Amy Lotven /Herald Staff Writer

amy lotven | daily herald Tour organizer Alexis Fisher, 10, leans on one of the exhibits at the Canal Museum. Fisher and other members of the Roanoke Valley area Christian Home Schoolers visited the museum Tuesday afternoon. Advertisement

ROANOKE RAPIDS - Area home schooled children took a peek at local history Tuesday afternoon thanks to one of their peers.

“Alexis planned this,” said Mistie Fisher, referring to her quiet 10-year-old daughter who stood beside her. Alexis was studying local history and thought the museum would be interesting, Fisher said.

Some 15 students joined the Fishers at the museum. All were part of the Roanoke Valley Area Christian Home Schoolers. The group is a “fellowship of like-minded people” which typically meets once a week for various activities, RVACHS Secretary Tanya Reese explained.

After watching a video which featured several Valley natives sharing their memories of the canal, the group, which included students ages 2 to 15 years old, headed to the front of the museum to start the tour.

They listened intently as their guide explained how the founding fathers used rivers as a way of strengthening ties between the colonies. They learned the canal was necessary because the river lies on an area where the Piedmont meets the Coastal Plain, causing the Roanoke River to drop more than 100 feet in an 8-mile range and making it difficult to navigate.

However, Stephen Reese, Reese's 8-year-old son, looked at a picture graph and pointed out that the drop looked more like 150 feet. “He's the math one,” his mother noted.

Continuing the tour, the group bunched together to play with an interactive game that allows visitors to open and close a lock system on a computer screen. They also viewed the 63-gallon “hogs head” barrel in which goods were transported and learned about the railroad's impact on the canal system.

An exhibit that showed what animals could be found along the river and in the Roanoke Valley was a big hit with the group, as the children pointed out the critters that they had spotted around their homes and in the area.

Finally, the younger members of the group were allowed to romp through the downstairs play area, while Museum Manager Christina Gordon helped the older students make leaf outlines through thin brown paper.

By the end, Alexis was very pleased with the visit, saying her favorite part of the trip was “everything.” Most of her colleagues said they enjoyed the video the most, and all said they wanted to return.

“This is fabulous; the history is covered so well,” said Renee Walker of Littleton, visiting with her son Nathan. “It's something we'll visit again.”