Our Step Back in Time

Imagine Austin as a small town, with just a few thousand residents... Horses and buggies are the primary form of transportation... Most of Texas is still untamed, unsettled frontier prairie... Texas as a state is only 50 years old... Many families still live in log cabins...


Welcome to Pioneer Farm! The buddies and I enjoyed free admission this afternoon, as a part of Austin's Museum Day. Pioneer Farm has been on our list of places to visit since we moved here and Museum Day is the day when they bring out all their volunteers dressed in period costume, add some live music, weaving demonstrations, fire-starting demonstrations, and more!



We enjoyed touring the old homes. Ben peered into the family room in one of the larger rooms and declared, "They don't have a tv in here!" No Ben, they didn't have tv's in the 1800's. Ace checked out the kitchen and said, "But where is the refrigerator?!" And so we explored the smoke house out back where the family stored their cured meats.




We checked out old farm equipment and got eye to eye with some animals. We practiced our wood-chopping skills with real axes. We explored a few tee-pee replicas, assembled on a site where Tonkawa Indians, a nomadic tribe, camped seasonally. We bought penny candy at the General Store and sat on the porch with our treats and listened to a band play songs from the 17oo's. "Dixie" and "Yankee Doodle" were among the favorites we recognized but we also enjoyed a peppy song about a woman trying to convince her man not to go off to war. When we finished our candy, the buddies danced along to the music, much to the delight of the band.



Our most eye-opening experience occcured when we explored a German Immigrant homestead - a one-room house about the size of my bathroom. The volunteer asked the buddies how many people they thought once lived there. Their response: "None!" Actual answer: 15. Yeesh! We are glad to live in the 21st century.

Check out the rest of our pictures here.