Hagley Museum

"Nineteenth Century School Days" will be presented today from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Hagley Museum and Library, on the grounds of the old du Pont mills in Wilmington, Del. The program will be held in the Sunday School building. Since most of the children worked in the mills, Sunday was the only day to attend school. Interpreters will talk about those days and visitors can write with quill pens and read from old textbooks. Admission is $8 for adults, $6.50 for senior citizens and students, $3 for ages 6 to 14, free for children under 6. It includes admission to the museum, the du Pont mills, mansion and gardens.

Country Fest and Auction Start the day munching on warm, home-baked doughnuts, then learn to churn butter, watch demonstrations of milking, grain grinding and cider pressing, and browse craft displays at the sixth annual Country Fest and Auction on Saturday at Garrett County Fairgrounds in McHenry. Also, take horse-and-buggy rides and bid on Amish-made furniture and collectibles at a mid-morning auction. Children can watch videos, participate in a pedal tractor pull and meet animals up close at a petting zoo. At 1 p.m., approximately 20 hand-stitched full- and queen-size quilts will be auctioned along with smaller quilts and wall hangings.

Candlelight tour of houses of worship Celebrate heritage and holiday customs Tuesday at the 14th annual Candlelight Tour of Historic Houses of Worship in Frederick. Three centuries of American architecture and history provide the setting for the self-guided tour, which also includes entertainment and light refreshments. Worship sites featured are All Saints Episcopal Church, Asbury United Methodist Church, Beth Sholom Synagogue, Calvary United Methodist Church, Centennial Memorial United Methodist Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church, Evangelical Reformed Church, First Baptist Church, First Church of Christ, Scientist, Frederick Visitation Chapel, Frederick Church of the Brethren, Frederick Presbyterian Church, Grace United Church of Christ, Monocacy Moravian Christian Fellowship, St. John's Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Trinity Chapel.

Museum shoppingIf you can't get enough of all the treasures found in museum gift shops, then the Hagley Museum and Library in Delaware is where you'll want to be this weekend. Hagley's Festival of Museum Shopping will offer gifts of art, history, fine food, science, music and more as 25 shops converge at the festival. Among the institutions represented will be the American Christmas Museum, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Philadelphia Zoological Society and the Delaware Toy and Miniature Museum.

Variety show The Eichelberger Performing Arts Center is holding its seventh annual variety show Sunday. Local talent is on display at this friendly competition in Hanover, Pa. Singers, instrumentalists, dancers, magicians and ventriloquists have showcased their talent at the yearly event. The audience picks the winners through its applause. Eichelberger Performing Arts Center features bluegrass, classic country and jazz, as well as family theater events. The show takes place at 3 p.m. Sunday at Eichelberger Performing Arts Center, 195 Stock St., Hanover, Pa. Tickets are $15; $10 for ages 12 and younger.

Wildfowl artYou'll swear it's the real thing when the best wildfowl carvings in the world are presented in the Ward World Carving Championship in Ocean City this weekend. See competitors enter their pieces in novice, intermediate, open and world categories. And learn who wins the "Best in the World" honor, awarded to artwork that assuredly is about to fly off the table.If you're a bird-watcher you'll want to take part in the Delmarva Birding Weekend as well, taking place in conjunction with the World Carving Competition.

Child labor reformA picture is worth a thousand words, so learn a little bit of history through the photographs at the Hagley Museum's exhibition titled "Let Children Be Children: Lewis Wickes Hine's Crusade Against Child Labor." The exhibit will run from Saturday through Aug. 23 in the museum's Henry Clay Mill Gallery. The photographs were part of a project sponsored by the National Child Labor Committee in 1906 to document the harsh working conditions of children in this country.The Hagley Museum is on Route 141 in Wilmington, Del. The exhibit is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission for the exhibit is $4 for adults; $2 for children ages 6-14 and free for children under 6. Admission to the 235-acre museum is $9.75 for adults; $7.50 for students and seniors; $3.50 children ages 6-14 and free for children under 6 years of age. For more information, call 302-658-2400 or visit Hagley's Web site at http:/www.

When the young French chemist Eleuthere Irenee du Pont de Nemours arrived in America on the first day of the last century, he was merely fleeing the revolution that toppled the monarchy in his native land. But after things cooled off for his family's royal pals back home, E.I. du Pont decided to stay and start his own empire here.That kingdom still exists to an extent today. It's called Delaware.The bucolic region along the Brandywine River where generations of du Ponts have worked and played is now America's chateau country -- a scaled-down version of France's Valley of the Kings.

OysterFestCelebrate the historical, commercial and culinary lure of the oyster at the 11th annual OysterFest Saturday at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels. Throughout the day, watch as watermen demonstrate traditional oyster tonging techniques or nippering for oysters. There will be working skipjack captains, lighthouse keepers, clammers and engine repairmen on hand to discuss how they make a living on the bay. And don't miss the oyster-shell skipping contests, shucking demonstrations and the Oyster Soup Cook-Off.