🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: Audubon Birdcraft Museum and Sanctuary

(Explore the history and landscape of the United States as we approach the 250th anniversary of American Independence. Get out your atlas and almanac and follow along!)

Connecticut is our homeschool state-of-the-week, so why not spend a few minutes today with your students learning about one of Connecticut’s important historical places: the Audubon Society Birdcraft Museum and Sanctuary, a National Historic Landmark and the oldest private bird sanctuary in the United States.

“In 1914, land for the establishment of Birdcraft Museum and Sanctuary was purchased by Mabel Osgood Wright (1859–1934), who helped salvage the national Audubon movement from obscurity and lay the foundation for its current success. At Birdcraft, Wright originated the idea of ‘birdscaping,’ where the plantings encourage the ecology and habitat of birds. Wright was a prolific author, writing non-fiction works on ecology as well as novels.”

It’s impossible to understand Birdcraft without knowing something of its founder, Mabel Osgood Wright, and her great contributions to ornithology and conservation.

Her passion for birds and concern for the degradation of the environment led Wright to found the Connecticut Audubon Society in 1898 where she espoused a mission of education and legislation. Under her guidance the Connecticut Audubon Society proposed bills and backed legislation on a wide range of conservation topics including regulating hunting (1907), protecting birds and their eggs from collectors (1911), protecting sandpipers (1912), the International Migratory Bird Treaty Act (1918), and against a bounty on Bald Eagles (1919). They supported the creation of national parks and forest reserves including the White Mountain National Forest. She was elected to the American Ornithologists Union and when the National Association of Audubon Societies was formed in 1905, she joined as one of its founding Board of Directors. This confederation of state organizations was incorporated as the National Audubon Society in 1940. (ctaudubon.org)

You can find a wealth of additional information about the Sanctuary’s history, landscape, location(s), and visitor facilities on the webpage for the Birdcraft Museum and Sanctuary from the Connecticut Audubon Society, and also on the Sanctuary’s page on Wikipedia.

Explore America’s National Parks, National Historical Parks, National Historic Sites, National Monuments, and more via Wikipedia and via the U.S. National Park Service’s website today.

What American treasures will you and your students be exploring in your homeschool this Cygnus Term? 🇺🇸

❡ The great globe itself: This is one of our regular Homeschool Geography posts featuring important natural and historical sites in the United States. Print your own copy of our River Houses American Heritage Calendar and follow along with us, and add your name to our weekly mailing list to get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. 🌎

❡ We set to-day a votive stone: If you want a great long-term history and geography project for your homeschool, explore the Historical Marker Database online (hmdb.org) and make a plan to find all the markers that are listed in your local area. Add any new ones you know of that are missing, and add new photos or descriptions for the ones already included. Your students will gain a better appreciation for your local community and will learn a wealth of new information about history and geography. 🏛

❡ Print this little lesson: Down at the bottom of this post you’ll find a special “Print” button that will let you create a neat and easy-to-read copy of this little lesson, and it will even let you edit and delete sections you don’t want or need (such as individual images or footnotes). Give it a try today! 🖨

❡ Books in the running brooks: You can always turn to your River Houses atlas and almanac for more information about any of our homeschool states-of-the-week. The almanac has detailed profiles of all the U.S. states and territories, and the endpapers of the atlas are indexes that will show you where all of the individual national and regional maps may be found. 📚

❡ Homeschool calendars: We have a whole collection of free, printable, educational homeschool calendars and planners available on our main River Houses calendar page. They will help you create a light and easy structure for your homeschool year. Give them a try today! 🗓

❡ Support our work: If you enjoy our educational materials, please support us by starting your regular Amazon shopping from our very own homeschool teaching supplies page. When you click through from our page, any purchase you make earns us a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for helping us to keep going and growing! 🛒