2014-06-26 Effington Museum - Page 1

Here's where our tour began -- at this old farm house.  I was amazed how much the place looked like one my grandparents once owned down in Calera, Shelby County, Alabama.  You can view my grandparents old home at my genealogy website by Clicking Here.  Except for the rails on the porch below, the two homes were quite simliar.  I don't recall the mention of fireplaces on either end of the home but, like my grandparent's home, go through the door of this one and it led you back through a breezeway to the kitchen.


There was a quilt rack in the main living area as we entered the old home.


Along the wall was an old pump organ.  I used to own one similar to this one.


In the granny's bedroom, the curtains hung by a string from two empty thread spools.


A baby bed was screened to keep biting insects away.  Our guide had met the man who slept here when he was an infant.


An old doll.  My great-grandmother used to make these things.  Click Here to see one of hers at my genealogy website.


I've never seen one of these things in use but our dad used to shock us with the crank from one when we were kids.


An old hand-cranked washing machine.  Only rich folks could afford these.


Everyone could afford one of these.


I remember drinking water from one of these old pumps at my aunt's house.


Our guide said these dishes were sold at a local store.  Purchases were limited so that customers had to return and purchase each week to get the full set.


I remember warming myself by a fireplace like this while visiting many a relative.


Kitchens were sparsely furnished in the old days.


Our guide said they make a pot of soup and a pan of cornbread from this old wood stove every year to encourage participants.
I've enjoyed a meal or two cooked on a stove like this.

My wife's family had one at an old farm place.  They still used it during family reunions.  The iron hook sticking up beside the white,
enameled kettle is a cast iron lid lifter.  We would use this tool to lift the circular iron lids on the stove top to quickly add a piece of wood
or stir the fire inside.


No old time kitchen would be complete without a kindling box.  My son-in-law reminds me of a story by comedian Jerry Clower.
Jerry says when he was younger, women first began using pop-open, ready made, biscuit mix.  But women who made biscuites
the old-fashioned way, still mixed their own biscuits.  Really old-fashioned women made their own fire.  Really, really old-fashioned
girls, cut their own firewood and kindling.  Jerry said, "When you find biscuit dough on the axe handle, the honeymoon is over."


Nope!  Not another washing machine.  This is a fruit press.


And this is not a wishing well, it's just an old fashioned well.


I knew flour came in sacks but our guide told us this sugar sack came from a local sugar manufacturer.
Like as not, these sacks were retained after emptied.  My mom said, when she was young, their under garments
were made from flour sacks.


This thing to the left is a dasher for washing clothes.  Mother told me they simply boiled theirs and scrubbed the spots that wouldn't come out on a rub board.  She said that after boiling them in an iron pot with lye soap they dipped the hot clothes out with a broom handle and rinsed them in a wash tub.


If you've ever heard of someone being taken out behind the wood shed, this is what they were talking about.


The sign on this barn says it was built in the 1790s.  Notice how neat the hand-hewn logs are.


As we entered the smoke house, our guide said this wooden bowl was used for mixing meat for sausage.


Here's what some old sausages may have looked like while hanging in the smoke house.


Here's another view of the large wooden bowl.  It was nearly two feet long.  On the floor in the corner was a salt barrel for covering the meat with salt to dry it properly prior to smoking it.  The salt pulled most of the moisure from the meat.  The smoke dried it a bit more and added a smoke flavor.


Here are some of the buildings that were moved here and restored.


Notice the corners in the old 1790s barn.  I've never seen corners made this way before.


This odd looking metal tank was used for distilling pine sap to make turpentine.


These metal tanks were used for distilling something a little more drinkable than turpentine.
It was donated to the museum by the local sherrif who found it in the woods.


Our guide told us the old 1790s barn was built on the homestead first.  The family lived it in while building the house.


The blacksmith shop had lots of iron worker's tools.



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