| 'Good old days' weren't so easy |
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| Written by JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN Sentinel County Editor | ||||
| Monday, 11 June 2012 09:05 | ||||
There were no washers and dryers - just wash tubs and clotheslines. There were no assembly lines to make furniture - just the tedious job of caning chairs. There was no store-bought sticks of butter - just churns to crank for up to 30 minutes to create the creamy spread. "The kids think it's great fun, and the grandparents are like, this was our chore," said Randy Brown, curator at the Wood County Historical Center, which hosted the annual Heritage Days this past weekend. Spectators were invited to try their hands at making soap, hand-dipping candles, sewing pin cushions, churning butter and making rope. Tate Zeigler, 3, Bloomdale, was trying to lasso a tree with the piece of rope he made. "I had to turn the thingy," he said, describing how he twisted the twine into rope. As he tied it around a tree trunk, he insisted it wasn't hard to make rope. "Nope," he said. Of course, some of the tasks were a little tougher than others. The soap making, candle dipping and blacksmithing all required fires. And some volunteers acted their parts, by dressing in period clothing. For the women, that meant nearly every inch of skin was covered by clothing. And unlike today's workplaces, there was no air conditioning as the temperatures approached 90 - just plenty of seats under shade trees.
Children were also given an opportunity to get up close and personal with some farm animals. Dan and Shelli Morlock brought a dairy cow and her 6-day-old calf. "They are just amazed at how big she is," Shelli Morlock said of the adult cow, weighing in at nearly 1,500 pounds. Some were equally surprised to find out the average dairy cow produces 10 gallons of milk a day. There were also several goats, including some babies roaming the site, nibbling on everything from books to red and white checkered tablecloths. And there were tiny chicks, who just started hatching last Wednesday. Children delicately held the chirping chicks in their hands. "Where do they go to the restroom?" one little girl asked Bonnie Taylor, who was watching the chicks. "They just go wherever," Taylor explained, as she placed the chick back in the pen. Heritage Days wasn't all chores. The two-day event featured an old-fashioned barn dance, hog roast, dulcimer music, chicken barbecue and a pie-eating contest. The mix of old-fashioned chores with good food and fun was intended to create a memorable weekend, according to Christie Weininger, director of the Wood County Historic Center. "I hope they think the museum was a wonderful place to visit. And I hope they learned something and had some fun," she said. |
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| Last Updated on Monday, 11 June 2012 09:26 |
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