WOF 11


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Women on the Frontier at
Fort Boonesborough

June 11-12, 2011

Photos by Jim Cummings

By Kathy Cummings

The theme for the 2011 7th Annual Women on the Frontier was Food and Fiber. Participants and fort visitors were treated to hands on sessions about foods - including the types of food available on the frontier, and everything from food preparation to food preservation. Fort employee Brook Elliot led the group through the fort garden while Barbara Elliot discussed cooking over an open fire. Fort manager Bill Farmer showed how to jerk meat and also held a session on food preservation that included salting meats and also preserving cabbages underground. Butter making , drying fruits and vegetables were also on the agenda. And the highlight for fort visitors was the presence of Queen Charlotte the cow. A teaching aid borrowed from a local farm, the life sized cow gave everyone a turn at milking - without the danger of the cow kicking!

Event planner Kristi Heasley wanted everyone to have a hands on experience and the Fiber sessions were no exception. Fort employee Mary Beth Powell had enough raw wool on hand for everyone to feel and examine. The photos below show just how absorbed the participants were in carding, and preparing the wool for spinning. Powell is not only knowledgeable in her own trade of weaving but discussed dyeing and other aspects of 18th century garment production. Participants then moved inside to the large loom where they could try their hand at weaving while in another cabin Charlotte Eskew worked at teaching spinning to the women involved.

Daniel Boone, portrayed by Scott New held a typical court session on Sunday afternoon with a special look at women’s legal right’s in the 18th session.


	This year marked the 7th annual event but the first time that most of the sessions were handled by fort employees. Their knowledge and enthusiasm was much appreciated by the participants. The weekend ended with a door prize drawing of donated gifts and the traditional photo of all participants.

wandered off

A Poem by Emily Burns

preamble to a trip back to Daniel Boone's fort . . . and come to think of it a woman that would leave the protection of hearth and home to brave the wilds . . . she must be a little crazy

If you should chance to find me gone

absent from spinning wheel and loom

dasher idle in the butter churn

If you survey the fields and hills

to find me not at work in the garden

and not returning from the spring

If you should look around to find

sewing cast aside

dishes strewn unwashed on the hearth

It could be

I've wandered off alone down to the river

to lose myself in the cool flow.