History Kit: Revolutionary War

items from the Revolutionary War history lending kit

From Wilderness to Fortress: Teacher Resource Guide and Museum Kit

From the Mount Independence State Historic Site in Orwell, Vermont Division for Historic Preservation

Discover what the Revolutionary War was like for the soldiers who built and occupied Mount Independence, the fort on Lake Champlain in Orwell, Vermont. The lending kit and teacher resource guide is designed for grades 4 to 6, and adaptable for older and younger grades.

Bring the American Revolution and Colonial period to life using the items in the kit including: teacher resource guide, artifacts from Mount Independence, reproduction artifacts, informative posters, reference books, period and contemporary maps, period music, games and more.

The teacher resource guide has chapters that focus on archaeology, natural resources, the geology of Mount Independence, American and British occupation during the war, health and medicine, and more. Each chapter includes historic content and a variety of interdisciplinary activities.

Use the kit to teach about Vermont during the Revolutionary War or to prepare for a field trip to Mount Independence. Using the kit, your students will:

  • Gain a better understanding of the Revolutionary War, particularly the Northern Campaign in the Lake Champlain Valley, and what everyday life was like for the people who were at Mount Independence;
  • Develop investigative skills like those historians and archaeologists use when conducting research at important historic sites like Mount Independence;
  • Learn about the natural forces that shaped the area and produced the topography of Mount Independence that was so conducive to Native American and military use of the site.

This kit is available through the Vermont Historical Society by special arrangement with Mount Independence State Historic Site. The kit is also available through the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation at (802) 759-2412 or elsa.gilbertson@vermont.gov 

All kits are available for a monthly lending period for a fee of $80.00 (round-trip shipping), $55.00 (one-way shipping) or $30.00 (you pick up at VHS). For more information see History Kits.

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