On-Site Activities
The activities on the following pages were designed to occupy students waiting to tour
Pendarvis. Many groups choose to tour the Merry Christmas Mine Hill while they wait and we
encourage you to do this, if possible. At times, though, bad weather or other factors make the
Mine Hill trail impractical. The enclosed activity sheets should be used in these cases. The
activities include a wordsearch, a maze, a crossword puzzle, and a matching game along with
solution keys. We can provide pencils and lap desks for the students to use while doing the
sheets. We must ask you to make copies of the sheets for each student prior to your arrival.
Since we do not have a meeting room to accommodate large numbers of students at Pendarvis,
we suggest working with the activities on the bus.
Pendarvis Hidden Word Puzzle
BADGER HOLE - shallow hole dug in the ground used for living quarters by early miners
CORNISH - people or things from Cornwall, England
DRILL - a tool used for boring holes
GAD - a single bit, hand-held drill used in early mining
GALENA - another word for lead ore
LEAD - heavy, silvery ore used in making shot, weights, and pipes
MINERAL - a natural substance, neither plant nor animal, usually found in the ground
MINERAL POINT - a city in southwestern Wisconsin settled in the early 1800=s
PASTY - meat and vegetable pie made popular by immigrant Cornish miners
PENDARVIS - one of Wisconsin’s historic sites, named after a Cornish family
SAFETY FUSE - a small white cord filled with combustible material, used in mining
SAFFRON - a spice grown in Spain from the crocus flower; popular in Cornish culture
SHAFT - a tunnel through which a miner passes to search for ore
SHAKE RAG - in folklore, wives of miners would shake a rag to call the men to meals
SHOT - made out of lead, these tiny round balls are used as a form of ammunition
SMELTING - the process that purifies, melts, and shapes raw ore for future use
WINDLASS - a device used to bring ore up a mine shaft and to lower miners down
ZINC - bluish-white ore used as a protective coating for iron and steel
Pendarvis Hidden Word Puzzle
Answer Key
BADGER HOLE - shallow hole dug in the ground used for living quarters by early miners
CORNISH - people or things from Cornwall, England
DRILL - a tool used for boring holes
GAD - a single bit, hand-held drill used in early mining
GALENA - another word for lead ore
LEAD - heavy, silvery ore used in making shot, weights, and pipes
MINERAL - a natural substance, neither plant nor animal, usually found in the ground
MINERAL POINT - a city in southwestern Wisconsin settled in the early 1800=s
PASTY - meat and vegetable pie made popular by immigrant Cornish miners
PENDARVIS - one of Wisconsin’s historic sites, named after a Cornish family
SAFETY FUSE - a small white cord filled with combustible material, used in mining
SAFFRON - a spice grown in Spain from the crocus flower; popular in Cornish culture
SHAFT - a tunnel through which a miner passes to search for ore
SHAKE RAG - in folklore, wives of miners would shake a rag to call the men to meals
SHOT - made out of lead, these tiny round balls are used as a form of ammunition
SMELTING - the process that purifies, melts, and shapes raw ore for future use
WINDLASS - a device used to bring ore up a mine shaft and to lower miners down
ZINC - bluish-white ore used as a protective coating for iron and steel
Miner’s Maze
Help the miner find his way out of the mine! Starting at the windlass on the bottom left, help
him find his way past the badger and the Tommyknocker. He might even stop for a pasty lunch
along the way!
Maze adapted from Zap into the Past, WI Department of Public Instruction, Madison, WI.
Sketches in the maze were borrowed from Jim Jewell, Linden, WI.
Miner’s Maze
Answer Key
Help the miner find his way out of the mine! Starting at the windlass on the bottom left, help
him find his way past the badger and the Tommyknocker. He might even stop for a pasty lunch
along the way!
Maze adapted from Zap into the Past, WI Department of Public Instruction, Madison, WI.
Sketches in the maze were borrowed from Jim Jewell, Linden, WI.
Pendarvis Crossword Puzzle
ACROSS
1. Ethnic group which settled in Mineral Point, Wisconsin; noted for their mining and masonry skills.
4. Another word for lead ore.
7. Small white cord filled with a combustible material used by the Cornish miners for blasting.
9. A pointed iron bar or spike used as a chisel by the lead miners.
11. The mineral that helped settle Mineral Point and Wisconsin.
12. Narrow vertical tunnel opening into the lead mine.
13. Small lead pellets used for bullets.
14. Early Wisconsin town where many of the Cornish settled.
DOWN
1. Early Cornish miners were called _____________ ______________ .
2. Wooden structure used to hoist buckets of lead ore up the mineshafts.
3. A Cornish miner’s favorite dish; a meat and potato turnover.
5.The Cousin Jacks and Cousin Jennies came from _______, England.
6. The first lead miners lived in burrows called __________ __________.
8.The process of melting lead from the ore was called _____________.
10. The curled hook which held the lead bucket is called a _____ _____.
Pendarvis Crossword Puzzle
Answer Key
ACROSS
1. Ethnic group which settled in Mineral Point, Wisconsin; noted for their mining and masonry skills.
4. Another word for lead ore.
7. Small white cord filled with a combustible material used by the Cornish miners for blasting.
9. A pointed iron bar or spike used as a chisel by the lead miners.
11. The mineral that helped settle Mineral Point and Wisconsin.
12. Narrow vertical tunnel opening into the lead mine.
13. Small lead pellets used for bullets.
14. Early Wisconsin town where many of the Cornish settled.
DOWN
1. Early Cornish miners were called _____________ ______________ .
2. Wooden structure used to hoist buckets of lead ore up the mineshafts.
3. A Cornish miner’s favorite dish; a meat and potato turnover.
5.The Cousin Jacks and Cousin Jennies came from _______, England.
6. The first lead miners lived in burrows called __________ __________.
8.The process of melting lead from the ore was called _____________.
10. The curled hook which held the lead bucket is called a _____ _____.
What is Old? What is New?
Pendarvis Historic Site tells a story that is over 150 years old. The houses contain objects from the
1800s that are early versions of the things we use today.
Can you match the old objects listed in the left column with the new objects in the right column?
1. candle
a. flush toilet
2. cast iron kettles
b. coat hangers
3. bed warmer
c. faucet
4. root cellar
d. flashlight
5. trundle bed
e. Teflon skillet
6. chamber pot
f. futon
7. fireplace
g. electric blanket
8. well
h. refrigerator
9. lantern
i. light bulb
10. wall pegs
j. furnace
Adapted from Sally Wood, Life on the Frontier: The Wade Family in Greenbush, Wisconsin, 18441940 (Greenbush, WI: Wade House State Historic Site, 1992), p. 33.
What is Old? What is New?
Answer Key
Pendarvis Historic Site tells a story that is over 150 years old. The houses contain objects from the
1800s that are early versions of the things we use today.
Can you match the old objects listed in the left column with the new one in the right column?
Note: While the children will draw lines from the item in the first column to the matching item,
computer generated lines were difficult to achieve on the answer key, so we have listed the number
or letter of the matching item instead.
1. candle __i__
a. flush toilet __6__
2. cast iron kettles __e__
b. coat hangers __10__
3. bed warmer __g__
c. faucet __8__
4. root cellar __h__
d. flashlight __9__
5. trundle bed __f__
e. non-stick skillet __2__
6. chamber pot __a__
f. futon __5__
7. fireplace __j__
g. electric blanket __3__
8. well __c__
h. refrigerator __4__
9. lantern__d__
i. light bulb __1__
10. wall pegs __b__
j. furnace __7__
Adapted from Sally Wood, Life on the Frontier: The Wade Family in Greenbush, Wisconsin, 18441940 (Greenbush, WI: Wade House State Historic Site, 1992), p. 33.