Learning & Service | June 2025

Congratulations on Completing Your Training!

June marked the final month of your Learning & Service experience, and what a remarkable journey it has been! Your training activities this month provided incredible opportunities to celebrate your personal leadership and initiative while making a lasting impact on Somerset County's historic sites. Through your dedication and enthusiasm, you've helped the Five Generals Houses to collectively increase the number of hours they are available to host visitors and expand their participation in off-site events where they can share the rich history of these important sites with the public. As you complete this transformative training program, we congratulate you on your achievements and wish you the very best of luck as you take your next step forward as an official Somerset County History Docent. Your commitment to preserving and sharing our local history will continue to inspire visitors and strengthen our community for years to come.

You've Excelled in Public Engagement

Your preparation and confidence during public events has been outstanding! You've consistently demonstrated your ability to set up effectively, engage visitors meaningfully, and manage activities with professionalism. If you've participated in Van Horne's innovative role-plays during training, you've experienced firsthand how this creative approach prepared you to interact confidently with visitors. Watch this video from new Somerset County History Docent, Mike Thomas, sharing his insights into what it means to be a volunteer at the Van Horne House.

Across all sites, your successful event participation shows that you're ready to represent your historic site with knowledge, enthusiasm, and skill.

Volunteer docent Mike Thomas, training with the Heritage Trail Association at the Van Horne House, shares his insights about what it’s like to be a volunteer at this site.

You've Embraced Leadership and Initiative

Your enthusiasm and willingness to take charge of projects has been remarkable across all sites. At Wallace House and Old Dutch Parsonage, you've proposed creative activities for engaging visitors during renovations—imagining an array of ideas from displaying reconstruction stages to developing historical art displays. Your empowerment has sparked exciting new developments, including at the Van Veghten House, where new Somerset County History Docents are helping to bring to life a new, innovative Revolutionary War Museum exhibit!.

Volunteer docent Douglas Sipos, training at the Wallace House and Old Dutch Parsonage, meets with interpretive resource specialist Paul Soltis in advance of his proposal to showcase the site’s preservation efforts.

You've Built Strong Communities Through Communication

Your commitment to transparent communication and community building has fostered exceptional team spirit across all sites. The personal touches you've added to emails and newsletters have made a real difference in creating connections. At the Abraham Staats House, you've been empowered to organize events and suggest meaningful improvements to tour scripts, event planning, and future initiatives. And you've celebrated each other in newsletters and at pizza parties, experiencing firsthand how these moments build community and make even challenging tasks more enjoyable.

Volunteer docents Marianne Sales and Becky Dinsmore, training at the Abraham Staats House, lead a visitor on a tour during Open House.

Stay Connected Through the Five Generals Houses Volunteer Directory

We invite you to share your contact details to be included in the Five Generals Houses Volunteer Directory—an optional resource designed to help you stay connected with your fellow cohort members. This directory serves as a valuable platform for exchanging ideas and questions, and for promoting opportunities for service across all Five Generals Houses. To protect everyone's privacy and ensure the directory remains a safe and trusted resource for all participants, it will be hosted on a password-protected webpage that should not be shared with anyone outside of our group. Access will be limited exclusively to site-based trainers and volunteer docents, creating a secure community space where you can continue to support one another and collaborate on future projects.