201/thc/soh/educators/nhpa/NARA_NHPA.pdf
