Gray-Campbell 1860's Lifestyle Exposition turns back the clock in Springfield each fall

Written by George Freeman

Mark Twain had Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer skin the occasional cat – and avoid book learn’n at all cost. But there is a easier way to avoid the classroom and still learn a few lessons about the old days and ways. You could partake of the Annual Lifestyle Exposition at the Gray-Campbell Farmstead each fall. You could turn back the calendar and adjust your inner clock to a more relaxed pace. You could sing the old songs, lift your voice, bow your head or just contemplate the richness of our lives. You could pitch horseshoes and spit seeds for the honor of it. You could sample pies or even bring one to be considered for a top prize. You could hear music, dance if you like, and learn about whittlin’ and wood carvin’. You can also hear about plans to relocate the old Liberty School, built in the 1850s, to the farmstead property.

For one such as me, who has studied and idolized Mark Twain ever since I heard of him, the very notion of turning back the clock to the 1800s is like being transmogrified alongside Calvin and Hobbs to some bygone era when home and school were likely to be one room, with maybe a loft lined with straw for sleeping.

Just as the Butterfly Festival, the Annual Bluegrass & Blossoms and the Japanese Fall Festival, the Annual Lifestyle Exposition is one of an ongoing series of family friendly events. Like most of the events at Nathanael Greene Park and the Close Memorial Park, it is free. You are also free to drop a donation into the pot, much as our forebears dropped a vegetable into a pot to make legendary Stone Soup.

The Friends of Gray-Campbell Farmstead are our brothers and sisters, our parents and grandparents, honoring our primogenitors, if you are willing to learn another good strong word. Like Friends of the Garden and a dozen other groups, they are doing their part to provide the joy of learning to others.....

Time was, when large families of 10-12 or even more were commonplace. Children died young from diseases most of us never get today because of vaccinations. Mothers often died giving birth. Depending on circumstances, fathers died young. These were the hardest of times. If you raised “half the brood,” you were doing about average. The Annual Lifestyle Exposition pays homage to those times.....

Some say young people today don’t share a passion for learning. I would suggest they have so much more to learn, and fewer of us willing to help them. You may have a different view. You may think that the old days were the Good Old Days. You may not realize that a young student who finished sixth grade was fortunate in a school year that was often interrupted by violent times, harvest and lack of tuition before public education was considered a right. We may all need to think again that the old ways were often only better than the days before them.

A man of great privilege in his day, Thomas Jefferson once lamented that the next generation "is going to the dogs.” There have been many generations since, and I suspect each one shared the fears that Jefferson expressed.

The 1860's Lifestyle Exposition is only one step in a lifetime of wondering, learning and thinking about previous times. Every 3rd weekend in September don’t miss this chance to learn – and make a worthwhile donation or become a volunteer to help it continue.


Note: For information call or email Michelle Atkinson This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it phone 725-4921. For details Visit the Gray-Campbell Farmstead's website http://www.graycampbellfarmstead.org/