Green Chimneys Vocational Students Gain Valuable Skills While Honoring Local History

TENDING PROPERTY, PRESERVING A LEGEND

Green Chimneys Vocational Students Gain Valuable Skills While Honoring Local History

Seventy-year-old Green Chimneys is proud to be part of Putnam County’s rich history and now even prouder to help maintain a piece of American history. Located on the property of Green Chimneys’ Boni-Bel Farm in the Town of Southeast is the Barnum Family Cemetery, a 200-year-old burial site featuring 21 gravestones, all bearing the famed circus family’s name. 

The 40-acre Boni-Bel Farm was purchased by Green Chimneys in 1980 and today, serves as a key component of the vocational education program at Green Chimneys School. In the gardens, students learn about farming and become responsible for the many plants while discovering new skills. Vocational training extends to the on-site Country Store where students learn about operations and customer service in a real retail environment.

Skill-building work at the farm also encompasses grounds maintenance, lawn care and related tasks through safe and knowledgeable operation of equipment, project planning, and teamwork. A restoration project for the historical cemetery plot offered students the perfect opportunity to practice all of these. The project included significant gravestone repair and replacement, performed by a professional company and skilled stone carvers. Prior to this work, Green Chimneys vocational students were responsible for mowing, weeding, trimming, and maintaining all areas in and around cemetery to enable the work of the restoration company.

Upon completion of the restoration, students resumed full-time maintenance of the cemetery including regular lawn care, stone wall maintenance and seasonal planting. The students also studied Barnum family history, listing all individuals buried, matching up families, and learning about their contributions to society. In this, students discovered a Revolutionary War veteran, local farmers, homemakers, and much more. According to Vocational Coordinator George DeLaVergne, “It’s been an important lesson for the students, both in acquiring real-world skills and gaining a sense of history and how we can honor those who came before us.”  

For more information about Boni-Bel Farm or Country Store hours go to www.greenchimneys.org/community-programs-services/shop-local

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Submitted by Brewster, NY

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