🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park

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

New Hampshire is our homeschool state-of-the-week, so why not spend a few minutes today with your students learning about one of New Hampshire’s most important historic places: Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park.

“Augustus Saint-Gaudens helped shape a distinctly American school of art. His sculptural works continue to influence how Americans view their country, its past, and the United States’ place in the world.”

Saint-Gaudens was born in Ireland to Mary McGuiness and Bernard Saint-Gaudens, a French shoemaker. Six months later, the family immigrated to New York City. At age 13, he began apprenticing as a cameo cutter for the next six years. After mastering this intricate craft, Saint-Gaudens traveled to France and studied sculpting at the École des Beaux-Arts. He later spent five years in Rome along with many other American artists.

The young sculptor returned to the United States in 1875 and the following year received his first major public commission, a monument to Admiral David Glasgow Farragut. After its 1881 unveiling in Manhattan, Saint-Gaudens’ fame grew and other commissions soon followed. During the next 25 years, he completed over 150 artworks including the General William T. Sherman Monument in New York and the Robert Gould Shaw and 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment Memorial in Boston. His vision and technique brought life-like qualities and stirring emotions to bronze, plaster, stone, and wood. The gold coins he designed at the request of President Theodore Roosevelt remain one of his lasting legacies. His numerous pieces changed the way the world regarded American art and artists. (nps.gov)

You can find a wealth of additional information about the park’s history, landscape, location(s), and visitor facilities on the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park website from the National Park Service, and also on the park’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 historical American treasures are you and your students 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. 🌎

❡ 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! 🗓

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