The Carlyle House and Gadsby Tavern

Carlyle House
21 N. Fairfax Street
Alexandria, Virginia 22314
703-549-2997

Gadsby's Tavern Museum
134 N. Royal Street
Alexandria, Virginia 22314
Phone: 703-838-4242

Instructional Unit:
The focus in Social Studies for most fourth graders in Virginia is the geography and history of Virginia. In Arlington schools, most of the year is spent learning about Colonial Virginia, the period of time between the founding of the first settlement, Jamestown, in 1609, until the Revolutionary War, when the 13 Colonies fought for freedom from England's control.

This year we have studied the 2 failed colonies of the 1580's that were established on the Outer Banks of what is now North Carolina. Both were funded by the Virginia Company, so named for Queen Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen. The company was made up of a group of wealthy Englishmen who hoped their investments would prove fruitful. The first colony failed due to lack of adequate supplies and workers. The second colony was know as the "Lost Colony," the demise of which is still speculated about.
About 30 years later, the Virginia Company again tried to establish a colony under King James. Though this colony, Jamestown, suffered, it still managed to overcome hardships and perservere. From Jamestown, other colonies formed due to the necessity of expanding in order to plant and harvest highly profitable tobacco.

The colonies grew, not only in acres, but in population. Indentured servants ships full of women, known as "bride ships", slaves, and people escaping religious persecution began to arrive in the New World.

Fourth graders learn about the changes that occurred in the colony in Virginia over the next 160 years, including changes in government, size, and economy, and the famous people who helped make these changes.

Earlier this year we took a trip to the Arlington House, where students learned about life in a wealthy household in Colonial times. This field trip to the Carlyle House and Gadsby Tavern is planned to expose the students a look at life in the Colonial period with the focus on the slavery.

This field trip will focus on the lives of slaves in Colonial times, and in May we will take another trip to the Corcoran Gallery where we will get a look at life from the view of the "middle class" colonist rather than the wealthy landowner or the poor slave.

We will be culminating the study of Colonial History during the week of May 23 through May 27, when the whole 4th grade will be participating in all day "Colonial Days" study and projects.

Curriculum Unit:
Grade 4
Social Studies

Objectives:
Students will:

1. Identify places and things in Alexandria that probably did not exist when the Carlyle House was first built.
2. Identify places and things that probably did exist when the Carlyles lived in the house.
3. Name the places of the Carlyle House where slaves worked and tell what they did there.
4. Name places in the house where the slaves lived.
5. Describe how a slave spent a typical day.
6. Compare and contrast a slave's life to that of a member of the Carlyle family.
7. Compare and contrast a slave's life to that of a worker.
8. Synthesize students' information about slavery, workers, and landed gentry and write a short "Dear Diary" entry from each point of view.

Pre-Visit Activities:

Several days prior to the trip we will discuss:
1. What we expect to learn about the Carlyle House/ Gadsby Tavern.
2. The life of Carlyle and put it on a time line in class.

On-Site Activities:

We will take a guided tour of the area for about 40 minutes. During this time the students will be filling out their worksheet. We will then proceed to tour Gadsby Tavern where the students will finish their worksheets.

Follow-Up Activities:

1. Discuss what we saw and learned on the trip.
2. Make a chart of observations (things that would have been there, and things that would not have).
3. Assignment: Write 3 "Dear Diary" entries: one of each from a slave's perspective, worker's perspective, and Mr. Carlyle's son or daughter's perspective. Describe your day in each entry.
4. List poem assignment: "If I had a slave..."
5. Share entries and poems.
6. Write "thank you" notes to the docents.

Appendices:
The Carlyle House Worksheet

Bibliography: None


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