10-18-07
Today we went to Rocky Mount Living History Museum, near the small town of Piney Flats TN.
It is on the National Register of Historic Places and was built circa 1772. There is a log house and several outbuildings including a kitchen building, weaving shed, barn, springhouse, blacksmith shop. And of course the outhouse!
The home was built by William Cobb and served as the territorial capitol of the Southwest Territory between 1790 and 1792.
Living history tours are given by costumed interpreters who speak as if they are living in 1791. The house was actually quite large for the time, and had two floors and glass windows. So it was well above average for the time. The main room of the house had a large quilting frame suspended from the ceiling. It took two men to lower the frame down by ropes when the women needed to quilt. The beds had goose down mattresses on a rope frame. The trundle beds for small children had straw mattresses; in case they wet the bed the straw could be changed. Mr and Mrs Cobb's bed had a beautiful woven bedspread; the weaver woman came to the house with her loom and it took her 50 hours to set up the loom for the intricate pattern and another 50 hours to make the spread.
Some of the furniture was reproductions but many pieces were real antiques. The main bedroom had a "potty chair" that the servants emptied. "Mrs Cobb" explained the daily routine of the house.
The kitchen was always in a separate building because of the danger of fire. The cook told us all about cooking on a hearth. She made bread once a week in a brick oven - sounded like quite a production. Dried herbs and vegetables were hanging from the ceiling rafters. The salt supply had to last for a whole year, but they only used it for making salt pork and sauerkraut. The winter menu was quite limited.
Cook said that she was lucky to have an iron swinging arm over the fire for her pots; most houses had only a wood beam which could (and did!) catch fire. More women of the time died from their clothes catching fire than from childbirth! She took us outside to see the garden -- they grew lambs ear and used it inside shoes to prevent blisters. They grew roses and used the dried rosehips for vitamin C if they got sick, also they grew Echinacea (purple coneflower). If they did get sick, the doctor was too far away to make house calls, so they relied on a book of cures and a medical kit. "Mrs Cobb" said that her sister was quite skilled at blood letting!
A teenaged girl was in the weaving shed - she demonstrated how she worked with flax to make linen, and how wool was carded and spun. Usually carding the wool was a job for the younger children. They also grew some cotton. The wool was dyed with onion skins and berries. Blue color was rare because the indigo had to be imported; so if you saw someone wearing blue you knew they were wealthy. The Cobbs were well off but even they did not often get indigo. Mr Cobb was a surveyor but also made money from distilling and selling "spirits".
The land never left the family until they sold it to the state for a museum.
Very interesting!
