A day full of exciting new experiences awaited Girl Scouts from all over the state on Sept. 28 at the Georgia Museum of Agriculture (GMA). The GMA hosted a new first-time event called Girl Scout Day where scouts of all ages from all over the region were invited to come out and enjoy everything the GMA has to offer. From bookmaking to gardening, the scouts were provided with many activities in order to earn new badges such as Homesteading Badges and Textile Badges.
The girls had the opportunity to get an up-close view on what life was like in the late 1800s to early 1900s by participating in special programs hosted by the local historic interpreters at the GMA. Eleven programs were made available for experience. Some programs included a barnyard experience where scouts learned about farmstead animals and the importance of farming; Nature’s Art, which taught of the diversity of nature by exploring the surrounding environment and creating art out of their findings and a Textile Encounter in which the Girl Scouts joined interpreters in crafting their own potholders and later taking a behind the scenes look at historic textiles in the museum.
Along with a day full of crafts, learning, fun and many rightfully earned badges, the Girl Scouts also gained a new appreciation towards museums and the importance of historic preservation. During the behind the scenes tour under the guidance of museum Curator Polly Huff, scouts entered the museum’s textile lab where they learned about how important humidity and temperature are when keeping an artifact in good condition.
The scouts also tried on a bonnet that was over 100 years old and cleaned a quilt of about roughly the same age. The scouts also learned about the five degrees of separation from the outside world, where each artifact is kept in a multitude of boxes in order to be best preserved. Though Girl Scout Day was the first of its kind, the lasting great impression of the event has left the GMA with high hopes of turning it into an annual event.
