News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Cordell Hull Birthplace State Park will provide a taste of farming life in the 1870s during Hull’s Harvest Saturday.
The annual event is an immersive experience simulating farming and preparing for winter. Park Manager Monique Johnson said the event is meant to showcase what life would be like as an Upper Cumberland tenant farmer. Johnson said understanding the lives of the people who first established Cordell Hull helps citizens see how they shaped the community.
“For us we want you to understand Cordell Hull’s young life and what the young family did at it’s birthplace in the 1870s,” Johnson said. “So we want to kind of try to portray an accurate view of the life.”
Johnson said that living historians will be portraying accurate depictions of various chores around the farm for visitors. The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Johnson said that historians have done a great amount of research in order to give the most accurate depictions possible.
“Like the Open Hearth Cooking and the apple butter, they looked at recipes from the 1870s and are now trying to replicate those recipes,” Johnson said. “So we do try to use first-hand knowledge during that time period to re-create these items.”
Johnson said while many practices farmers would use are well documented, others are less so.
“Sometimes that research is not available and so something things we do kind of have to guess on or try to figure out on our own,” Johnson said. “We do our best to use that knowledge that was during that time period to re-create these things.”
Johnson said the event includes a smokehouse demonstration for visitors to see how the family would prepare their meat for winter. Johnson said historians will also be cooking bread using a clay oven, making soap, basket weaving, and other chores throughout the day.
