Article & photos by Nancy Brannon
On October 12, 2013, Ames Plantation, near Grand Junction, TN, opened its Heritage Village to the public for the sixteenth annual Heritage Festival. The Heritage Village is a collection of restored structures representing the area’s architectural heritage from around 1820 until the early 20th century. The Village includes a typical 19th century family farmstead, the 1830’s Stencil House, a one-room schoolhouse from the early 1900’s, a replica brick kiln, and the “Cotton Interpretative Center” housed in a restored log cabin. On Festival day, the site comes alive with hundreds of folk and crafts artists and demonstrators; Civil War re-enactors demonstrating firing a cannon; and musicians, representing a variety of bluegrass tunes in the “Mule Barn” and groups of dulcimer players – both hammered and Appalachian mountain (lap) dulcimer – playing old time music on the cabin front porch.
Festival visitors could pick their own greens from the greens patch; see how cotton is grown – from seed to fabric; watch Alpaca wool being spun into yarn; see how corn straw brooms are made; learn about the fall ritual of hog killin’ to provide meat for the winter; try out a bowed psaltry made by the Amsdens; see farrier Harold Elder trimming and shoeing horses; learn about logging with draft horses from Alan Smith and Jeff Ferge, and meet Kroger and Big Star; see a “horseless carriage” and old tractors; take a ride around the plantation in a wagon pulled by mules Mable and Belle. And, of course, barbeque, funnel cakes, and kettle corn were some of the food staples at the Festival, along with good ole country white beans and cornbread. It’s enough to make your mouth water just thinkin’ about it! There were a multitude of crafts booths, with everything from metal working and wood working to beaten designs on cloth to pottery, painted gourds, musical instruments – too many to name!
We can’t bring you the smells or sounds, but here are a few photos of this year’s Heritage Festival.
On October 12, 2013, Ames Plantation, near Grand Junction, TN, opened its Heritage Village to the public for the sixteenth annual Heritage Festival. The Heritage Village is a collection of restored structures representing the area’s architectural heritage from around 1820 until the early 20th century. The Village includes a typical 19th century family farmstead, the 1830’s Stencil House, a one-room schoolhouse from the early 1900’s, a replica brick kiln, and the “Cotton Interpretative Center” housed in a restored log cabin. On Festival day, the site comes alive with hundreds of folk and crafts artists and demonstrators; Civil War re-enactors demonstrating firing a cannon; and musicians, representing a variety of bluegrass tunes in the “Mule Barn” and groups of dulcimer players – both hammered and Appalachian mountain (lap) dulcimer – playing old time music on the cabin front porch.
Festival visitors could pick their own greens from the greens patch; see how cotton is grown – from seed to fabric; watch Alpaca wool being spun into yarn; see how corn straw brooms are made; learn about the fall ritual of hog killin’ to provide meat for the winter; try out a bowed psaltry made by the Amsdens; see farrier Harold Elder trimming and shoeing horses; learn about logging with draft horses from Alan Smith and Jeff Ferge, and meet Kroger and Big Star; see a “horseless carriage” and old tractors; take a ride around the plantation in a wagon pulled by mules Mable and Belle. And, of course, barbeque, funnel cakes, and kettle corn were some of the food staples at the Festival, along with good ole country white beans and cornbread. It’s enough to make your mouth water just thinkin’ about it! There were a multitude of crafts booths, with everything from metal working and wood working to beaten designs on cloth to pottery, painted gourds, musical instruments – too many to name!
We can’t bring you the smells or sounds, but here are a few photos of this year’s Heritage Festival.
