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Discover the rich history of early Indiana in Vincennes. The home of the first Governor and the Capitol building of Indiana Territory, the muster point for the Battle of Tippecanoe and the location of the both the first Print Shop and the free public school in Indiana. Come and find out about the laws which still affect Indiana residents today, how the first newspaper was printed and about the active role Vincennes played in the American Revolution.
Call 812.882.7422 to schedule your field trip to Vincennes State Historic Sites.
Free Admission
Free for preregistered Indiana schools of 10+ K-12 students, teachers, bus drivers and one additional adult per five students. Additional chaperones pay the group admission rate of $8/person.
Free Admission
Free for preregistered groups of 10+ students, including one free adult per five students. Additional adults pay the group rate.
Group Visit Options
Find 2-hour tailored programs for your group visit at the bottom of this page.
Pre-Registration
All field trips must be booked at least two weeks in advance. This ensures a personalized, engaging experience for your students.
Group Size
A minimum of 10 students is required for field trips.
Lunch
Guests are welcome to set up on the lawn, and there are nearby restaurants for students and chaperones.
Contact
Call 812.882.7422 or email jotaylor@indianamuseum.org to schedule your field trip to Vincennes.
Take a look at our collected educator resources from across the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites.
Whether it’s at the site, outreach or virtual, we offer hands-on, exploratory and interactive programs on a variety of topics that provide your students a fun way to learn about Indiana’s people, places and things. All programs fulfill select Indiana Academic Standards for multiple grade levels. At site and outreach programs cost $4/student with a maximum number of 25 students. Travel fees are 30-60 miles: $20; 60-90 miles: $40; 90+ miles: $60. Program length is 45-60 minutes. Virtual programs cost $75/class with additional classes $100 for the same program. Program length is 45-60 minutes. See programs below:
The school group tour includes a guided tour of the Jefferson Academy, Territory Capitol Building and Elihu Stout Print Shop. Students will discover the early years of Vincennes and Indiana by learning about early education at the Jefferson Academy, the beginnings of Indiana law at the Territory Capitol Building and the art of printing at the Elihu Stout Print Shop.
Indiana Academic Standards: Social Studies: K.1.1; K.1.2; K.1.3; 1.1.1; 1.1.3; 1.1.6; 1.1.8; 1.2.1; 1.2.2; 1.2.3; 2.1.1; 2.1.2; 2.1.3; 3.1.1; 3.1.2; 3.1.3; 3.1.4; 3.1.8; 3.2.3; 3.2.4; 4.1.2; 4.1.3; 4.1.4; 5.1.6; 5.2.7; 5.2.9; 5.4.1; 6.E.1; 8.H.1; 8.H.2; 8.H.3; 8.H.14; 8.E.1, English Language: K.CC.2, K.CC.5, 1.CC.2, 1.CC.3. 2.CC.1, 2.CC.3, 2.CC.7, 3.CC.3, 3.CC.5, 3.CC.6, 4.CC.1, 4.CC.2, 4.CC.4, 5.CC.1, 5.CC.2, 6.CC.1, 6.CC.2, 7.CC.1, 7.CC.2, 8.CC.1, 8.CC.2, 8.CC.3, 9-10.CC.1, 9-10.CC.2, 9-10.CC.3, 11-12.CC.3, 11-12.CC.3
Students will explore everyday life in the early 1800s through puppetry. Activities include singing, games, chores and other everyday routines for a child in the early 1800s. Themes include how life is different and the same today, jobs in the community back then and how each person—a teacher, a printer, a farmer—contributed to the community.
Available: At site, outreach and virtual
Indiana Academic Standards: Social Studies: K.1.1, K.1.3, K.3.6, 1.1.1, 1.1.3, 1.1.5, 1.1.6, 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.1.3
Get your class all charged up about electricity! In 1800, electrostatic generators were used in Vincennes for experiments and parlor amusements. Your science class will learn the hair-raising facts about a force they take for granted every day.
Available: At site and outreach
Indiana Academic Standards: Science: 4-PS3-4, 4-PS4-3
Tour the original Territorial Capitol, which is considered the oldest major government building in the Midwest. The “Red House” was one of three buildings rented by the legislature from 1805 to 1813 and was the meeting place of the legislature in 1811, after the Battle of Tippecanoe.
Visit the Jefferson Academy, which was the first school of higher learning in Indiana and the predecessor of Vincennes University, tells the story of early public education. Founded in 1801 by Governor Harrison, it was the first school of higher learning in Indiana. In 1806, it became Vincennes University.
Elihu Stout’s Print Shop represents the power of communication in westward expansion. As the country expanded westward, the distribution of information was crucial to the formation of states.
Homeschool groups and other groups can choose from the options below. These are 2-hour tailored programs designed to cover a variety of topics and cost $4/student. To book your session, please call the site at 812.882.7422.
Today, in the 21st century, we can produce documents in minutes. We are inundated with literature and the written world. During the Early Republic, books and newspapers were scarce and expensive, particularly on the western frontiers.
Students will discover how newspapers were created as they learn the intricacies of printing on an old-fashioned printing press. They’ll create their own printed piece to take home.
Cost: $4/student
Registration: Call the site at 812.882.7422.
Students will discover the importance of modes of transportation in Vincennes and how it helped to develop the city. They will explore how the United States was able to utilize new methods of transport and how these methods expanded the productiveness of the country.
A historical walking tour and hands-on activities will help the students develop an appreciation of why transportation is so important to the development of trade and locations.
Cost: $4/student
Registration: Call the site at 812.882.7422.
In the early 1800s, natural scientists – as they were called back then – were classifying the natural world into biological categories, discovering new ways to deal with illness, and experimenting with electricity, atoms and other elements of the world.
Students will learn about the new developments in science that inform our knowledge today, and take a deeper dive into how natural scientists experimented and observed the world around them.
Cost: $4/student
Registration: Call the site at 812.882.7422.
Before the United States was established, the first Europeans who came to Indiana did not have money as we know it today. These early explorers used the practice of barter and trade to buy and sell items with each other and with the Native Americans in the area.
Through hands-on activities, students will learn how the barter and trade system worked during the early years of Indiana. The activities will take place in an old 1800’s house built by a French fur trader, and the Old State Bank, built in 1838.
Participants will also learn how money worked on the western frontier of the Early Republic.
Cost: $4/student
Registration: Call the site at 812.882.7422.
The early explorers who came to Indiana had to use various methods to figure out where they were, and what resources were available to them.
Students will engage in activities ranging from mapmaking and land measurement to basic survival techniques like tracking, fire starting and shelter building.
These activities will take place at Fort Knox II remains, built in the early 1800s.
Cost: $4/student
Registration: Call the site at 812.882.7422.
How did the people of the Early Republic communicate with each other when there were no phones or computers? They wrote to each other!
Students will learn about communicating via handwritten letters by writing with a quill pen, making their own paper and visiting the Elihu Stout Print Shop. They’ll also discover how static electricity was harnessed and made into the first mechanical long-distance communication machine – the telegraph.
The session will end with an appreciation of how communication developed during the late 1700s and early 1800s.
Cost: $4/student
Registration: Call the site at 812.882.7422.
We look forward to welcoming your students to the Vincennes State Historic Sites. Call us at 812.882.7422 to book your trip or send us an email at the link below.
