On Saturday, February 26th, Millard’s Crossing Historic Village will be hosting the first in a series of “weekend workshops” in an effort to expand the Village interpretive program. “These weekend demonstrations are to show visitors how things were done in the old days,” says Susie Lower, Director of the Village.
“Lye soap making” will be the first in a series of demonstrations. “Many of us can remember an elderly relative in the family who talked about making lye soap but few have actually seen the process…and besides, we had run out of our supply of lye soap for when children do ‘Mama’s laundry’ on the back porch,” laughs Lower. “We needed some and this seemed like a good way to get it”.
Rita Hester of Pennington will begin by demonstrating the “cold” process, after which Diann Avriett will demonstrate some aspects of the old method of making lye utilizing wood ashes and rendering fat by boiling.
“The second method took a lot of time because you first had to render your fat by boiling it for hours as well as make your own lye by slow-dripping water through wood ashes,” says Rita. Today, you can buy the lye and the lard and don’t have to go through such a long, drawn-out and sometimes “iffy” process.” The demonstration will begin at 1:00 PM at the Village located at 6020 North Street. Visitors may park inside the Village and look for the demonstrators on the porch of the Watkin’s log cabin located at the end of the Village road.
“We are not charging a fee for this demonstration but really appreciate donations. Millard’s Crossing is self-supporting and needs financial support from the public if it is to stay in operation. We really love providing these opportunities for area residents because it is so interesting and just goes to show that our pioneer ancestors knew something about chemistry”, comments Lower. “I think people of all ages will enjoy this event.“
For more information, contact Millard’s Crossing Historic Village at (936) 564-6631 or visit www.millardscrossing.org. Be our friend on facebook @ Millard’s Crossing Historic Village.
