Anne Chancey Dalton - Author, Character Interpreter

ALABAMA SCHOOL VISITS
School visits can be adapted to meet your time and content needs.

Adventures of Alabama’s First French Family
Based on Simon Sails to La Louisiane and Massacre Island

Grades: K-1 Time: 20 minutes

Grades: 2-3 Time: 30 minutes

Madeline LaSalle gives a first hand account of her family’s adventures as they sail from France to Massacre Island (present-day Dauphin Island, AL) in 1701. Her three sons are typical brothers, so they don’t always get along. She lets students see and touch artifacts as she tells about life aboard ship and on Massacre Island. They feel her fear when pirates try to capture the ship! But they also share her joy when the colonists celebrate Christmas in Pensacola. Madame LaSalle tells how the Spanish at Pensacola, the French at La Mobile, and the Native Americans help each other.

“I liked the roach dance!” Student, Robertsdale Elementary School, Robertsdale, AL

Grades: 4-8 Time: 60 min.
(includes questions/answers on history and writing)

Madeline LaSalle tells about her family’s adventures and lets students see and touch artifacts. She vividly describes hair-raising experiences of a teenage cabin boy who lived in Indian villages (gore appropriate for age levels). She explains how the Mobilian Indians taught their children to be brave. Her son, Nicolas learns about Indian burial customs in a Mobilian village, and develops respect for bone-pickers. See: Lesson Plans

Trials and Triumphs of a Cassette Girl

Grades: 9-12 Time: 60 min.
(includes questions/answers on history and writing)

Marie Boisrenaud shows artifacts as she recounts the dangerous voyage of French girls to La Mobile. Each soon-to-be bride had her dowry in a small trunk called a cassette. Independent and strong-willed Marie didn’t approve of the way Commandant Bienville ran the colony. When she sided with colonists against him, he prevented her marriage to the man she loved. Battle lines were drawn, and Marie tells sad and funny tales about life in the wilderness—colonists battling Indians, disease, and each other.

“Mrs. Dalton’s presentations were interesting, because she told them from the point of view of someone from that time.”
Student, W.P. Davidson High School, Mobile, AL

“I liked Mrs. Dalton’s enthusiasm!”
Student, W.P. Davidson High School, Mobile, AL

Lesson Plans

Web View	Microsoft Word
Using Primary Sources--Massacre Island	Using Primary Sources--Massacre Island
My Journal	My Journal
Learning to be Courageous	Learning to be Courageous
French on the Gulf Coast	French on the Gulf Coast
The Salon	The Salon

See: Workshops!
Teacher workshops can be adapted into presentations for students.

Dream Ghost Presentations

A Bad Dream, a Ball of light, and a Burglary
Grades 4-8: 45 minutes
Based on Dream Ghost
Lucy Bell makes the 1850s town of Cahaba, Alabama come to life as she tells of her adventures with Daniel Seer. After a bad dream his first night in Bell Hotel is followed by a burglary that seems to connect with his dream, Daniel becomes a private eye and sets out to solve the burglary case. He uses logic, persistence, and determination like his hero, Allan Pinkerton. Friends join in the adventure to help solve the crime. His enslaved friends, George and Jordan Hatcher also help. Years later, after slaves are freed, Jordan and George become leading citizens in the town.
Mrs. Dalton’s presentation can also include a 10-15 minute segment on descriptive writing in which she seeks to inspire students to become writers.

A Southern Belle and Shootouts

Anne in antebellum dress Grades 9-12: 45 minutes
Based on true information from Dream Ghost
Lucy Bell, one of the prettiest girls in Cahaba, Alabama, fell in love with William Quarles, a handsome and wealthy young man. Envied by all the young people in town, they were married the day before Lucy’s 17th birthday. Their love and happiness began to turn sour during their first year of marriage and one bad choice followed another until the whole town was involved in their lives. Why was a body dug up in the middle of the night and moved? What brought on the shootout between Lucy’s brother and William? And finally, what caused the big shootout between Lucy’s father and two brothers and three leading citizens of Cahaba? Did Lucy and William live happily-ever-after?

Anne leads a tour of

Old Cahaba the setting for Dream Ghost.