the New Croton Dam), the author recounts in these pages his guided tour of the South Gatehouse, complete with illustrations of the structure’s now-closed interior. —“Local Intelligence: The New Reservoir,” The New York Times, 30 June 1862, http://tinyurl. com/CentralParkReservoir2. The New York Times announces the completion of the South Gatehouse at the new Central Park Reservoir and invites the public to visit and marvel at this feature of the “Croton Aqueduct, which, with these latest connections, presents a specimen of engineering skill and Metropolitan enterprise, before which the old Roman aqueducts pale into insignificance.” Take students to Central Park to walk around the reservoir and visit the three gatehouses, encouraging them to make connections between what they have studied and what they are experiencing. Upon viewing the explanatory signage in the windows of the South Gatehouse, ask them if there is information from in-class readings and discussion that they would suggest adding to the signs. Throughout the trip, urge students to take notes—written or mental—and if possible, photographs and video, in preparation for the next segment of the lesson. Back in the classroom, assign students—individually or in groups—to produce their own accounts of their reservoir tour. With the three articles they read in mind, students should consider the following questions: How was their visit different from those recounted by the first two articles and advertised by the third? How would they tell others about their Section 4: Interpretation Touring the Central Park Reservoir: Then and Now Grade level: High school Objectives: To allow students to experience the Croton Waterworks, both through exposure to primary sources and a visit to the referenced sites, and to provide them with a framework by which to consider the significance of and changes undergone by the system through time Begin by introducing students to the system’s history and function; depending on the focus of the class, this could include examining its significance in the context of engineering and architecture (perhaps by comparing the different structural typologies) and/or of social history (in terms of the fires and diseases the Waterworks was built to eradicate, the labor that produced it, and the celebratory response of local residents). Use historic maps as a means of conveying to students the extent of the system and emphasizing its vital linkage of Westchester County to New York City. In order to focus on a more easily manageable portion of the Waterworks, ask students to read the following primary sources (available online). The articles are not long and would be well-suited for in-class reading and discussion: — William H. Rideing, “Croton Water,” Scribner’s Monthly 14, no. 2 (June 1877): 170-72, http://tinyurl.com/CentralParkReservoir. This article provides a good overview of the history of the Croton Waterworks. In the section assigned to students, “VI. The Reservoirs,” the author visits the Central Park Reservoir (now the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir) and is taken on a guided tour of the South Gatehouse. —“From Croton to Town,” Appletons’ Journal of Literature, Science, and Art 8 (July to 89 90 Oral History 1: Carl Oechsner To Carl Oechsner, a beloved longtime middle school teacher known throughout Ossining as Mr. O., the Croton Aqueduct is “a diamond, because here is this narrow, linear, green space filled with history… It’s this wonderful resource, and unfortunately a lot of our citizens in our communities have no clue.” In Ossining, however, many residents remember the history of the Croton Waterworks from field trips to the Aqueduct in Mr. O’s social studies class. According to Ossining policeman Scott Craven (the subject of Oral History 2), “One man made all the difference in the world to this community for knowing about the Aqueduct.” That man is Mr. O. (pictured during the filming of his oral history on the facing page) What follows is an extract from the oral history conducted on April 12, 2011, by Tatum Taylor at the Croton Free Library. More extensive videos and transcripts from the interview will be available on our website: http://crotonaqueduct.wordpress.com/. Hello, my name is Carl Oechsner. I am presently a resident of Croton involved in local history—actually, I like to refer to it as “backyard history.” I was a social studies teacher in the Ossining school system for forty years, and during that time, I worked with my seventh graders a lot on backyard history. One of the themes that I focused upon was the history of the NYC water supply system. People always ask me, “Well, how did you get interested in the water supply system, of all topics?” And I guess it goes back to my childhood because when I was born and raised in downtown Ossining, my father worked as the baker in the Sing-Sing Correctional Facility—then Sing-Sing Prison—and we lived right across the street. kind of started to come out. (...) When I was