Imagine it: the year is 1860 at the Affolter Cabin. Mrs. Affolter is cooking stew and biscuits over the fire while talking with students about what life was like in the one-room cabin—without electricity, phones, indoor plumbing, or even closets! She challenges the children to think of ways her cabin differs from their homes today. 

Across the breezeway in the cabin’s tool room, Mr. Affolter demonstrates the blacksmith's equipment, which was essential for making and repairing many of the items used on the farm. Outside, the boiler, washboard, and lye soap await the chores of wash day.

Up the slope, Augusta Hauck introduces the students to early refrigeration methods, showing them the stone milk house built by her father on his farm east of Longmont, on land given to him by Chief Niwot. The students learn about butter churning, corn shelling, and other chores that pioneer children often do. 

But pioneer life wasn't all work. Mary Dickens Allen shares with the children what school was like in the 1860s and the kinds of games and toys pioneer children enjoyed.

For two weeks each spring, Old Mill Park becomes a hands-on living history experience for over 1,000 third-grade students from both public and private schools, teaching them about Longmont's early history and Colorado's pioneer heritage.

Trained Society volunteers dress in pioneer-era costumes and re-enact a day in the life of a late-1800s St. Vrain Valley pioneer. This program serves as a curriculum enhancement for St. Vrain Valley schools, and a follow-up activity booklet is distributed to all students. Scheduling can be coordinated through the SVHS starting in mid-February.

When area third-grade students visit Old Mill Park for Pioneer Days, they gain more than just living history lessons about pioneer farm life in the St. Vrain Valley. In addition to the tour, the St. Vrain Historical Society provides a special color and activity book for each child who participates in the program.

Pioneer Days at Old Mill Park, which won the prestigious Josephine Miles History Award from the Colorado Historical Society in 2000, recognizes programs that enhance the understanding of Colorado history. The program is offered free to area third-grade classes each May. Each year, more than 1,200 students walk through the gates of Old Mill Park and into an earlier time.

Hard copies of these brochures for these tours are available upon request by contacting the St. Vrain Historical Soceity Office.

1) Main Street Landmarks
2) Third Avenue, Historic West Side
3) Thompson Park Neighborhood
4) Historic East Side