We give this educational historic tour our highest recommendation, especially if combined with the Outdoor Drama.
"Did you know that you can tour the actual ... home of the main characters in Harold Bell Wright’s book, The Shepherd of the Hills? Your tour guide will take you to the beautiful Old Matt’s Cabin, which stands in its original location, and is on the National Historic Registry."
(The Shepherd of the Hills website)
As a homeschool 'mom', I'm always trying to find multi-subject/multi-age field trips for our family. I want to ensure each child will benefit from every trip we take and if it touches on multiple subjects, even better. That's what families get with the Shepherd of the Hills Historic Tour. The kids were 9, 8, and 6 when we took the tour and each child absolutely loved it.
There were about twenty people on our tour. At first, I was a little concerned because our three were the only children. I worried the kids might get bored and...<gasp>...act out. My fears were immediately put to rest when John Fullerton (aka Cowboy John), our tour guide, started speaking. He is a wonderful storyteller and the kids gave him their full attention. He engaged them in the tour and when they had questions, he took the time to answer them.
I was absolutely mortified when our oldest child, fully knowing the answer to his own question, asked, "What's that?" pointing to something on the ground. Cowboy John looked and without missing a beat, said, "That's manure...you thought I might call it something else, didn't you?" Everyone on the tour laughed because it was funny, but my point in sharing that is to show how accommodating our tour guide was to children and their questions, even when the question was a bit silly.
The tour includes Old Matt's Cabin, Inspiration Point, the Morgan Community Church, the historic Shepherd of the Hills Outdoor Theater Set, and the relocated "Uncle Ike"Post Office. Cowboy John was extremely knowledgeable about every part of the tour as well as Garber, Missouri, a nearby town that also has connections to the Shepherd of the Hills.
We took the tour in the morning and then saw the Outdoor Drama that evening. The combination of the two made a wonderful, entertaining, yet educational field trip. I'll write more about that later when I review the Outdoor Drama, but for now, I'd just like to say Cowboy John and his storytelling ability has inspired another generation, my grandchildren, to love The Shepherd of the Hills. Because of this, our family gives the Shepherd of the Hills Historic Tour the highest recommendation we can for a homeschool field trip.
Tours run from April 18 through October 26.
Tickets are:
Adults - $16
Child 4-12 - $10
Family (2 Adults + kids under 12 living in the same household) - $49.95
For Questions: call the box office at (417) 334-4191.
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