For the past several weeks, juniors and seniors have been researching the French history and francophone communities of the New World (Canada, the Midwest, Louisiana and the Caribbean). On Tuesday, they had the chance to see some of that history firsthand during a capstone field trip to Ste. Genevieve, Mo. They visited several historic homes, which represent some of the finest remaining examples of “French Creole” architecture in North America. They also toured a museum to learn about daily life in Ste. Gen and this region during the French colonial period (late 1600s to early 1800s).
Upper School French Teacher Steven Crumb said, “Our aim is to connect students more deeply with a unique and often neglected dimension of our local and national history.” If you want to learn more about Ste. Gen and our French colonial history in general, here is a very informative site for the main museum the students visited.
Below are a few photos from their trip. Notice the unique architecture as the students pose on the porch of the historic Felix Vallé house. Students also learned to play faro, a card game that was very popular both in Europe and America until the first part of the 20th century.
