Presentations catered to your needs

During the French and Indian War, Ostenaco was one of the most important leaders of the Cherokees allied to the British colonies in North America.  In three years, his war exploits took him over 3,400 miles.  An account of Ostenaco's exploits by our chief interpreter, Doug Wood, was published in West Virginia History and online at: https://textbooks.lib.wvu.edu/wvhistory/files/pdf/02_wv_history_reader_wood.pdf

This powerpoint presentation describes the strategy and tactics of the mastermind Shawnee War leader, Koleshqua (Cornstalk), during his successful 1763 campaign against the Virginians.  It also reveals how Cornstalk's campaign forever altered the British colonists' manner of warfare.  View a version of the presentation at the WV Archives and History you tube channel:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4moYc4LYr_4

 History Alive!  https://wvhumanities.org In 1764, working for North America's premier fur trader Abraham Wood, Gabriel Arthur traveled across the Allegheny Mtns on a 2,000 mile journey to western waters thought to drain into the Oriental Sea.  His diplomacy promised trade with the Yuchi, Moneton, and Mosopelea as far west as Ohio River.  He escaped death twice while the Beaver Wars were raging.  First person or powerpoint, this is an adventure.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAeg3NtX774

This presentation draws upon historical research and living history demonstration to flesh out the roles of First Nations Women in 17th century and 18th century warfare in eastern North America.  Warrior medical treatments are detailed as well.

This powerpoint's full title "A Woman's Touch: 18th-Century Eastern Woodland Indian Women as Architects of Social Conscience and Gender Balance" alludes to our interpreter Dianne Anestis' comparison of gender roles between two historic cultures in early America.  View a version of the presentation at the WV Archives and History you tube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDYCPf-ueVo 

This scholarly powerpoint presentation identifies numerous plants used for medicine, fiber, construction, and food, along with 17th, 18th, and 19th century information sources.  The lecture can be followed with an interpretive walk.

Lifeways of prehistoric/protohistoric Appalachian peoples are demonstrated, with hands-on activities:  Hunting, fishing, gardening, gathering wild foods and medicines, processing animal hides, cooking game and plant foods, processing fiber plants, constructing lodges, and using stone, bone, and wooden tools. 

Lifeways of 18th century Appalachian peoples are demonstrated, with hands-on activities.

Living history demonstrations of 18th century First Nations' war techniques.  Examples:  Setting up war camps, making pictographic war records and other communications, war medicines, and traveling light.  The photo above depicts a re-enactment of the crossing of Ohio River in the winter of 1762 by a Cherokee war party led by Willinawaw against Shawnees.  The interactive Warrior Walk is very popular with adults and children.

Combination driving and walking tours with interesting subjects like "Native Plants & Native Peoples," "Salt Licks and Canebrakes," "Mary Ingles' Escape from the Shawnees," "The 1756 Cherokee-Virginian Sandy Creek Expedition," "Shawnee Cornstalk's 1763 Campaign," and "Colonel Andrew Lewis' 1774 March to Point Pleasant."

This first-person presentation of a Putnam Co., VA/WV family man makes clear the troubles that non-combatants faced as brother fought brother in western Virginia.

Kayahsota was an Ohio Valley Seneca leader who guided George Washington in 1753 to the French Forts in the Allegheny River region.  He led Seneca forces during the French and Indian War in the Ohio Valley region.  In 1763 he led the nativist war against British colonial expansion in the region.  In 1770, while hunting along Ohio River, he informed Washington of the Kanawha Valley landscape, which led to Washington having surveys done there 1771-1774.

History Alive!  https://wvhumanities.org Thomas Ingles was captured by Shawnees in 1755. Adopted, he grew into Shawnee manhood, returned to Virginia, and was schooled as a gentleman. After the 1774 Point Pleasant Campaign of Lord Dunmore's War, Thomas visited his Shawnee family once more.  In the Revolutionary War, his family was attacked by a Shawnee war party. Settling successively further westward every few years, he lived out his final years as a Mississippi Territory cotton planter. 

A variety of subjects including landscape changes over time; extinct, extirpated, rare, threatened, and endangered species of the region; and the nexus between cultural and natural history.  Powerpoint presentationsm plus show-n-tell items about birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, freshwater mussels, and plants.  

Planning a trip to the Sunshine State?  Beach-front high-rise hotels and crowded cities are not the best that Florida has to offer vacationers.  This powerpoint presentation highlights the abundance of natural areas and historical sites in Florida.  We have tips for travel to GA, NC, SC, TN, and VA also.

This powerpoint presentation will help you consider your own plans to visit the 50th state of the U.S.A.

By sharing our tips for nature/history travel in western states of the U.S.A., we may help you plan for your own adventures to AK, AZ, CA, CO, NV, and UT.

These include old-growth forest hikes and tours (like the one above), useful plant hikes, wildlife watching hikes and tours, and many more.  We often visit little known locations with special features.  Various levels of difficulty.  What is your particular nature interest?