"Carl's Lounge" (Off-Topic Discussion, Traditional Knife "Tales & Vignettes")

We took a field trip last week, and while it doesn't directly relate to knives I think the regulars on the porch would appreciate the experience. The Wisconsin Historical Society spent some time buying up buildings in the state that were built between 1860 and 1890 and preserving them. They ended up disassembling these buildings and moving them to a property they bought, where they recreated what Wisconsin would have looked like during that time frame. They call it Old World Wisconsin. I don't know if this type of thing is common in other areas, but it's a really cool place to go and learn about the history of the region. There are volunteers that dress in period correct dress and "run" the different establishments and farms. They've researched the origins of each building and can tell you all about the people that built them and lived in them. Each building or farm is set up for a particular year, so you might be in the early 1860s on one farm and the 1880s at the next farm. They use tools and equipment that would have been available in their assigned years, so one farm will have all of their tools made by a blacksmith whereas the next has access to the first factory made tools. It was a really cool experience that my kids loved. I wanted to share some pictures of it.

This picture is the men's room of the stage stop. This was an actual, working stage stop called. This is the room where the men would come in and congregate, like the lobby of a modern hotel.



The women had a separate entrance, and their own gathering area. See if you can spot the differences.



After the stage stop we stopped at the general store.



After that we stopped at the house of an Irish widow, who ran a laundry service to support herself and her three children. My kids learned about the 3 day process she had for washing clothes.







Next we went to the blacksmith shop, where she complained that the general store was starting to stock factory made shovels and nails.



After that we went to the cobbler's shop, where he taught us that a pair of shoes would cost $5 at a time when land was selling for $1 per acre. He was having trouble competing with the general store as well, as factory made shoes only cost $2. Here's a picture of his bench.



After this we were on to an 1860s farm, where the sheep had just been shorn and the rye had just been harvested. We got a lesson on how to turn the wool into usable fabric.



My son got a lesson on how to thresh grain.



We then got to grind his grain into flour.



And use that to make dough. We didn't stick around to bake it into bread, as we wanted to move on to other areas.



We did see the oven that it would be baked in, though.



After that we were to the 1880s farm, where a carpenter had his workshop in the barn. We learned about making shingles, and the kids each got to work on one using a drawknife.





I thought that the woven fence around the garden pretty cool.



We were there for 5 hours and got through about half of the place before they closed for the night. We'll definitely be heading back. On the way out I really got a kick out of their solution for keeping the gate closed. When you open the door the rock gets raised, which makes it act as a spring that keeps the gate closed.





It was a great day, with a lot of learning for all of us. We went through about double the amount of buildings I showed pictures for, but I tried to hit the highlights. I'm hoping that you all find this stuff as interesting as I did being there. Sorry for such a long post.
 
Thanks for sharing your photos, Cory. Looks like an interesting experience! I particularly like the gate; I bet that thing would slam closed pretty hard if you just let it go! :eek:
 
That looks like a fun and educational trip, Cory. Do you visit each part in "chronological" order? You really get a feel for how technology and society changes in small and big ways. It's great they are doing real research and presenting it in an in-depth way. :thumbup:

Reminds me of a visit to Colonial Williamsburg when I was a very little kid. I saw all the actors in the living history museum and thought to myself, "I'm glad my family doesn't live here. I wouldn't want to go to school in that one room schoolhouse, and not have a TV set, and wear those old-timey dresses for the tourists to come and stare at." :D
 
Unchained Melody. A song that I've heard a million times in my father's shop. From the now defunct oldies station playing on my father's ancient radio in his shop, to the song being played off Youtube/online radio and his own iPod his buddy gave him, through that old radio's speakers in my fathers shop. The speakers still work great, and they were ancient when he got them. I tell you what, that song has been covered by a few, but no one can touch the Righteous Brothers version. I grew up on the oldies, country western, bluegrass, jazz and the blues in my fathers shop, but I remember the oldies the most.

I saw a clip of a cover of this song, played by a native duo, one on a native flute, with the other on guitar. The guitarist was pretty good, but the flutist was amazing, he hit all of the right notes and power of the song. What an earworm for today, I downloaded it to my iTunes library, and have been playing that, along with Stranglehold by Uncle Ted (I must admit I heard it for the millionth time, while watching Ash Vs Evil Dead) on my iPhone.

I haven't listened to the local Baltimore rock station in a long time, that plays new rock. There used to be a classic rock station in the area, I don't know if they were bought out. There was an alt rock station out of DC that changed formats like socks. I'll stick with Pandora or Iheart radio.
 
Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad that somebody found this interesting.

The gate could slam hard, but you'd have to really be trying. It really was well thought out. It's not hung straight so the actual gate wants to swing open, which counteracts some of the weight of the stone. If you open it all the way it actually stays open on it's own. The whole affect makes the gate start off closing slowly and then picking up speed as it goes. The kids played with it for a couple of minutes and it only slammed closed once or twice in that time. Mostly it closed solidly, but not slamming. They had to get it to where it was just on the verge of staying open and closing and from that point if they nudged it closed it would pick up enough steam to get a good slam.

Rachel, it's not set up chronologically. It's set up how a town would have been set up in that time frame. There's a village area, where all the stores are as well as a couple houses of townfolk and a church (which I found out was the oldest church in Milwaukee before they moved it to this location). Outside of the village is the town hall and a bicycle shop where you could ride bikes made in the style of that period or roll hoops with sticks. Then, you can ride a tram out to the farms. There was a German section, where we spent much of our time, and within that section the farms were set up in chronological order so that you could walk down the road and go from the 1860s to the 1870s and finally the 1880s. On the other side of the road was a polish farm and there was a farm that belonged to freed slaves down a side road a bit. There was a completely separate area where the Scandinavian farms are that requires riding a separate tram. There are two Finnish farms, a Danish farm, two Norwegian farms, and a one-room schoolhouse. We basically just rode past those farms on the tram as time was running out by the time we made it over there. There are also small churches with replica graveyards in the countryside between the farm areas and the village.

The really cool thing is that all of these places are actively performing their duties. The farms grow grain and livestock. The blacksmith makes the tools that they use, as well as small pieces for the other exhibits. The cobbler was actually making shoes while we were there. The shingles that my kids worked on were going to be used to replace some shingles on the farmhouse that needed replacing.
 
Cory, thanks for sharing your family outing with us. I love stuff like that! Could we call it living history? Your pictures and captions give a better understanding of how our ancestors lived. I would never have imagined a three day process for washing clothes or the cost of shoes, wow! It's no wonder children were often barefoot. Who would spend the value of 5 acres of land for a pair of shoes that will be out-grown in a year? Places like those help us to appreciate what we have and how difficult life was for those who came before us.
Very enjoyable post thanks again, -James
 
r redden said:
Good stuff Cory really enjoyed the pictures thank you for posting sir. :thumbup:
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Agreed :thumbup: My folks used to take me and my sisters to places such as that and we loved it. The beds used during that time always caught my attention. Well, that, and the lack of air conditioning :D. I really enjoyed the read and the pictures.



Well, I've had some free time over the break to work on a knife display. I wanted one large enough to grow into, but my wife says it is to big.

To fix that I cut the one pictured below in half. I still have some work to do, but now I have two displays to work on.

I'll probably finish it up tomorrow.







 
Great idea for a display Brett.

Cory, that looks like a really cool place to visit. I love those types of attractions. Thanks for sharing.
 
Cory, that looks like an amazing place to visit. Thank you for taking the time to write about it. I sure enjoyed it, and it sounds like a lot of other folks did, too. :thumbup:
 
Thanks for the pics Cory, that looks like a very interesting and educational visit :) :thumbup:
 
r8shell said:
Can y'all believe it's 5777 already?

Have a sweet new year, everyone! :)
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joeradza said:
It's been two years since I joined BF. And, in that time, I've posted some, spent too much money on knives, met some great people, and generally had a good time. So, in appreciation on the Jewish New Year and my oldest son's birthday, I'm now golden. Thanks everyone.

Alan
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Rachel and Alan (and everyone else for that matter), I hope the year ahead is safe, productive, and prosperous!! :thumbup::thumbup:
5777, eh? I'll bet that explains the recent interest in GEC 77s here on The Porch. :rolleyes::D
Alan, congrats on going gold! :cool: What's the story behind your avatar? Looks like an interesting ride!


Cory, thanks for taking us along for a visit to Old World Wisconsin; looks like a fascinating, educational place! :thumbup:

- GT
 
Thanks GT. As to my avatar, I've been a photographer for too many years to count, with cars being one of my favorites. However, if you were able to look closely at this one it's actually a toy (about 18").
 
Cory that is really neat, my dad and step mom would love that kind of thing as well. Thanks for sharing!
 
Brett, I love it. Please show us some updated pictures when you get these finished. I can't wait to see them full of knives.

To everybody posting about my pictures, thank you so much for the kind words. I really hesitated to post them because I didn't know how much interest there would be in a field trip I took my kids on. I really appreciate you all letting me know that it wasn't a wasted post. Thank you.
 
Nice work Brett :thumbup:

I have just done a couple of rounds with the groaning monster that is my kitchen table, and I have to say that so far it's beating the heck out of me! :eek: :D
 
Jack Black said:
Nice work Brett :thumbup:

I have just done a couple of rounds with the groaning monster that is my kitchen table, and I have to say that so far it's beating the heck out of me! :eek: :D
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Pack 'em all up and send 'em to me! I can't bear to see you suffer!
 
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