Landis Valley Museum

   On Thursday the Keepers Club members arrived at Landis Valley Museum in Lancaster.  Sis. Kim had decided for her meeting that she would like us all to learn about the history behind the Germans who settled in the area.  There are many different buildings that you can visit and see how people lived and worked in the early 1800's.  Our first stop was the Tavern, the modern day hotel.  At the cost of 40 cents a night you got a  meal, a place to lay your head, and a place in the barn for your horse.  That was a lot of money back then because the average working person made a dollar per week!  

Deciding where to go first

 We all participated in a workshop making corn husk brooms. 
The pioneers didn't waste anything!  The corn husks were used for
filling mattresses, making brooms and rugs, and for
the bedding of animals, to name a few.

 Joy and her corn husk broom.

 We got to learn all about how the pioneers made their clothing.  Here, Hope is

skutching the flax, which helps the extra chaff to fall off, and for the strains of flax

 to become softer.

   The Weaver's profession was a man's job.  The women would spin their wool and flax and then bring it to the weaver for him to weave into a sheet of cloth which they could then sew into clothing.

Then we went and saw how the average family cooked and lived.
Middle-class families had two rooms and a loft.  The main room was the kitchen, the other
 a bedroom/living area.  The loft upstairs was used as a storage room for the foods they
had dried for the winter and as a bedroom for the children.

David and Elainah looking at the garden

 Grace and Elainah  :)

Friends Forever!

 We all got to go on a wagon ride throughout the grounds!

In the General Store

Zoe, Elainah, David, and I

Abigail, Me, Emily, Grace, and Zoe

 There was an old one room schoolhouse that we toured.
We even got to experience what a real day of school
 would have been like in the 1800's.

 Joshua

 Lillia, "totein' water from the crik"

Joy was so little, the buckets were almost dragging on the ground!

Hope, Faith, Lillia, Anna, Joy, and Elisabeth

GROUP SHOT!

Back Row left to right; Zoe, Me, Abigail, Grace, Emily

Middle Row; Elainah, Hope, Joy, Anna, Faith, Lillia, Elisabeth, Lincoln, Joshua

Front Row; Bethany and Matthew

   If you would like to find out more on Landis Valley and it's history, check out  http://www.landisvalleymuseum.org/  

Thank you, Sis. Kim for another awesome Keepers meeting!