In a contest to pick the most boring activities for children, is there anything that would lose to a tour of the architectural highlights of a house built by Frank Lloyd Wright? I mean, you really don’t think that 6-year-olds were glued to their television screens watching Ken Burns’ Wright documentary last fall, do you?
Before you answer, let’s follow guide Christine Hensel and six kids who spent a little under an hour exploring Wright’s most famous jewel, Fallingwater, perched atop a waterfall of Bear Run in the Laurel Highlands of southwestern Pennsylvania. This hardly humble abode was designed in 1936 as a retreat for Pittsburgh department store owner Edgar J. Kaufmann, his wife and son.
Hensel leads the group to a spot by the rushing waters of Bear Run.
“What do you see here that’s always moving?” she asks.
“Water,” we hear from young mouths.
“What do you see jutting out?” Hensel queries as we face the sandstone cliffs opposite the home.
“Rocks,” a 7-year-old girl answers.
“What do you see that is tall?”
“Trees.”
“Where’s the cave-like area? This one is tricky,” Hensel cautions.
Not too tricky for a 9-year-old who looks around and responds, “Under the rocks.”
“And why do you think this water is called Bear Run?”
“Because bears used to run in it?”
Hey, the average age here is 7!
Hensel answers that the rushing stream is named for the numerous black bears who live in the Pennsylvania woods, then leads the sextet throughout the house. After roughly a half hour indoors, the kids are given a six-page folder called “At Home in Nature,” with questions, exercises and games all relating to Fallingwater. One game features a photograph of the home’s exterior. The following words are listed in a column: “always moving,” “jutting out,” “tall,” “dark, cave like.” Kids are asked to draw lines from those words to the features of the house they describe.
And that is how children learn the way Frank Lloyd Wright incorporated the surrounding works of nature into this residence, which is poetry in sandstone, concrete, glass and rock.
At another point, the youngsters learn the meaning of the word “cantilever,” which describes the most prominent man-made feature of Fallingwater. One terrace that “juts out,” like the rock does from the surrounding cliffs seems to float above Bear Run. The kids are asked to try making themselves into cantilevers, sticking one arm straight out. They then attempt to make a cantilever with blocks and, through trial and error and more trial and more error and help from Hensel, they succeed. Perhaps a budding Frank Lloyd Wright is inspired.
There were no such inspirational moments for children until 1989 when this special children’s tour was developed. Sarah Beyer, Fallingwater curator of education, explained, “There has always been an age limit for tours since the house opened (to the public) in 1964. The regular tour frankly is not relevant for children. We talk about architectural concepts, which are hard for kids to understand and even hard for some adults to understand.”
It is that tour that could win in a landslide the boring competition for any normal 7-year-old. In the past those not old enough to take the regular tour were relegated to child care. But the staff knew that with an active approach and some detours from the standard tour, kids could enjoy this unusual house just as their parents do.
One difference from the regular tour is that the children’s tour spends more time outdoors. This includes taking in the famous view of the home from a spot facing the waterfall, something done for adult visitors only on lengthy specialty tours. Features likely to impress children such as the swimming pool, foot bath and fireplaces are emphasized. It’s no surprise to hear at least one kid in every group seems to remark how the house’s corners and its grounds are perfect for playing hide and seek.
Consider the welcoming fireplace in the all-purpose living room, a feature that opens the eyes of all visitors. It is made from a boulder the house is anchored into in lieu of an actual foundation. The open hearth is an ideal coming together of the works of both nature and man. Hensel asks the young visitors to compare the bumpy feel of the boulder to the corresponding but smoother and waxed floor nearby, and they eagerly comply.
However, other home furnishings are strictly off-limits to both little and big hands and bottoms. Youngsters today, used to interactive children’s museums, find it tempting to touch a lamp or sit on a cushiony chair. Hensel gently reminds her troops on more than one occasion that Fallingwater isn’t built from Legos.
Throughout the roughly 50-minute-long tour, Hensel never lets the kids’ minds wander to what Chucky and Tommy did on “Rugrats” yesterday. As we walk toward a concrete canopy constructed in folds, Hensel asks, “If you feel hot, what do you do with a piece of paper?”
When a child suggests that she folds it like a fan, Hensel follows up, “Does it make the paper weaker or stronger?” Then she shows the crew how Wright did basically the same thing with concrete that they do with an escapee from a loose-leaf notebook.
Hensel even addresses the diminutive bedrooms. “I bet you have a bigger bedroom in your house,” she says. “But if you are going to be spending your days fishing or camping, will you be spending time inside or outside?” So do you really need a big bedroom?”
Nah, not really.
The kids join their parents as both kids’ and adults’ tours are completed. And you can bet that as the family car exits Fallingwater and begins winding along the two-lane roads through the Pennsylvania woods, a child is explaining to her parents exactly what the word “cantilever” means.
IF YOU GO
GETTING THERE
Fallingwater is 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, near the town of Mill Run.
TOURS
The children’s tour at Fallingwater is by appointment only and costs $4 per child. Only children age 5 and above are permitted; no adults. All visitors should wear comfortable shoes. Standard tours are $8 per person Tuesday-Friday; $12 weekends and holidays. No one under age 6 is permitted on standard tours. A supervised child-care center is on the property; charge is $2 per child per hour. The season runs, Tuesday-Sunday, from May 16 through Nov. 30 and Christmas week. Fallingwater is closed Mondays.
NEARBY KIDS’ ACTIVITIES
Fort Necessity National Battlefield (724-329-5512) preserves the site of a French and Indian War skirmish. Hands-on activities for children there include craft-making.
Laurel Caverns (800-515-4150; 724-438-3003) includes 2.8 miles of underground passages.
Forty miles away is the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum (412-322-5059), with gallery topics ranging from street safety to puppet making.
LODGING
Somerset Country Inn (329 N. Center Ave., Somerset, Pa.; 814-443-1005) is a five-room Victorian inn with full breakfast and special children’s guest room; rooms are $50-$70, with the children’s room $50-$55.
Days Inn (Pennsylvania Highway 31, Donegal, Pa.; 724-593-7536) has doubles for $74-$79.
At exit 10 off the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Ramada Inn (215 Ramada Road, Somerset, Pa.; 814-443-4646) has doubles for $49-$84.
INFORMATION
Fallingwater, P.O. Box R, Mill Run, PA 15464; 724-329-8501; www.paconserve.org
Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau, 120 E. Main St., Ligonier, PA 15658; 800-925-7669; www.laurelhighlands.org.
