The springhouse pictured here was moved from Cataloochee, N. C.

The springhouse provided not only a reliable water source but also helped preserve perishable goods such as butter, eggs and milk.

Here are the tools for wash day: tin washtubs, a washboard, fire for heating the water, paddle and bench for pounding.

Sarah demonstrates using the washboard.

Here is Sarah preparing the board with lye soap.

Wring it out!

A significant amount of time was devoted to washing, mending, ironing, and sewing clothing.

Women's Work vollunteers demonstrate making lye soap made from the ashes from the ash hopper.

This plaque explains how lye soap it made. Notice that some kind of animal fat is required to make the soap.

These photos depict settlers and the mundane chore of wash day.

The blacksmith shop.

The interior of the blacksmith shop shows some of the tools needed in the trade. Some tools include the anvil, billows, buckets of water, tongs, hammer, leather aprons and gloves, and safety goggles.

The barn was a central component of rural farm life.

Before the invention of square bailers, farmers created haystacks surrounded by a fence to store and protect needed hay for the winter.

Livestock on a farm around the turn of the century might include cows, pigs, chickens, guinneas, goats, horses, mules, or oxen.

This corn crib and gear shed was moved to the site from Indian Creek near Bryson City. The toolshed housed farm equipment like plows, harrows, cythes, hoes, and rakes. "A wagon loaded with ears of dried corn was driven under the shed portion of this structure and the corn was tossed over the log wall into the crib." This corn crib most probably held corn for livestock due to its proximity to the barn and other livestock areas.

{See footnote for source.}

Fields of corn--the single most importannt crop to early settlers in the mountain region.

This corn crib was moved Thomas Divide near Bryson City. "Because of its many uses, corn was the most important crop on mountain farms. The crib protected the dried ears from the weather and animals. The crib originally included a hinged section of roof that could be propped open to make loading corn easier. The small door on the front was used only for removing corn from the crib"

{See footnote for source.}

A kitchen garden was typical on mountain farms. Notice that the garden is fenced, but the pasture is open. Some items in the garden include melons, squashes, beans, potatoes and herbs for seasoning.

This split rail fence was popular on mountain farms due to the easy transport of the rails. When the fence was needed on another portion of the farm, it was simply dis-assembled and re-assembled where needed.

These gourds housed birds, which were especially effective at keeping insect populations in check.

The apple house was used to store the families horde of fruit. This structure was moved to the Farmstead from Cataloochee which had commercial orchards for a time.

Apples were preserved by stringing, drying, or sulphuring, a special process in which sulphur is used to draw all the moisture out, preventing spoiling.

Volunteers at the Mountain Life festival peel apples in preparation for making apple butter.

Mrs. Dunford helps chop apples for the apple butter in this photo taken at the Mountain Life festival.

Constant stirring is essential when making apple butter to prevent scorching over the fierce heat of the fire.

The apple butter pot is made of copper.

Here is the finished product--rich, deliscious apple butter to enjoy on cold winter mornings!

Another important resource used for sweetener was sugar cane, shown here at the Farmstead.

These Swain High students prepare the harness and other equipment needed for squeezing the cane. The horse is attached to a pole which is attached to the press mechanism. As the horse walks in a circle around the press, the gears of the press are turned and the sap is squeezed from the stalks of cane.

The cut cane is fed through the metal rollers of the press.

The green sap gets filtered and prepared for heating.

A roaring fire is needed to keep the molasses oven at a constant temperature.

Then it is time to stir and skim, stir and skim, stir and skim, stir and skim, stir and skim, stir and skim, stir and skim, stir and skim, stir and skim, stir and skim, stir and skim, stir and skim, stir and skim...

The finished product makes all that stirring and skimming worthwhile! Molasses could be used for a variety of sweetening purposes.

The chicken house.

The outhouse was located close enough to the house for an emergency and far enough away to keep the smell as unobtrusive as possible.

The bee gums housed valuable bee colonies which could be "tamed" or trained to build their hives in the bee gums which allowed settlers to have a ready supply of honey for sweetener.

The woodshed was an important structure on a mountain farm. "Wood provided heat during the winter and fuel for cooking year-round. After a fire had warmed a room or cooked a meal, the ashes were also put to use. Dusting the leaves of garden plants with ahes was a common method of insect contol." The ashes also added depleted nutrients to the soil. Notice the ash hopper located in the bottom right corner.

{See footnote for source.}

Mountain settlers were accustomed to using every available resource. Indeed it was their frugal nature that allowed them to survive. Shown here are house-hold items made from the left-over shucks of corn.

In addition to cornshuck dolls, shucks were also used as rugs, mats, chair bottoms, mattress stuffing, bedding for animals and livestock, brooms, and insulation from the bitter winter winds.

Shown here are some of the products made from corn and the tools made especially to complete those tasks.

Flax was grown as a plant and the inner fibers were conditioned for making cloth.

First the flax is threshed by combing it through the metal teeth of the comb.

Medicinal plants were crucial to treating ailments of mountain people. Doctors were few and far between, so settlers learned how to treat common illnesses and injuries themselves using the treasures from the nearby forrests.

Mountian music allowed settlers to forget their troubles and served as a poinant reminder of times gone by in homelands far away. Traditional intruments include dulcimers, fiddles, mandolines, harps, guitars, and other stringed instruments. Pianos and organs were especially prized, but their heavy weight prevented many families from taking their instruments with them when they moved over the rugged mountains.

Wool was also used for clothing. The wool must be carded and then spun onto spindles.

Shown here is Sylvia Idom spinning on an old-fashioned spinning wheel.

Carding the wool required brushing all of the knots out of the wool which maked the fibers smooth and manageable.

Before the days of commercial canning homesteaders employed any means possible to preserve food during the harsh winters of the Smoky Mountains.

Shown here are some of the tools needed for food preservation, including canning, drying, or salting.

Crocks were favored containers, and later glass jars with metal lids and rings made canning much easier than before which allowed homesteaders to save more food and more varieties of food for the winter.

Leather britches is a term given to strung green beans hung to dry. When the beans were needed for a meal they were soaked in water and re-hydrated for cooking.

Hominy is made from bleached corn kernals. The corn is leached with lye, a chemical produced from wood ashes. Then it is washed several times before being cooked to tenderness and then canned. Corn was the staple of mountain life, and it could be used in a plethora of ways.

Hilda Woodard, Museum volunteer, lives the life she often portrays at the Farmstead. She and her mother make hominy for both the Women's Work Festival and the Mountain Life Festival.

Someone's job is to stir the hominy to keep it burning. These types of chores required more than one person.

Making hominy is a slow process requiring lots of patience.

A view to the inside, this photograph of the Davis Cabin gives a glimpse of the interior of the house.

The smokehouse stored valued meat for the winter in a building close to the house to keep it secure and close at hand. Although mountain settlers enjoyed a variety of meat including venison, bear, beef, poultry, and wild game birds, the smokehouse contained primarily pork, a staple of their diet.