Post by L Roebuck on Oct 20, 2005 10:42:51 GMT -5
Platform gives fourth-graders a bridge between literature and reality
By CHARLES FIEGL, cfiegel@poststar.com
Updated: 10/20/2005 6:40:25 AM
SOUTH GLENS FALLS -- Mayor Robert Phinney held the key to unlock the gate to a platform overlooking Cooper's Cave on Wednesday.
The key also unlocked about 50 students' imaginations.
Students from Tanglewood Elementary School squinted and grinned as mist from the hydroelectric dam fell upon their faces while walking onto the overlook. From the platform, they gazed into the cave where Cora and Alice Munro, characters in the novel "The Last of the Mohicans," were to have hidden while on their way to Fort William Henry.
This was about the 15th tour group since the summer to visit the new access point and view the cave named after James Fenimore Cooper, the author of "The Last of the Mohicans," Phinney said.
The lookout is closed to the public, but can be opened by request.
Public access was closed in 1961. During the recent construction of Cooper's Cave Bridge, village and city of Glens Falls officials began discussing plans to build the platform.
The local officials are now waiting for an easement from National Grid to build a path connecting the village park to the cave and complete landscape work before publicly opening the site.
"This spring, we will finalize the project one way or another and it will be open by the early summer to the public," Phinney said.
Fourth-grade teacher Suzanne Schiavoni said the students read half of a children's adaptation of Cooper's book and were excited to see the natural rock formation. The walls and fencing on the platform had obstructed some of the smaller children's views of the cave, she said.
"But there was a dip in the viewing area where you could look directly into the cave," Schiavoni said. "It is a beautiful area. It's such a waste that it is not open."
Several of the students said the field trip was "cool," but noted the walk was long.
Tim Raffile, a chaperone, said he tried to see the cave from the platform during the summer but was kept out by a locked fence. Raffile looked forward to helping his daughter Elizabeth's class and seeing the site for himself, he said.
He thought the students enjoyed getting outside and personally viewing the cave -- especially during an age where computers and DVDs are more prominent in the classroom.
"This is something they could remember for the rest of their lives," Raffile said.
Two more fourth-grade classes from the school will go to the platform next Wednesday, Schiavoni said.
PostStar.com
www.poststar.com/story.asp?storyid=1816
By CHARLES FIEGL, cfiegel@poststar.com
Updated: 10/20/2005 6:40:25 AM
SOUTH GLENS FALLS -- Mayor Robert Phinney held the key to unlock the gate to a platform overlooking Cooper's Cave on Wednesday.
The key also unlocked about 50 students' imaginations.
Students from Tanglewood Elementary School squinted and grinned as mist from the hydroelectric dam fell upon their faces while walking onto the overlook. From the platform, they gazed into the cave where Cora and Alice Munro, characters in the novel "The Last of the Mohicans," were to have hidden while on their way to Fort William Henry.
This was about the 15th tour group since the summer to visit the new access point and view the cave named after James Fenimore Cooper, the author of "The Last of the Mohicans," Phinney said.
The lookout is closed to the public, but can be opened by request.
Public access was closed in 1961. During the recent construction of Cooper's Cave Bridge, village and city of Glens Falls officials began discussing plans to build the platform.
The local officials are now waiting for an easement from National Grid to build a path connecting the village park to the cave and complete landscape work before publicly opening the site.
"This spring, we will finalize the project one way or another and it will be open by the early summer to the public," Phinney said.
Fourth-grade teacher Suzanne Schiavoni said the students read half of a children's adaptation of Cooper's book and were excited to see the natural rock formation. The walls and fencing on the platform had obstructed some of the smaller children's views of the cave, she said.
"But there was a dip in the viewing area where you could look directly into the cave," Schiavoni said. "It is a beautiful area. It's such a waste that it is not open."
Several of the students said the field trip was "cool," but noted the walk was long.
Tim Raffile, a chaperone, said he tried to see the cave from the platform during the summer but was kept out by a locked fence. Raffile looked forward to helping his daughter Elizabeth's class and seeing the site for himself, he said.
He thought the students enjoyed getting outside and personally viewing the cave -- especially during an age where computers and DVDs are more prominent in the classroom.
"This is something they could remember for the rest of their lives," Raffile said.
Two more fourth-grade classes from the school will go to the platform next Wednesday, Schiavoni said.
PostStar.com
www.poststar.com/story.asp?storyid=1816