ICC class offers walking guide to Paris to explore American Revolutionary history
A history class about the places in Paris, France, that are related to America’s Revolutionary War will be held at the Polk County campus of Isothermal Community College from 10 a.m. to noon beginning Wednesday, Aug. 1. The three-session course will be held on consecutive Wednesdays through Aug. 15.
“A Walking Guide Through Paris: Discovering American History” is a Powerpoint presentation that takes students along the streets of Paris to see such places as the home where Benjamin Franklin lived while negotiating French support for the American colonists’ War of Independence.  It will also show the grand building where 4,000 Parisians stood to mourn Franklin’s death years later. Students will discover where Thomas Jefferson bought many of the books that became the first volumes of America’s Library of Congress. They will also see the statue of George Washington astride his horse given to France by the women of the young United States in gratitude for French assistance during the war.
“I learned so much about our own history,” said one former student.“I don’t remember studying any of these interesting facts in school. My next trip to Paris, I’ll take the map we got in class and stop by a few locations that I learned about. The whole course was really enlightening.”
Taught by Mary Jo Padgett, the course is based on a book she acquired and studied while living in Paris. More than 23 locations around that city will be “visited,” places where treaties were signed, statues erected, parks created, streets named or plaques put on buildings – all relating to French involvement and support for the American Revolution.
Course and registration information are available at www.isothermal.edu/learnstuffpolk. Preregistration is recommended.
For more information, contact Padgett at 828-697-9557 or maryjo@maryjopadgett.com or Kate Barkschat, ICC Polk Center, at 828-894-3092  ext. 15 or kbarkschat@isothermal.edu.
– article submitted by Mary Jo Padgett