2014-06-26 Effington Museum - Page 2

This is the tour of the Effington County, Georgia Living History Museum continued from Page 1.

This old building surrounded a huge metal pan used for reducing cane juice into syrup.


This is a mechanical cane press.  It was powered by a machine, possibly steam powered.
Other type presses in use were horse or mule drawn.


Under this old storage building or barn are displayed the many carts, carriages, and wagons donated to the museum.
No, that's not a real horse but it sure looks like one.


These are metal stencils used to paint the manufacture's name on barrels to identify who made the contents.


Old baskets and several old mule-drawn plows.


A basket and 6 wooden barrels held together by wooden hoops.


Slave's quarters warmed by a mud-daub fireplace.


On the back door of one of these old buildings a date of 1777 was engraved.


A view of several old buildings.


The "summer" home of a farming family.  Our guide said it was unhealthy and far too hot to reside down by the river in the summertime where the work was.  Instead, this family built a second home on a hill nearby where the air was cooler.  Work was long and the home was only used for sleeping and shelter.  When the family wasn't there, they left the home open.  Travelers were welcome to sleep there if no one was home.


Horse Shoe Snuff anyone?


This custom-made latch was unique.  Actually, all door latches were custom-made back then.  Each piece of a latch was fashioned by a blacksmith who had made many before.  But this one was a T-shaped bar designed to be twisted sideways after two adjacent doors were shut thereby barring each door from being opened.  A padlock could then be inserted locking the house up tight.


This is the way the home looked when it was still lived in.  All the wood work is original except for a few boards which have been replaced.


Our guide pointed out how wide the wall boards were.  You can't buy these at the lumber yard anymore folks.  They have to be custom cut.


This is one of a couple old black-powder "dog ear" muzzle loading shotguns on the place.


Some of the local residents looked a bit intimidating.


I love these old split rail fences.  Dad used to make rails like this when we were young but he only used them for posts.


When I saw this strange looking device I asked our guide, "What is this for."
She said, "Rice."  They grew rice along the coast and used this to remove the grain from the husks.


This was once an old church pew.


What a beautiful old oak bed.  My aunt was an antique dealer.  She once taught me how to stain furniture like this by
mixing my own stain.  She used artists oil paint, "Burnt Umber" color.  It comes in what looks like toothpaste tubes.  

You squeeze out a glob about an inch long or less and mix it with maybe a half pint or a pint of turpentine until the color
looks right and you have enough for the whole piece of furniture.  

You wipe it on with a pair of old women's underware.  Nylon is best.  Wipe it off with a towel before it stains too much.  

Once stained, apply several coats of shellac then a coat of floor wax.


What a neat old iron baby bed.


Here's the second old muzzle loading shotgun.


The last old building we visited was a depot that was moved here in 2011 and later restored.  This display shows how it was moved.


The doors of the depot slid back and forth like barn doors on rollers atop an iron bar.


On the porch of the depot was a potato and onion grader.  The vegetables were loaded into a hopper.  
A chain-link-fence-styled belt moved them uphill into containers.  As the vegetables moved upward,
smaller ones fell through and were collected below.


Our guide was approached by a local lumber yard wanting to make a donation.  When asked what she needed she said,
"Make me a picnic table."  They produced this huge old-looking farm table and matching benches.


We took one last look at one of the old farm houses before leaving.


This was the old jail, now used as a two-story museum to display smaller, more valuable historic items.


As we left, we said goodbye to the guide's "other" partner who was our constant companion throughout the tour.


 
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