27th Annual History Camp

Run by historian and long-time teacher, John Zimkus, the camp has been the recipient of the History Outreach Award from Ohio Local History Alliance, and is for students entering fourth through eighth grades in the fall. The focus of this year is “Southwest Ohio’s Fascinating Journey from Forest to Farms and Settlements to Cities.”

Campers will learn of the dramatic changes to the wildlife and plant life of this area when settlers from the original 13 United States poured into the Ohio country in the late 1700s. They will closely examine the tools used by these early pioneers and try to determine what were the functions of these items and how they were made.

At the WCHS’s Harmon Museum students will take part in special hands-on programs that will explore how the construction of bridges and arches changed the lives 19th century Ohioans. They will also look at why many of these Ohioans were new citizens to America and what pushed them out of their old country or pulled them into their new one.

They will also learn how one man, William Elmer Harmon, who made millions in real estate, changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in the early 20th century by devoting his wealth to create well over a 100 parks in small towns across America beginning with his place of birth, Lebanon, Ohio.

On field trip day campers will travel by bus to tour the newly renovated Cincinnati Museum Center. There they will have a special tour of the Cincinnati Union Terminal Rotunda and see how it functioned as a major city train station. Camper will also visit the Cincinnati History Museum and step back in time and experience the history of the city, from the first settlers through World War II, as well as explore a recreation of the once-bustling Cincinnati Public Landing from the late 1850s 

As a special addition to mark the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s historic lunar landing and Neil Armstrong’s famous moon walk, the students will visit the Harmon Museum’s Neil Armstrong exhibit dedicated to our former Warren County neighbor, and then see the soon to be opened Neil Armstrong Space Exploration Gallery at the Cincinnati Museum Center.

If you would like to enroll your child in History Camp, please stop in or call us at 513 932-1817.

John Zimkus is the WCHS’s History Camp’s director and founded the camp in 1992. He is currently the Society’s Historian/Education Director. After spending 35 years in the classroom, Mr. Zimkus was inducted into the Lebanon City Schools Hall of Fame in 2008. A two-time recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Foundation Award from the Area Progress Council of Warren County, Inc., Mr. Zimkus was selected Ohio’s Outstanding Teacher of American History for 2006 by the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Camp Focus

Academic and Pre-College Camps: History

All Activities