Designed so that 100 to 125 heterogeneously grouped 7th and 8th grade students and a team of 5 core teachers might experience and discover the natural and historical "treasure" in the Parker River area of Massachusetts, this interdisciplinary unit centers on a hike to Parker River (6.7 miles) and visits to a cemetery, a monument, and Old Town Hill. The unit is set up to provide activities for 11 days plus followup activities that can be completed during the rest of the school year. The unit's outline includes the following activities: in-class initiative tests (designed to develop cooperation, trust, and imagination via physical and verbal group activity and to provide practice in group decision making); map and compass reading; tree and plant identification; historical reading ("The River Parker Settlement"); laying a nature trail; treasure hunt and readings from "True Tales of Buried Treasure"; researching some activities taken from the activity list or bibliography; writing and performing scripts derived from the initiative tests; taking a "scouted route"; and the hiking activities (locating places, landmarks, vegetation, etc.). Science, social studies, math, art, and language arts followup activities are presented as well as a follow-up activities list (e.g., husk corn, make soap, make a quilt, etc.). Additionally, a number of research activities are provided and two grading procedures are suggested. This document also includes a student handbook for the unit, detailed descriptions of each initiative test, and affective and cognitive learning objectives for the unit. (JC)