Education Day at Richfield Historical Park
May 12 & 14, 2026
The Richfield Historical Park came alive on May 12 & 14 with very excited 3rd graders visiting from Crown of Life, Erin, HNR, Friess Lake, St. Gabriel and St. Peter schools. This was the 15th year for the program that showed the current generation of children how families lived many years ago. The property was once the home of the Messer and Mayer families who operated the Messer/Mayer Mill.
The children were divided into groups and moved from location to location. With the help of volunteers, here is a sample of what the day was like:
Arrived at the Park to get instructions.
Visit the Messer/Mayer Mill to learn what the
word "grist" means and how the water once flowed along the raceway to power the turbine. See an actual millstone. Figure out the difference
between oats, wheat, and rye.
Walk to the Mill House to see how the Messer and Mayer families lived with no electricity and peeled the produce that was grown in the garden.
Leave the Mill House through the summer kitchen to pump water by hand and ring the dinner bell.
Meander down the hill and wash clothes the old-fashioned way. Then, hang them on the line to dry.
Have some fun playing games that kids may have played long ago.
Go to the smokehouse to learn how the Messers and Mayers cured their meat as there was no electricity in the Mill House until the 1920s.
Not far from the Mill House was the outhouse (there was never any running water for the Messer and Mayer families to use). After a quick peek inside the 2-holer, a short walk along the Coney Creek and past the 150-year-old white oak tree, the children arrived at the Messer log barn.
Inside the log barn, corn was shelled and the corn stalks were shredded. Lots of hard work was needed to keep the animals fed long ago.
On to the Motz log cabin, to learn about foods that may have been eaten in the spring and how to make flat bread using a woodburning stove.
The "smithie" was hard at work in the blacksmith shop. Blacksmithing was really important long ago.
How is maple sap turning into delicious maple syrup? The children heard the whole story of how this is done--tap a tree, carry sap to the sugar shack and learn how the sap is boiled to make the syrup. Even enjoyed a treat of a vanilla wafer dipped in maple syrup.
A big Thank You to all the children who attended, their teachers, chaperones and the Richfield Historical Society volunteers.
