Last updated: September 30, 2024
Lesson Plan
Architecture
Designing and building a commercial adobe fort
NPS/D. Ocheltree
- Grade Level:
- Lower Elementary: Pre-Kindergarten through Second Grade
- Subject:
- Social Studies
- Lesson Duration:
- 60 Minutes
- Common Core Standards:
- 3.L.4, 3.L.4.a, 4.L.4, 4.L.4.a, 5.L.4, 5.L.4.a
- State Standards:
- 4th Geography 2.2.c. Analyze how people use geo. factors in creating settlements and have adapted to and modified the local physical environment. 4th Econ. 3.1.d. Explain how productive resources (natural, human, and capital) influenced goods and services
- Additional Standards:
- 4th Hist. 1.1.e. Discuss the multiple perspectives of settler/colonialism/Westward Expansion and the impact on the political and cultural landscape of the region presently known as Colorado
- Thinking Skills:
- Analyzing: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show the relationships among the parts.
Essential Question
1. What are the benefits and drawbacks of constructing a fort out of adobe in the borderlands?
2. How might the choice of constructing a military-looking fort have been harmful to the business in the long term?
Objective
The lesson will illustrate how available natural resources and labor often determine architectural choices as in the construction of Bent's Fort in 1832.
Background
INTRO: At about fourteen years of age, Lewis H. Garrard, read John C. Fremont’s Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, an account published in U.S. newspapers in 1843. Fremont’s descriptive account enticed Lewis to venture West by himself only three years later. Garrard wrote his own book of experiences lasting from 1846-1847 titled Wah-to-yah and the Taos Trail. “Wah-to-yah” is a Comanche word meaning “double peaks,” which described the mountainous Spanish Peaks found in southeastern Huerfano County, Colorado. As Lewis set off, Ceran St. Vrain, the founding partner of the Bent, St. Vrain, & Company, guided his wagon from Independence, Missouri to the trading operation along the Arkansas River, known as Bent’s Fort, in September of 1846.
The architecture and material composition of Bent's Fort was unique for the period in this region. Adobe buildings were common in New Mexico, but not in America's territories. On the southern plains, access to water and trees was crucial for construction. For reasons that we cannot be certain, the Bent, St. Vrain, and Company chose military-looking architecture using adobe material for their 1833-1849 trading post beside the Arkansas River. They hired a group of skilled Mexican adobe masons who not only formed bricks measuring 16" x 8" x 4", but built and maintained the entire two-story structure over its lifetime.
Preparation
Materials Needed:
- Lewis Garrard Architecture narrative text
- Images of various forts, trading posts, and adobe structures
- Container of water, sand, clay, and straw (for lesson hook demo/experiment)
Materials
Companion images to Lewis Garrard architecture lesson for comparison purposes
Download Forts, Posts, Adobe Structures images
Companion narrative to Lewis Garrard Architecture lesson
Download Lewis Garrard Architecture narrative
Lesson Hook/Preview
Adobe brick experiment: Fill a container with clay, sand, and straw - amounts of which are at your estimation to use as a class demonstration. Tell class your goal is to build one adobe brick measuring 8” long x 4”wide x 2”deep which is scaled down to half the actual size. Demonstrate mixing these materials together without a “recipe.” During the process invite student volunteers to critique your process by questioning the ratio of the ingredients in the mixture and make suggestions. When the class comes to a consensus about the readiness of the brick in terms of its size and consistency, set it aside in the sun or a sunny window to cure. ("Failure" in this experiment is expected and will serve to prove the expertise of the Mexican adobe masons referred to in this lesson. You may refer to this example of completed adobe bricks.)
Procedure
1. After lesson hook, ask students to identify obstacles adobe masons may have had back in the 1830s. Consider availability of materials (water, straw, clay, sand), wood frame for the mold, and curing the brick which depended on the weather, etc.
2. View photos of various U.S. forts and adobe structures for comparative background. Note the locations and materials used.
3. In small groups assign reading of Lewis Garrard Architecture narrative.
4. Pre-read the following questions:
a. What are the benefits and drawbacks of constructing a fort out of adobe in the borderlands?
b. Which benefit do you think Bent considered most important?
c. Why did Bent consult Yellow Wolf before building?
d. How might Bent and St. Vrain’s architectural choice have been harmful to their business in the long term?
e. What might a familiar New Mexican construction material and design have communicated to the Mexicans trading along the Santa Fe Trail?
f. How do you think Bent’s Fort’s appearance as a military fort helped or harmed its influence in the region?
5. Summarize the passage’s main points: Adobe was chosen as a fort material because the natural resources to make the brick were readily available, experienced Mexican masons could be contracted, and the fort’s long-term protection against firepower was superior to other constructions. Making partnerships with the various cultures on the southern Plains was important to the success of Bent’s Fort, whether it was the Cheyenne and Arapaho, other Native American nations, or New Mexicans. Taking sides was potentially bad for business, making the U.S. war with Mexico a difficult period.
6. Pass out Exit Ticket assessment.
Vocabulary
adobe - clay material used to make sun-dried bricks
mason- worker with stone or brick
bastion - a part of a fort that protrudes out from the main walls to allow defensive protection
conjecture - a conclusion formed without all the facts
facsimile - copy
ad infinitum - over and over forever
bombardment - a continuous attack from bombs, gunfire, or missiles
topographical - relating to the accurate representation of physical features
impenetrable - impossible to pass through
fusil balls - the bullets to a fusil musket weapon
Assessment Materials
Lewis Garrard Architecture Exit TicketExit Ticket assessment containing the essential questions for Lewis Garrard Architecture lesson.
1. What are the benefits and drawbacks of constructing a fort out of adobe in the borderlands?
2. How might the choice of constructing an adobe fort have been harmful to the business in the long term?
Exit Ticket containing essential questions for Lewis Garrard Architecture lesson plan
Rubric/Answer Key
Lewis Garrard Architecture Exit TicketPossible answers to Exit Ticket for Lewis Garrard Architecture lesson plan
1. What are the benefits and drawbacks of constructing a fort out of adobe in the borderlands?
Benefits: Adobe is durable and withstands assault by various weapons and fire much better than wood. Adobe does not rely on a large amount of wood which is not readily available.Adobe uses the natural resources of the southern Great Plains – grasses, clay, and sand. Supplies are easily obtained. Adobe is cheaper to build with. It is cool in the summer and warm in the winter. It is identified as a Mexican style.
Drawbacks:Adobe relies on skilled laborers who do not live nearby. The bricks take a long time to make and rely on the weather. Adobe needs regular maintenance.
2. How might the choice of constructing an adobe fort have been harmful to the business in the long term?
Because the trading post looked like a military fort, its presence was potentially intimidating. It communicated a defensive and combative position rather than a welcoming one which would not have been best for business. When the U.S./Mexican war broke out, Bent's Fort was easily interpreted as an Army installation rather than a place of commerce making the trading relationship with Mexico an especially strained one.
Possible answers to essential questions on Exit Ticket for Lewis Garrard Architecture lesson
Supports for Struggling Learners
Pre-read vocabulary words and definitions. For narrative text reading, use whole group read-aloud, paired, or small group reading.
Enrichment Activities
Social/Emotional Enrichment - Career Path:
Why do you think Lewis Garrard called adobe brick work “muddy unpleasantness?” What exactly didn’t he like and why? Do you agree with him? What other types of jobs would you find unpleasant and why?
Social/Emotional Enrichment - Economics:
Over the next several days, assess the progress of the experiment brick as it cures. Discuss “failure” and grit mindset. Relate the class adobe experiment to why Bent needed to hire workers with experience. Consider other outcomes for the Bent, St. Vrain, and Company if these masons were not found, hired, and employed for ongoing maintenance.