Zoar Village

September found us taking a field trip to Zoar Village for their Civil War Days.  I had fun, but I was told later by Ruth, "Ma, I'm sorry, but I didn't really care for Zoar.  Or learning about the Civil War."  Field trip bust.  

The cheesehouse

Jadah impersonating a milk maid

The spring house.  You can see the chutes where cold water would have poured in to keep the tins of milk cold until it was ready to be used.

These guys were amazing!  I could have listened to them all day.  They hadn't played together until the day we saw them.  How amazing is that?  They just picked up and went along as they went.  

Our crew sitting down to listen

Harriet Tubman told us of her adventures.  She was an amazingly engaging story teller.

Grace tried out the hoop game

Ruth discussed weaving with the woman who showed us the different kinds of looms she had

Dying of wool

This woman demonstrated period clothing.  Her daughter played with the hoops which was just adorable.

Grace tried on a bonnet

And made me do it, too

Ruth tried this wrap on.  It has a name, that for the life of me I cannot recall it.  Basically, it kept the torso warm, while enabling the wearer to have the arms free for manual labor.

Ruth helps Gracie dress

This soldier was the highlight for the boys.  He told great stories, was very open to chatting about life as a soldier and best of all....

He let the kids play with his sword.  What was he thinking??

Ruth tries her hand at some latchhook

So does Grace

This man told us stories of the life of a free black man in the north before and during the Civil War.

We saw the cavalry go through their paces.  It took this group of guys 2 years to train their horses to go through the exercises.  This is the same length of time it took during the 1800's.

Mock battle

We stayed long after the shops closed, because this wonderful man took Ruth aside to show her wood working tools and let her try her hand at carving out a spoon.  Time did not permit her to finish, but she got a good idea of how it was done.

Here he lets her use his pocket knife to smooth out some rough spots.