Passion for the Past: Pioneer Day at Waterloo Farm & Cabin

If you know me at all, you know I love fall~

All the beauty of the season plus the (mostly joyful) activities adds up to making this my most favorite and active time of year.

oooo-----oooo

Here 'tis!
A Chad Baird picture

Pioneer Day at Historic Waterloo Farm Museum is always a cause for celebration, and there are literally a few thousand modern visitors who agree and came out to celebrate with us and to learn about American life from days long past.

A few days before the event, the weathermen (and women) said it would be a fairly wet weekend, with off & on showers and a sky filled with clouds.

Well, it turned out to be mostly sunny with a fall nip in the air - perfect autumn weather - and filled with good times!

Pioneer Day is a mixing bowl: part craft show, part historical timeline, part entertainment...and I am proud to play a part. In fact, most of my cabin cohorts came out once again to celebrate and experience this 61st annual fall event commemorating the many different pioneers who helped make up the earlier days of these United States.

And so, after 61 years, Pioneer Day at Waterloo continues...

We, in the cabin, were encircled by so much celebratory activity.
The entire Waterloo site was packed with so many vendors, reenactors, musicians,
and crafts people.

Inside the log home...

most of us who "live our research" at the cabin numerous times throughout the year were here to teach and demonstrate to the visiting public what we have learned and of life during colonial times.

Jackie & Charlotte worked hard at putting together and cooking on the hearth a fine meal. Oh, and speaking to very interested visitors.

Getting the fire in the hearth going is not always an easy task.

I brought along my flax processing tools including a flax break, scutching board, hackle, and comb...and flax, too!
Also I did an heirloom apple display - showing the popular apples through time from
the early Roxbury Russet (from the 1600s) through the Macintosh through the contemporary Honey Crisp (and a few other varieties along the way).

Interest in both the flax and the apples was very high.

It was great explaining how flax becomes a textile - linen. And it was with my tools that I was able to show how flax was processed in the 18th century: from planting to caring for to harvesting to de-seeding to retting to drying to the flax break to the scutching board to the hackle, and then have my wife or a hired girl spin it into linen thread. Then it could be dyed to whatever color she could by using whatever nature was on hand (dyes came from such things around the area as black walnuts, marigold pedals, woad, madder root, indigo, or maybe even imported cochineal beetles, for some examples). If I was an actual 18th century farmer, I would have acres of flax growing, and this process of processing would take many months. But once it was complete, the linen thread could then be sent off to the weaver who would then weave it on his loom into fabric, of which could be made into a towel or perhaps sewn into garments such as new breeches or a shirt. Or maybe even into a pillow case.

On the left we have a linen towel spun on an 18th century loom. No, it was not made from
my flax, but it was made in the same manner and style of 250 years ago.
On the right you see a candle - no big deal until you learn that the wicking is actually from linen thread made from flax seeds that we planted, cared for, harvested, combed, retted, dried, broke on the flax break, scutched on the scutching board, hackled, and then spun by my living history friend, Rebecca. It was then dipped in pure raw beeswax I acquired from a beekeeper friend. By the way, each step of the process was done while wearing 18th century clothing. And to add to that, the candle holder it is in is an actual antique from 1757! Yes, I am quite proud of that! In fact, someone asked me not too long ago about purchasing this candle. I told him "$50." He scoffed and replied, "Fifty buck for a candle?" And I said, "For what it took me to make this candle, even that price is too cheap!" Yeah...I probably wouldn't even sell it for that price!

Many 18th century farmers made & used tallow candles, which were made from animal fat, but to do that I would have to burn the candle soon after making it for the fat would begin to rot quickly, and the smell would not be pleasant. I wanted to have a candle with linen wicking to show the public, hence the beeswax.

My wife, Patty, has reenacted with me for twenty years. Of late, though, she doesn't come out nearly as much as she used to. Except, that is, when we're at Waterloo Cabin. She very much enjoys the atmosphere there and, of course, our living history experiences. It's here she can sow and plant, weed, harvest, spin, knit, and cook, if she so desires. All the things she loves to do, and in a traditional way! Oh! She may not come out each and every time, but she comes out multiple times a year, and she much prefers this to the more typical tenting reenactments we've done for so many years.

My wife began her day doing what she loves to do so much: being in the garden.
It was a rough year for the Waterloo Cabin garden due to the inability to make it out
very often to weed.
We did get a few turnips, however.
My wife & son were out harvesting what they could.

Here are a few of the turnips.
I was hoping for larger ones so I could
carve them for Hallowe'en.
Maybe next year.

While a few of us were inside the cabin, Patty found a sunny spot right outside the door where she could show off her 18th century skill - spinning on a spinning wheel.

And spinning wool into yarn...

She does enjoy speaking to the many interested visitors. One mentioned that it looked relaxing, and Patty agreed. Sometimes if she has trouble sleeping, she'll spin on her wheel a while, which will get her in the right mode.

But we were not the only reenactors/living historians on this day:

For this photo, everyone did a different portrayal for the time era of the firearms

that were on display:

Brian, on the left, is dressed as 17th century (1620-1640s)

Jim, in the center, is dressed 18th century (1770-1780s)

and Darrel, on the right, is also 18th century (1750-1760s)

Susan & Brian and Darrel.

Fire arms of the frontier 1600 to 1790

There is so much going on here that it would take a good part
of the day to see everything, though I do take time to walk
around to get an overview.

Susan Dewey, Brian's wife, is a tribal member of the
Sault Ste. Marie band of Chippewas, and her demonstration
was as a native woman of the mid-18th century (1750-1770s),
cooking native foods, such as a sweet pumpkin in the ground
with hot rocks, made a wild rice, pumpkin, and venison
with cedar stew. She made her own acorn flour to make a
bread biscuit, topped with cooked down berries for a topping.

Patty makes pumpkin pie with real pumpkin.

I would be interested in trying a pumpkin Sue cooked this way sometime.

Visitors certainly got a real food history lesson at Waterloo, between Sue's

cooking with the rocks and our ladies in the cabin cooking in the hearth!

Tony & my son, Robbie, both who make up a part of the
1st Pennsylvania Revolutionary War unit.

As much as I am a Patriot and believe in their cause,
when these 1st Pennsylvania soldiers attempted to
requisition our apple pie there on the window sill,
we offered up a sound and solid "No!"

Dr. Bloodsworth was there, only for this event he was
a children's toy salesman.

My friends who reenact the American Civil War.

Revolutionary War and Civil War mixing and mingling.
Picture taken by Chad Baird

A neat little historical story to tell:

back in early August I was visiting my very favorite historical homestead, the mid-18th century Daggett Farm inside Greenfield Village, and I noticed something I hadn't seen before...a real, period-correct corn-husk broom!

So I snapped a couple shots:

To the left is the broom & handle, and on the right is a close up of the broom
inside the Daggett House.

Charlotte saw the pictures, went and investigated it herself, and below is the outcome:

Now compare Charlotte's broom, here, with the one
at the Daggett House.
She sure did a great job!

She did an awesome job and so many visitors inquired about it!

Patty wanted to try Charlotte's "Daggett" broom out
- it worked well!

Charlotte donated the broom to Waterloo Cabin.

A linen towel made from flax and Charlotte's "Daggett" broom~

Ever have porkchops cooked on a hearth?

Enjoying food prepared on the open hearth can be one of the many bonuses of being a living historian.

For our dinner meal on Pioneer Day we had pork chops (from our slaughtered pigs) with cooked apples (from our orchard), beets (from our garden), molasses bread (from our wheat and our bartering for the molasses) and butter (from our cows - churned by Jackie and Charlotte), and sweet potatoes (from the market).

And to drink? Why, cider from our orchard, of course!

SO good!

My son joined us for dinner - -
it was a nice fall gathering of friends and family.

And, for dessert - - - -

...a homemade apple (Macintosh) pie made by my wife.
It was sitting on the window sill and I heard multiple visitors exclaim (from outside), "Look! A pie!" And then they would come in and inquire about it, often asking
if they could have some (sorry!) or commenting that if it goes missing...lol

Apple pie is my favorite.
My mother taught my wife how to make a pie,
so now I still get mom's pie!
And there's Jackie's small hand butter churn, a few heirloom apples,
cheese, and molasses bread - a veritable feast of 18th century food.

Here are other things going on around the farm on this day - - -

There was music - traditional music of the acoustic variety:

Five fiddlers, a guitarist, and a box drum makes for wonderful music.

I've seen the excellent Bourbon County Minstrels for many years,
and they are about as old-timey and traditional as it comes - great group!

There were plenty of other musicians about but I was very busy with the flax & apples and didn't get the chance to hear them all.

There was also sheep shearing.

Thank you, Chad Baird, for a great photo!

Michigan in the Civil War.

Corn shucking.

Cider making~
Photo courtesy of Chad Baird

Blacksmithing

Michigan knows how to celebrate fall. I think the autumn season, with all the apple orchards and cider mills around, is a two month long holiday!

Is your house ready for the season?

The popularity of Fall décor is growing, whether for city or country houses.

Quilters - my wife purchased one this year.

Historic carriages - love these!

Me and Steve Opp.

Speaking of historic carriages - lol - Steve, a former Firestone Farm farmer (who left Greenfield Village a number of years ago), gave a surprise visit! Steve is a super guy who was a mainstay at the 1880s Firestone Farm. He is also an equestrian and cares for a number of horses, a few of which he hooks up to a cart or carriage to give rides to visitors. In fact, that's what he was doing at Waterloo!

You may recall seeing in earlier Passion For The Past posts a few photos of me plowing behind a team of horses...well, that was Steve teaching me! Showing me the ropes, so to speak.

It was odd, for I would see him dressed in 1880s clothing while at Firestone, and now it's sorta like the shoe is on the other foot, only my clothing goes back to a bit over a hundred years earlier.

Steve wasn't the only visitor I knew that stopped in: Beth Turza and Ken Collier, two reenactor friends I've also known for a while, also came by!

Michigan tends to treat Autumn almost as a holiday - a most special time of the year - and folks come out in droves to celebrate, whether they venture off to the many hundreds of cider mills for cider and doughnuts, apple orchards to pick apples, pumpkin farms for pumpkins, special craft shows mixed with history and everything else mentioned as Waterloo Farm has, or perhaps to even hit a few farmer vegetable stands on rural roads, to gather fall décor for their own homes, as well as fresh vegetables and fruits. And I am so glad to be a part of it. In fact, the living historians I am with all seem to agree that Pioneer Day at Waterloo Farm is one of our best days/events of the year!

Yep---celebrating the autumn harvest!

Until next time, see you in time.

Besides my own pictures, others who contributed a few of their snaps for today's post are Chad Baird, Charlotte Bauer, Brian Dewey, and Arlene Kaiser.

Thank you all!

..............

Here are my many posts (with links) of my Autumn celebrations past, showing the variety of ways I have and continue to commemorate harvest past traditions:

Let's begin with my blog postings with the Fall Harvest / Fall Flavors Weekends the way Greenfield Village used to be (sadly, I use the verb used, because the celebration is now only a shell of its former self).

Greenfield Village's harvest events began way before my blog of 2012, (I began attending in the 1980s) - I just never wrote blog posts about it until more recently:

2017 - I have Flavors/Harvest pictures, I just did not write a blog about it for some odd reason

2018

2019

2020 was the beginning of the end; they had small doses of harvest/flavors, but the end was in sight.