The tour started at the front of the house which has a large front porch, huge stairs and beautiful doors. The first people I thought of were Dr. Wifey (because she loves doors) and Frick Frack (because this would be a beautiful place to take photos). I took a few but I would love to see what Frick Frack's looked like!
The head archaeologists from MDOT were on hand the day we were there conducting some test digs. They told us that they still have not found the site of the home's outhouse which is what they are really hoping to find. An outhouse is the "gold mine" of an archaeologist dig at a home. When families would break something (or want something to go missing) they would take it to the outhouse and drop it in knowing it would get covered up.
The archaeologists set up "digs" to teach the students the proper way to excavate a site. They explained that if you just dig then you can destroy not only artifacts, but the surface "explanation" that will give you clues that you need. The items they used were things they have found on the home's grounds but were not necessarily part of the home's history: buttons, pieces of plates, nails, etc.... They couldn't confirm their identity in the home's history, but they didn't want to discard them either.
One of the things on the grounds that caught my eye were these Japanese Persimmon. There was a huge tree LOADED with them. From a distance Little Guy thought they were peaches, but as we got closer we realized they had a texture more like plums. We asked the home curators about them and they said you could make jelly out of them. They were so pretty!
Before we left we grabbed a picture with the "bell". I forgot to ask the significance, but we will definitely ask on our next trip to the Manship House. We will be going back on November 2nd when they host their "Old Jackson: The Way We Once Lived" Day. Their grounds will be filled with artisans and craftsman doing their skills from "back in the day". We can't wait!
6 comments:
great photos! i remember going to the Manship house when i was a high school freshman. Beautiful place!
we have a couple of HUGE persimmon trees in the yard just loaded with them. hubby told me they were very bitter, but i heard a woman in the beauty shop talking about making persimmon jelly. so i tried one yesterday and it was quite tasty!
yah!!! love the photos. that looks like SUPER fun. thank you for sharing!
MMMMMM.... you should make some jelly, Wifey!! Bet that would be so delicious.
Betty... I would love to see your creative take on photos at the Manship House.
"DUUUUDE!! WE FOUND THE POOPER!!"
hehe
*snort*
I was giggling too hard to read the rest of it.
BWA HA HAAAA
I know, Carrie! Definitely not the job I want to have. Spending the day hot, sweaty, covered in bugs and looking for the outhouse. Their wives HAVE to love them for sure!!
It looks like y'all had a great day. I love that you take your kids on field trips like that and teach them about things they want to learn about. You're the kind of mom I hope I'll be one day :-) Oh, and my grandma had a persimmon tree, and she did make jelly with them, it was pretty good, kind of an acquired taste though.
Post a Comment