Cane hill harvest festival 2022

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Today we ran over to cane hill a small historic community a little east of here, 

the festival has been shut down the last couple years since covid hit, they finally did one this year, 

looked to be a decent turnout although there wasn’t near as much as I’ve seen in the past, 

lots of different craftsman and demonstrators, an several clubs and organizations came today,

potters, wood carvers, wool spinners, tatters, quilters, basket weavers, bee keepers, soap makers, an probably some I can’t remember,

steve low from the BOA came an setup his portable kit and ran a smithing booth for the day running a coal forge, 

the Smithsonian has multiple outdoor exhibits along some of the trails an paths throughout cane hill also till November,

There is also a horse drawn sourgum cane mill and a big hearth cookin molasses there, 

im sure I missed a few things

sorry I was wrestling with a toddler so I didn’t get pictures of everything but I got a few of the historic college built in the early 1800s burned down in 1850s an rebuilt in brick as it still stands today 

I think it’s the oldest college west of the Mississippi River but I could be wrong

there where several water powered mills in cane hill an the historical society is in the process of have one of them rebuilt using the original water wheel, I got a picture of max climbing on some ol mill stones 

the bell an belfry,

the bell was offered to the school by a steamboat captain who had lost the ship called the Grape Shot that used to steam the Ohio an Mississippi rivers, 

the school had to hire divers to retrieve the bell from the sunken vessel and it was transported via water to van bueren then hauled by ox team from there to cane hill, 

when the college burned in the 1850s the bell tower burn d an the bell fell to the ground and was cracked 

when the US civil war broke out the college students an faculty enlisted in the confederacy, they used an old military manual found in the college to learn drills an training and the towns women made their uniforms an they become the first company formed west of the Mississippi,

there was some small battles around cane hill an prairie grove fought but I’m not sure if they actually participated I’ll have to read more on that,

after the civil war ended the bell was sent back to the foundry an re cast and is still in good shape today, 

We will be goin back this fall to walk the trails I’ll try and get some more pictures then but for now here’s a few I took while I got a chance,

 

 

 

 

[Frosty]

Looks like a great time, I've seen the website and it's on our list of places to see. A festival makes it even better.

Max looks bigger every time you post a picture!

Frosty The Lucky

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Yeah he’s growin like a weed!!!

An he has a attitude like a sack full a bobcats!

if you an deb come down in the fall there’s lots of little community festivals around here almost every weekend, 

tired iron, rusty wheels, cane hill, apple festival, war eagle mill festival, just to name a few,

in the spring there’s dog wood festival in Siloam springs Arkansas, red fern festival in tahlequah like the book where the red fern grows, 

also the Cherokee tribe puts on a big old time one like cane hill with a sourgum mill an molasses!

I bought out all the post cards they had at the visitor center today so I can mail everyone some old pictures from around cane hill,

the post cards aren’t the highest quality so I dunno if I’ll mail them outright or in envelopes yet though,

[ThomasPowers]

I seem to recollect a bit of unpleasantness around Pea Ridge during the ACW as well as Prairie Grove...

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Thomas,

yes there were several smaller battles fought around north west Arkansas, 

none of them where as big as the ones back east to my understanding, but there were several,

my mom is the head of archives at NSU in tahlequah and when she took over the position she started going through boxes in the store room of old donations that had set there for decades,

 she recovered several significant documents no one knew where even there,

she made the news years ago when she found one of only two know copies of the treaty from stand waties surrender 

The other copy is in the Smithsonian, 

she also found hand written letters from Andrew Jackson to the tribal leaders,

it’s amazing what winds up in a dark dusty ol closet in a university’s archives,

I visited her office once years ago and I looked around the archives hoping maybe some cool ol rusty stuff had been donated to the university but sadly they didn’t have anything like that… just lots of musty ol pictures and papers… 

 

[Scott NC]

  You have a lot of fun things going on around there Billy.  I really liked the bell story, though.  It's great when things are salvaged that would otherwise be lost forever.  It reminded me of the steamship Bertrand that hit a log and sank near Omaha on the Missouri River in 1865.  There is a museum at the DeSoto Wildlife Refuge displaying all that was salvaged from the wreck.  I have been there and it is very interesting.  From wikipedia:

Today, the artifacts are displayed in a museum at the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge near Missouri Valley, Iowa. The display makes up the largest intact collection of Civil War-era artifacts in the United States, and are an invaluable time capsule of everyday life during that period.

  Also:

In 1974, samples of canned food from the wreck, including brandied peaches, oysters, plum tomatoes, honey, and mixed vegetables, were tested by the National Food Processors Association. Although their appearance, smell, and vitamin content had deteriorated, there was no trace of microbial growth and the food was determined to be still safe to eat.[6]

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

That’s pretty cool Scott! 

i love goin to local museums an to traveling exhibits,

we have a lot of history around here and several small town festivals that try to hold on to our history