TOUR AMERICA, 2021: MISTY MOUNTAIN CAMP RESORT, GREENWOOD, VIRGINIA

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Temperature Low, 42 Degrees; High, 83 Degrees

Get Lost In The Past

We awoke to yet another beautiful day. Cool but comfortable with the promise of higher temperatures very shortly. The sky was clear blue and the sun was shining bright. Oh yes, this was going to be another great day.

Today we were going sightseeing. More to the point we were going to

Up the entrance road into the parking lot and on to

the entrance to the museum. The Frontier Culture Museum is an outdoor living history museum that tells the story of thousands of people who came to colonial America and of the life they created here for themselves and their descendants.

The Museum operates on about 200 acres with 11 major exhibits. The path that connects all these exhibits is over two miles long and winds over hill and dale. Well, given the state of our knees we decided rather than try to try walk we would instead

take advantage of one of the the golf carts they have for rental. All I can say, we are sure glad we made the decision to rent one. It made for a much more enjoyable day.

Each week they have a special event or exhibit. This week they were doing sheep sheering.

These ladies were doing it the old fashioned way – using hand shears. At the rate they were going I would imagine it would be a very long time before they were finished. I was amazed, though, at how docile the sheep being sheared was. It never put up a fight nor tried to break free. I guess it was really anxious to get rid of its wool coat especially since the weather was beginning to warm up.

Back to the exhibits, the first one you come to is

the 18th century village of the Igbo people of West Africa. We were told by the interpreter that 40% of the slaves in early America came from this one tribe on the Atlantic coast of Africa – a poignant reminder that not every one came to America voluntarily.

This is the furnace for the village blacksmith.

This hoe was one of the items he would make. It was a large iron disc attached to a wooden handle. It was used by the men of the village to dig up yams. The women used smaller but similar hoes. Yams were a cash crop in West Africa and some could weight up to ten pounds.

This is the kitchen area. The wood standing upright was stacked around the center fire pit until it dried and then it was used as fuel and replaced with other limbs that were green. Once they were dried they were used as fuel and the cycle continued.

This was a common area in which meals were taken, baskets were made, and other necessary household items were also made.

The men in the village had multiple wives. The number of wives a man had depended on his wealth and status. This would have been the hut for one of them. She would live here with her children until they reached puberty. Then the boys would go to live with their father, and the girls would end up getting married.

There used to be three other huts out here but winter weather destroyed them. One hut would have been for the husband. They will be rebuilt this summer.

From West Africa to England

This English farm house was built in England’s West Midlands.

By 1700 ,over 250,000 individuals, most of whom were born in England lived in the colonies. Virginia was England’s first north American colony, and as many as 120,000 English migrants arrived here in the 1600’s.

A typical hearth for cooking.

In the left of this picture you will notice two kegs. Home brewing was common in the English household since beer instead of water was often served at meal time; the safety of water was often in question. Now, let me think maybe I can convince my DW that our water isn’t safe either!

A typical bed of that era. The mattress was often stuffed with hay or down, and suspended in the bed frame with rope or web straps.

From England to Ireland.

This two room house was made of native Irish sandstone and covered in whitewash. It had a typical thatched roof.

The migration of Irish Protestants from Ulster, Ireland’s northern most province, to the American colonies began in 1718. By the American Revolution, more than 100,000 Ulster immigrants had arrived in America. Education and religion were important to these settlers and they established schools, academies and Presbyterian churches in the places they settled.

It was a women’s job to spin flax into thread but a man’s job to weave it into linen.

We have a lot more exhibits to cover but we’re going to end here tonight. We’ll continue our tour of the Museum tomorrow.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement. It was a beautiful day from start to finish and we had a great time together touring the Museum. As always our day was spent just traveling along, side by side, singing our song. What a life we live it is the best that can be. Hope yours is also.

Thanks for taking the time to read our blog.  We always appreciate your company, your comments, and your suggestions. Keep safe, keep healthy, live to the fullest the days that God gives you.

These are the voyages of  Elvira and her two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before.

See you on down the road!