Cannonsburg Village ~ Staycation Day #1

Our first day of Staycation dawned bright & sunny. And hot. We were thankful for the beautiful weather & so excited for our day to begin. We decided we'd stick close to home our first day as we had soccer camp in the evening. We set out for Cannonsburg Village. We've been wanting to explore here for awhile & today was the day!

A little background..........Cannonsburgh Village is, as they say, "A step back in time at a rural southern village circa 1800-1925." They have several buildings to visit that represent the time periods. I took photos of most but not all.

Walking in there is the Visitor's Center and then this gated area which houses the "town".

Here is an overview.

It looks small in the picture but it's quite large. First we went into the grist mill. It housed 150 year old machinery. The kids liked seeing how the water powered the mill & ground the corn.

One Room School House

It always fascinates me to see where our ancestors once attended school.

Those benches look quite uncomfortable to me & did to our kids as well. The toys on the benches caught their eye though. Dave & I liked the presidents photos.

Early 1900's Telephone Building

The kids were amazed to hear that telephone operators once worked & lived in these little rooms as they needed to be available at all hours. They also were surprised to find out that people could often listen in on other's conversations while on the phone. Remember Harriet Olsen?

The Switchboard

Those posies go nicely with our little Princess.

The kitchen for the switchboard operator.

1800's Residence with Dog-Trot

The space in between the two buildings is called a dog-trot. Other names for it are a possum or dog run. I'm not exactly sure why but the name is interesting. Often a family would need more space so an addition would be built on to the existing structure. The roof would be continuous over the two buildings. A space, "dog-trot", was left in between the two rooms in order to avoid overheating the living space during the warmer months. Cooking was done in the dog-trot as well as other family activities.

Town Hall

Town halls and courthouses became important as towns grew. I liked the old photos that decorated the room.

A pause to look at the creek.

An Ash Hopper

Dave & I had not heard of this contraption before and thought the idea was quite smart. Families would put their ashes in these for storage. When spring arrived they would make soap. Water was poured in the top over the ashes and after many hours of soaking lye would come out of the bottom of the hopper. They used this lye to make soap.

Williamson Chapel

The stained glass windows were absolutely breathtaking. This church shows "the evolution of the building" over different time periods. The kids were surprised to learn that often their was a circuit preacher who only came once or twice a month. They were even more shocked to learn that because of this the services often lasted for several hours. They were very thankful this doesn't happen today. LOL!

Farm Implement Museum

Some of the farm tools.

Dave & I talked about how the farmers & the slaves had to work in the type of heat we were experiencing that day. I marveled at how people survived it all. I don't know if I could have been that tough.

Tractors

The boys LOVED these! Especially my "big boy".

The Blacksmith Shop

The Grist Mill

The entryway to the village. This bridge is actually the first iron bridge ever erected in this county. During World War I every road out of this town was a turnpike. "Tollgates were placed along these turnpikes where fees known as 'pikage' were collected. Each gate was operated by a family who lived in the tollgate house."

A view from the parking lot.

We all really enjoyed learning about this time period & exploring the village. What a great way to start our first day!