Soon we’re going to be developing a Living Classroom…right here in Pocahontas County. And what better place could there be to do that than in Nature’s Mountain Playground? What better place to learn about the great outdoors than the great outdoors?

The Living Classroom concept provides a variety of educational programs that support visitors such as elder hostels , group tours, conferences, and small meetings while motivating visitors to become engaged with learning. Living Classrooms implement a hands-on, experience-based approach to education that emphasizes learning by doing and is designed to reinforce important academic and life skills through real-world experiences.

We’ll compile a list of area and regional experts as resource people to assist in the design of the Living Classroom. We’ll interview each resource person and work with county educators, regional college professors, state park superintendents, Division of Natural Resource personnel, acclaimed naturalists, and other people, who are qualified either by education or experience who are willing to serve as “teachers or professors” for this unique experience. Some areas already identified include small farm agriculture, geology, historical landmarks, battlegrounds of the Civil War, hunting and fishing, forestry and the list goes on and on.

Program areas are distinct, but in combination they create a powerful synergy. Our heritage and history programs create opportunities for employment training. Living Classroom programs use our environmental resources as living learning laboratories. Stay tuned as we move ahead on this very exciting subject!