The day couldn't have been nicer weather, and I am the only one in the family that had been to the Plantation, and that was at least 30 years ago (ack!). To quote one of the brochures we picked up: "The Plantation is a 112 acre living history site located in the heart of beautiful Ridley Creek State Park. The museum authentically represents family life on a southeastern Pennsylvania farm between 1760 and 1790 - spanning the years leading up to the Revolution and through the early years of the Republic." The property has been a working farm for over 300 years, and is kept as authentic as possible. The volunteers who run it dress in period outfits, and do as much as they can to show visitors what farm life would have been like. The plantation has a website here.
One of the demonstrations being held today was some woodworking. The man seated on the left was using a clever foot vice contraption to pin a piece of wood down while he scraped it into shape with a two handed knife. He was shaving small pieces of logs into sizes that would fit into the wooden harrow on the ground in front of the men on the right. We all got to try it, and the seemingly crude tools worked very well.
We also got to see how the Egyptian-style counterbalance well worked. A bucket on a long pole would be lowered into the well to retrieve water. A heavy couterweight on the back end of the pole made it such that the pole absorbed the weight of the water and all you had to do was maneuver the bucket. Very cool. Here, mom gets Grace ready to haul a pair of buckets.
The main house was built in a number of sections over the years. The original section was a small house on the lower right. It was epxanded up and over to the left over the years as the family prospered and the extended family that lived here grew. It may not be as evident in the picture, but up close it was easy to see the horizontal and vertical join lines where the additions were added on.
The family would have had their own horses, cows, sheep, pigs, chickens and all manner of livestock. The kids were particularly impressed with the pigpen, and the three baby piglets. It did smell...strong.
Here a volunteer showing the gang the horse and some sheep. The horse was a rescue animal that had apparently been a front for a meth lab down in the city, and was slowly but surely being brought back to health.
And speaking of horses, no visit to RCSP is complete without a pony ride for Grace.
This is a gem of a park, with lots to do for everyone. The hiking trails are terrific, Grace loves the ponies, and now we know how interesting the Plantation is.
Dear Eric, I'd like to ask your permission to use one of your excellent photographs to illustrate an article on the Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation we have received for publication on the Literary and Cultural Heritage Map of Pennsylvania, operated by the non-profit Pennsylvania Center for the Book. Please contact me at acj2@psu.edu at your earliest convenience. Thank you for your time and consideration.
ReplyDeleteAlan Jalowitz, Editor