American Pioneers The people in America’s history who traveled west to develop new areas and begin new towns and communities. Much like the Pilgrims, the pioneers settled on territory that had not been occupied previously by foreign or European people. However, the territory may have been lived on by native Americans.

Traveling by Covered Wagon During this time, there was no such things as cars or planes, and no railroads had yet been built to the west coast. Therefore, the pioneers traveled using covered wagons, pulled by horses or ox. It took many of the pioneers months to reach their destination. Because much of the land on the journey to the west was uninhabited, the pioneers had to bring all of their belongings with them, trade goods at trading posts along the way, or hunt and salvage food from the wild.

Hope Chests Because the pioneers had to travel light and only bring the really important items, each person traveling in the wagon was allowed one chest to pack all of their important stuff into. They were hopeful about their new lives ahead of them in the west, so these chests were called Hope Chests. They contained objects like clothing, toys, photographs, jewelry, and heirlooms. Many pioneers decorated and personalized their chests by carving into them and/or painting them. These decorations were usually the pioneer’s name, symbols that represented their personality or an event, and patterns.

Project For this project, you will use clay slabs to build a chest form that you will use carving and building techniques to decorate as if it were your hope chest. Rather than decorating your clay hope chest with meaningless drawings, think about symbols that represent who you are as an individual. You can carve your name just as the American pioneers did, or carve or build on objects that resemble your favorite foods, sports, activities, a portrait of your family or pets, or even a illustration of an important even in your life.