History Day 2016

For seven years now, on the first Saturday of October, I have volunteered at History Day sponsored by the Greenfield Historical Society.  It's a day to celebrate Greenfield's rich history and the public is invited, free of charge to view key pieces of the collection. Add in a 5K run, a rummage sale, a delicious midday meal of soup beans and corn bread or pork tenderloin sandwiches from a hog roasted on site, demonstrations and re-enactments, you can get a feel for what History Day is like.

Inside the building known as the Grain and Hay building, I set up my quilting frame, displayed a few hand-quilted quilts on the wall, and settled in for a day of quilting. Back in the corner, an artist who specializes in Prisma pencil drawings demonstrated her skill.

This view shows my little space more fully. I have my Antique Nine Patches in the frame; I have that paper-pieced lap quilt in the oval frame. The three quilts on the wall are Long Road Home, which I quilted for at least the two previous History Days, then Tag Sale, which I quilted about 15 years ago, and 6-Point Star, which I just finished a couple of months ago.

Another feature demonstration was the making of apple cider in an old-fashioned apple press. Guests could help themselves to free samples. 

Besides the Grain and Hay Building, the Historical Society has several other buildings, one of which is the oldest in town - The Travellers Rest, shown above. I spent a lot of time in this building when we were writing the books we published. Click the links to learn more about Images of America - Greenfield, an Arcadia series book, and the coffee table book honoring our high school's centennial - McClain High School A Century of Tradition.

The Depot, just up the street from the Grain and Hay, houses four massive tables of scale models of Greenfield over the years. One table was a scale model of the town in 1850; another was of 1920, and so on. One man is responsible for making these models. It is nothing short of spectacular when you think about the hours of research he's done, then the building of the models, much of which is quite intricate. These pictures are just a small representation of the entire display.

The white-haired man in black  made all of these models.

One of Greenfield's favorite sons is Edward Lee McClain, the benefactor who donated our high school. He made his fortune in horse collar pads - an invention which led to the formation of his company, The American Pad and Textile Company. The building no longer stands, but it looked like the model pictured above.

This pretty yellow house was McClain's home, which stood next to the factory. It, too, no longer stands.

A barn behind the Grain and Hay houses some very interesting vehicles, two of which are pictured above.

And then there's this old fire truck, which several gentlemen are working to restore. They'd like to get it to the point where it could be driven in parades.

Not much for quilting, but this post gives you a more complete picture of our History Day.

Happy Quilting, Friends!