Dear Mr. Christopher Lee,

             It is with much appreciation that I write this letter of thanks to you for your sharing of your time, knowledge, and love for history on our recent field trip to the Boal Mansion Museum and Columbus Chapel.

            As I may or may not have mentioned to you at the time of our visit, our children have been studying the Age of Exploration most recently in their history studies. Discovering that the most prominent Christopher Columbus collection in North America is located right here in Pennsylvania was a pleasant surprise to us. Our visit to you chapel allowed the children to view tangible and authentic pieces from the Middle Ages ranging from hand scripted volumes, to religious art and relics, to weaponry.

            In addition to augmenting our study of the Middle Ages and of the Age of Exploration, we had the added benefit of broadening our knowledge of Pennsylvania history by learning about the family history of the Boal family from the time of David Boal’s secretive escape from Ireland to America to the present day members of the family including Governor Blair Lee III of Maryland and yourself.

            The Boal Mansion itself has many beautiful heirlooms that you so patiently led the children to view as clues to history. The children told me themselves that once they understood how you wanted them to explore the house, by keeping an eye for detail, be surfacing their assumptions, and by attempting to gain valid information by discussing the aforementioned, they had a wonderful time. And in my opinion, the process you led the children through, in a fun and interactive manner, was a great lesson for them in a more mature, almost undergraduate level way of thinking. They learned that questions aren’t always asked so that the “correct” answer can be produced but instead that one can pose his own questions and may find answers to these questions by testing the validity of one’s position against the available evidence.

            Thank you so much for such a productive day for our homeschooling children. We adults enjoyed ourselves just as much, and we thank you very heartily for your easygoing, generous tolerance with our preschoolers in attendance with us. We will definitely spread the word in the Carlisle and Harrisburg areas to other homeschoolers and lovers of history about the “hidden gem” we found in Boalsburg!

 With much gratitude,

[signed] Pamela A. Kole

For more information or to schedule a tour or school presentation , contact Christopher Lee, CEO, the Boal Mansion Museum at (814) 466-6210, PO Box 116 Boalsburg PA 16827 or email office@boalmuseum.com