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Press Releases
March 20, 2000
DOH Web Site, WWW.KIDSDIGREED.COM, Honored
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Two children's interest web sites have honored the West Virginia Division of Highways (DOH) for creating a Web site dedicated to teaching children about archaeology in a fun and innovative manner.
"Kids Dig Reed" (www.kidsdigreed.com) is a site that originated out of a real archaeological dig in Hardy County. The dig is part of the WVDOH's mitigation plan for the building Corridor H in eastern West Virginia.
Yahooligans (www.yahooligans.com), a site designed to help children communicate safely on the Internet, named www.kidsdigreed.com its "hyper" site of the week for January 22. Each week, Yahoo reviews the sites registered at Yahooligans, and picks what they believe to be the best as the featured site.
In addition, Wicked4kids (www.wicked4kids.com), an Australian web site created to offer quality Internet services to young children, has named "Kids Dig Reed" as the "Link of the Month" for February. Each month the site chooses three outstanding children oriented web sites to honor.
According to Highway Commissioner Sam Beverage, the "Kids Dig Reed" web site was developed as part of the DOH public education program designed to teach children about archaeology and give them an understanding of historic preservation.
"The site offers a look at Reed Farmstead in Hardy County. Children learn about archaeology and how archaeologists work and reconstruct the lives of our ancestors of 150 years ago," Commissioner Beverage said. "Through a series of games, puzzles, and a virtual site tour, visitors are introduced to the families who lived on the farmstead and how they were able to make a living in the rugged uplands of eastern West Virginia."
"We believe it is important to teach our younger generation about the historical culture in West Virginia," the commissioner added. "This site offers children the opportunity to have fun while they experience history."
"The games on 'Kids Dig Reed' are designed to be learning tools," said Stephen Hinks, archaeology manager for Michael Baker Jr., Inc., the archaeological contractor at Reed Farmstead. "If we catch children's attention at a young age, they are more likely to continue their interests in archaeology."
The Reed Farmstead archaeological site is located east of Baker near the Lost River in the mountainous uplands of Hardy County. It contains the archaeological remains of a 19th century rural farmstead including the foundations of at least two log houses, a possible springhouse and barn and additional outbuildings.
In addition to "Kids Dig Reed", a Reed Farmstead archaeologist web site has been developed for a more mature audience (www.reedfarmstead.com).
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