The 48th Annual Hay Creek Festival transported visitors back in time 200 years.
More than 1,500 living history volunteers brought the past alive with hands-on activities and demonstrations of early American farm life, crafts and trades on Sept. 6, 7 and 8.
The Hay Creek Valley Historical Association hosts the three-day festival annually on the grounds of the historic Joanna Furnace Ironworks, an 18th- and 19th-century charcoal-fueled iron furnace and community in Robeson Township.
The festival began as a way to preserve the rural history of the Hay Creek Valley and focused on farming techniques and traditional crafts. Over time the event has grown to include much more.
While exploring the Joanna Furnace Ironworks, visitors see Industrial Revolution-era equipment, antique vehicles, steam engines, tractors and a working sawmill.
Visitors could visit Civil War and World War II encampments and see the firing of two M1841 Mountain Howitzer Pack Carriage 12 Pounders — lightweight, portable cannons designed to be taken apart into three pieces and carried by pack horses — which were artillery support for mobile forces in service from 1841 to 1870. The range on the 12 pounders is 1,000 yards (500 effective yards). They have the firepower of 1,000 rifles.
Quilting, weaving, blacksmithing, candle making and other artisanal skills are highlighted during the festival.
Steve Witmer of Witmer Pottery crafted a tankard using a kick wheel.
Todd Eaby of Mount Joy used a carpenter’s ax to carve a short-handled coffee scoop from a black walnut branch.
“Everything’s hand done, no power, except for human power,” Eaby said. “I don’t cut down trees to carve spoons. I drive around and look for storm-damaged trees and use the branches.”
Jack Tobias sat at a Schnitzelbank (shaving bench) and worked on creating a bucket that took eight to 10 hours to make. His display included water buckets, maple syrup buckets, a half-bushel measuring bucket and piggin (a small wooden pail with a stave as a handle).
Children’s activities included archaeological segments, candle and papermaking and early American games. They picked up their “chores list” for all the hands-on activities at the event. Upon completion of tasks, children were rewarded with a free wagon ride.
Renninger siblings Charlie, 5; Audrey, 8; Luke, 12, and Henry, 10, of Havertown learned how to make paper.
“I love that they can learn about history,” Katherine Renninger said.
Volunteers prepared food outdoors using 18th- and early 19th-century techniques.
Apple cider was made from Honeycrisp, Golden Supreme, Ruby Mac, Sweetie, Seckel and Gala apples in the cider mill.
Sold by the bowl or quart, Mabel’s kettle-cooked chicken potpie and chicken corn noodle, beef vegetable, ham and bean soups take about two hours to cook over a wood fire.
Festival volunteers Maggie Thorpe, Maura Taylor, Violet Minor, and Anna-Marie Horning made apple fritters, apple pot pie, Irish potatoes, and chomp.
Chomp is a mix of onions, cucumber, bell peppers and tomatoes put into a crock with apple cider vinegar, thyme, salt and pepper. This is a dish the furnace workers would have eaten on a hot day.
“The longer it sits, the better it tastes,” said Minor, who has been volunteering at the festival for eight years.
Bob Rimby demonstrated how to make sauerkraut. First, place the cabbage leaves inside the crock, then place a wooden block on top followed by a rock for weight. Next, cover that with a cloth and ferment for six to eight weeks.
Rimby brought 105 cabbages for the three-day event. It takes two heads of cabbage to make a gallon of sauerkraut.
For the second year, Evan Detwiler of the wood-fired brewery Stampede Barbecue served ale.
“We brew in a historical manner,” Detwiler said. “The way we brew it, the way we serve it and condition it, the way it’s made.”
Electricity and gas are not used during the brewing process. Stampede ales are based on traditional and historical recipes. The ale is cask conditioned and served from antique hand pumps that pull straight from the casks.
The Hay Creek Valley Historical Association owns and operates the Joanna Furnace property, focused on a mission for the preservation and restoration of this historic iron-making community near Morgantown.
For more information, visit www.haycreek.org.
Source: Berkshire mont
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