The Homeplace

Not our homeplace, but the homeplace that is a living history farm recalling work, play, and customs of a rural family between the Cumberland, and Tennessee rivers in the mid 19th century.

The people working the farm dress like they did back then, they run the farm the way they did back then, they have the same crops as they did back then, and the animals are the same as the ones they had back then.

Yes there is a difference in the crops of today and the crops back then, they didn't have the hybrid crops like we today, and the animals weren't bred and inbred so many times to produce more and more.

They had to make fences by using split rails.

This is the first time I heard of a Double Pen House, it has a hall in the middle with rooms on either side.

Here is their wood shed.

Notice how tall the cotton is, today's cotton has been bred to grow smaller so machines can pick it easier. Marcia is in High Cotton.

another shot of the Double Pen House.

I couldn't resist taking the picture of this cutie pie dressed for the occasion.

Today they were making "end of garden relish" they used everything that was ready/left in the garden to make this batch of relish.

The stove they cooked on.

Cover over the spring that provided their water.

The tool barn housed their tools and provided a place to work on things.

This youngster told me she was watching over things while the men folk went to town to get feed.

I have seen a lot of gords, but neve any with stems this long. What a handle they have.

Every farm had a place to keep their pigs. The pigs provided really good meat to chow down on.

This is their tobaco barn.

They hang the tobaco in the barn to allow it to dry.

The fence surrounding their garden.

Here is Marcia guarding the hen house.

This is what they used to hold the water for the animals.

They say this is the "duck house". Used as a place for the ducks to hang out.

Another house on the farm.

I think this is some kind of waeving machine.

These flowers are in a small fenced in area behind one of the houses. Not enough work to do on the farm so they grew these flowers.

This barn is used for the oxen.

Another shot of the barn.

These oxen are a rare breed, something like a milking short horn, they just looked like cows to me.


Here is one of the horses they use to plow the fields, and the barn where it spends its nights, and days off.

A shot of the barn.

This was/is called the garden crib, maybe they try to get the little ones to sleep in there while they work the garden? or maybe they keep the garden tools in there, I really don't know, but that is what the paper says it is.

I know a corn crib is used to keep the corn in after it has been harvested. That would be the corn they use as feed for the animals, not the corn they eat.

Here is a shot of their garden.


As we left the "Homeplace" we saw these "Tonkas", or buffalo, or Bison across the road in the "Bison Field".


I hope you enjoyed the pictures, it really is a neat place to visit but I wouldn't want to go back to that way of life....