Outreach Staff Retreat 2010

FPAN Outreach Staff at Bonnett House in Ft. Lauderdale

This past weekend the FPAN Outreach Staff met at our Southeast Regional Office in Ft. Lauderdale for our first ever Outreach Retreat. It was a great opportunity for me to get to know the staff better, since I am the newbie.

 We had fun, but we also had a lot of work to accomplish in two days. We discussed ways to integrate archaeology into existing classroom curricula and discussed new lesson plans. We also learned about some really awesome festival activities that Matt, the Southwest Regional Coordinator created. We even tried our hand at Photoshop-I still am a novice though! Sarah, the Southeast Coordinator, organized this wonderful weekend. She even invited guest speakers to help us fine tune our publicity and marketing by more effectively utilizing social media such as facebook and twitter. Which, by the way, I update regularly, so be sure to check that out! We had a wonderful reception at the local historical commission, and took that opportunity to check out their exhibits as well.

 The Historic Bonnett House and Gardens in Ft. Lauderdale

While in Ft. Lauderdale we had the opportunity to visit a treasured historic landmark, the Bonnett House. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 and later was declared a historic landmark by the City of Fort Lauderdale in 2002. The National Trust for Historic Preservation included Bonnet House in the Save America’s Treasures program and it has been listed as one of America's 11 most endangered sites because of the encroaching development of the area surrounding this unique Florida treasure. The property was purchased by Hugh Taylor Birch in 1919 and given to his daughter and son-in-law as a wedding gift. Construction of t he Bonnett House began in 1920. In 1983 it was donated to the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation. At the time this was the largest charitable gift in history! The house and gardens are very whimsical, to say the least. And colorful, exotic orchids can be seen in every nook and cranny. But wait, there's more to this property than meets the eye! A shell midden is located on this property that was left by it's earlier Tequesta inhabitants and dates to 2000 B.C. It goes to show that even the earliest Floridians appreciated beautiful beach front property! If you ever are down that way, I strongly urge you to check out this unique piece of historic South Florida!  It is one of a kind!

In conclusion, the Outreach Staff Retreat for 2010 was a huge success. I am sure I can speak for the whole staff when I say that we all learned a lot and shared wonderful new and innovative ideas. You can look forward to the benefits of this retreat in future North Central outreach activities. So as always, keep checking back with us to see what is going on in your region!