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About the Header Image: Idlebrook Wendy Darling Evensen "Wendy" one of our four Labrador Retrievers.

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Sunday, November 28, 2010

Great Smoky Mountains Farm Museum

Good morning,

These images are of our return visit to the Great Smoky Mountains Farm Museum.  We have visited here before and have noted changes and improvements over the years.
This farm homestead consists of pioneer era buildings that have been brought here to be displayed with other buildings that were already on the site.
The "museum" is a teaching tool, too.  We have been here when there were children in period costumes, their teachers, and park rangers tending the fields, touring the home, and baking corn bread.

Tours are offered, but we enjoy walking through the homestead at our own pace to take pictures.  There are informative signs explaining the buildings, tools, and life style of the early inhabitants.

Corn was very important to the early settlers.

 
 This corn husker and other simple tools are on display.
 



I didn't realize I had them in any pictures, but the two men in the distance left of center in the picture had dinner at the next table from us in Cherokee the previous evening.  My Norwegian-born husband stopped to chat because he heard them speaking Swedish.  Shortly after I took this picture, they caught up with us as we walked through the farm and we chatted again.   It's a small world, isn't it?
 This is a Park Ranger guided tour. 

There are many farm vehicles and tools stored in the barn at the far end of the property...
...where it is guarded by Mr. Rooster who takes his job very seriously.
This is real government pork here at the National Park. 
 Two hams on the hoof...
 ...and such a pretty face.  Sorry, I couldn't help myself.
 This mountain stream supplied water for the farm.  There is also a spring with a spring house built around it on the property.
 This is the blacksmith shop.
 And here are images of the inside of the home.
 It was nicely furnished for the times.
 The organ is a beautiful antique.
 This is the wood shed with at least a little wood ready for the winter months.
 This little patch of weeds was between the steps to the cooking building.  The leaves to the left look like mint to me. Perhaps that mint has been returning for many years just outside the kitchen door.
 When we were here a few years ago a park ranger was making corn bread in a kettle at this fireplace.  A group of school children were having a grand time watching and surely consumed the finished product.
 The cook house was quite roomy to prepare meals for the main house.  Of course, the cook house was a distance from the main house as a precaution against fire.
Next to the cookhouse was the meat house...
 ...again there are plenty of teaching tools in the building.
 This brought us back around to the beginning of our tour.

There is a great deal of building going on near the parking area and it appears there will be even more educational opportunities here soon.

The US National Park system is a national treasure.  If you haven't explored it, be sure to put it on your list of things to do very soon.

Here is the link to the Farm Museum and Mingus Mill on the National Park web site.

We have been to Mingus Mill (my November 24 post) and here at the farm before.  We have other images of the park on line here:

March 30, 2005 - Mingus Mill in The Great Smoky Mountains near Cherokee, North Carolina

April 23 - 24, 2001 - The Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Enjoy,
Lois

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11 comments:

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Morning Lois, enjoyed the tour and glad you had a good day for being outdoors and touring the farm museum. I enjoyed the kitchen views.

Montanagirl said...

Wonderful post. My, how times have changed!

Marit Johanne said...

Thank you for one more great trip! I love to look around on museums like this. It is so interesting to learn about how life was and how people lived in earlier days.

Anonymous said...

Really enjoyed your post. I love old farms. I am glad however that I didn't live in those days. Lots of hard work working those farms. Love the old buildings built with the really wide thick pieces of lumber. Wouldn't mind having a few of them in my back yard!! ...debbie

Deere Driver said...

Just finished reading "A Walk In the Woods" by Bill Bryson on the plane home, and was reminiscing about our trips to the Smokies and Shenandoah. Your pictures are timely to my reading. We need to go back.
Thanks!

Karen said...

really informative post Lois and such great pictures! You have done such a good job we don't need to go now!! I wonder if they could employ you as tourist gatherer???

granny said...

I so enjoyed this post,the photo's were terrific Lois!
Thankyou :0)

Diana said...

I loved that organ Lois, a work of art really! We have a museum very similar to this just a couple of miles from my house called "The Pioneer Village". It's pretty fun to walk through. I enjoyed your photos!
Love Di ♥

Elaine said...

I always enjoy visiting these kind of museums. It's one thing to read about pioneer life but another to actually see the buildings and tools that people lived with.

River Glorious said...

Okay, my faves are the rocking chair and the organ. Sure wish I had some of my own! :)

Lois Evensen said...

Good morning,

We always enjoy visiting this Farm Museum and never tire of taking pictures there. Throughout this series of posts from the Smoky Mountains and Cherokee, NC, I just wish I could have shared the wonderful fresh aromas of the forest.

Thank you so much, everyone, for stopping by.

Very best,
Lois