Field Trips

Compass Inn Museum’s guided field trips are designed for students from grades K-12 and are aligned with Pennsylvania curriculum standards. We also welcome Boy Scout and Girl Scout Troops, daycare centers, homeschool students, and other youth groups.

A blacksmith demonstrating blacksmithing techniques to two children sitting on a wooden bench in a barn with an anvil, tools, and equipment in the background.
A woman presenting a plate of fried food to a group of children in a rustic room with wooden walls and a window.

Taking a field trip to the Ligonier Valley Historical Society’s Compass Inn Museum provides an opportunity to experience United States history through real objects, people and stories of the Ligonier Valley. Field trips engage the senses, bring curriculum concepts to life and inspire new questions. Students will learn what it was like to travel along the Pennsylvania turnpike in a Conestoga Wagon and stagecoach and experience daily life and occupations of the nineteenth century.

In addition to a tour of the historic Inn, the wagon barn which houses our 1830s-style stagecoach and restored Conestoga wagon, and playing with nineteenth-century toys and games, teachers and group leaders have the option to sign their students up for several hands-on activities.

These extra activities include Open-hearth Cooking, Tin Punch, Candle Dipping and a Blacksmith demonstration. See below for additional activity fees. Chaperones may participate in these activities.

  • The maximum number of students per school per day is 110. Field trips can last from 1.5 hours to 5 hours depending on the number of students and activities chosen. During the field trip, each activity station will be run by a museum staff member. Students are divided up into several small groups, and along with their designated chaperones they visit these stations in a round-robin fashion.

    Students will be divided into groups of 10-15 students, and docents will lead each group through the historic inn, outbuildings, and activities.

    There is ample outdoor space for eating lunch on the grounds, but you will need to provide blankets, trash bags, etc. All trash must be taken with you when you leave.

  • Base Field Trip Price

    • $4.50/student, $7.50/adult, Twenty (20) participants or more

    • $6.50/student, $9.50/adult, Fewer than twenty (20) and more than ten (10) participants

    Extra activities, $2.00 per student

    • Blacksmith demonstration

    • Tin punch

    • Candle-dipping

    • Cooking over the hearth

    A 25% deposit is required within 3 weeks of your reservation to hold your date.

    Final payments must be made on the day of the tour (unless paid in advance). We accept all major credit cards and checks. Chaperones may pay separately, but please keep in mind that we have one register and multiple individual transactions may cause a delay.

  • Reservations must be made at least two weeks in advance.

    A 25% deposit is due three weeks from the time of reservation. The remainder of the cost for a final number of students/chaperones is due the day of the field trip.

    School Tours are available May-October. May is a high-demand month, so be sure to book early to ensure the date you want. Contact Kacey Wees at 724-238-4983 or kwees@compassinn.org to inquire about a reservation.

  • If you need to cancel your field trip, please contact us as soon as possible. Cancellations made at least one month prior to the date of the field trip will receive a full (100%) refund.

    Cancellations made less than one month but at least two weeks prior will receive 50% refund. Any cancellations made less than two weeks before the field trip will receive no refund.

Inquire About A Field Trip