Part of Mennonite Life's mission is holding, honoring, and preserving stories and artifacts related to the Mennonite community and interrelated communities, Lydia Nolt said.

The summer camp, Discovery Days at the 1719 Museum: Celebrating Culture Through Craftsmanship, is an ideal way to do just that.

Discovery Days, a weeklong camp for youths ages 11 to 15, will be held Monday, June 9, through Friday, June 13, from 9 a.m. to noon each day. The 1719 Museum is located at 1849 Hans Herr Drive, Willow Street.

There is a fee to attend the camp, which is Mennonite Life's first summer camp since the COVID-19 pandemic. All participants must be registered by Friday, May 23. Go to https://mennonitelife.org/events/ to register.

"Our hope is that we engage middle-grade learners with the history of the local people," said Nolt, a museum educator who plans and coordinates public programming in addition to working with school groups. "The 1719 Museum interprets both the lives of the Conestoga-Susquehannock people who lived along the Susquehanna River in the 16th and 17th centuries and also the first Swiss-German Mennonite immigrants in this area and how their lives are intertwined."

Day camp sessions include three hours of guided instruction and activities at the 1719 Museum. Participants will visit a reproduction Lancaster longhouse that the Conestoga-Susquehannock would have lived in as well as the Hans Herr House, which was constructed in 1719.

The Herr House, built by Christian and Anna Herr, is recognized as the oldest surviving house in Lancaster County and the oldest original Mennonite meetinghouse still standing in the Western Hemisphere.

During the summer camp, a focus is placed on arts and craftsmanship.

Kids will learn about what Nolt called the "beautifully practical" tools used by both the Conestoga-Susquehannock and the Swiss-German Mennonite immigrants and have the opportunity to make pottery similar to what was made in that era.

There will be a presentation on fiber arts such as weaving and beadwork using materials common in the day like reeds and flax. Kids will experiment with the illuminated script Fraktur, a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch art form associated with reading and writing, Nolt said.

"Our idea isn't that this will just be like an art camp or day care fun and games," said Nolt. "Of course, we want it to be fun, and I think it will be fun, but what's guiding this whole thing is to have the campers think about how crafts and art are passed down through generations."

Nolt hopes kids will mull the answers to several questions: How does this connect to our lives today? How are arts and crafts tied to where people live based on the types of materials used and resources available? How do the practices of the indigenous community relate to the practices of the Mennonite immigrants and vice versa?

Nolt said Mennonite Life aims to foster a world where people connect across boundaries by knowing and valuing each other's stories, histories, traditions, lives, and cultures. "Specifically with the 1719 Museum, (the purpose is to) create informed community members who are ready for healthy discourse and to build historical empathy," she said.

Nolt added that it is important to get kids interested in history at a time where they are being shaped and molded and getting curious about stories.

"My hope is at the end of the camp, the campers will use what they've learned throughout the week and create something using the techniques they've learned that will tell their own story about what it's like for them living here in Lancaster County," Nolt said.