By Dale Castle
I have always been interested in how life was back in the 1800s. I never get tired of watching reruns of Bonanza and Gun Smoke or other old movies of that time period.
My cousin told me that Missouri Town would be having their annual Festival of Arts, Crafts and Music October 1st and 2nd, and if I wanted to really see and experience what life was like in the 1800s, I should spend an afternoon there.
My wife checked the forecast Saturday night and they said Sunday would be an absolutely beautiful day to be outside. The Chiefs wouldn’t be on until three o’clock so it was an easy decision to go back in time for a few hours.
You can take I-70 east from downtown Kansas City and get off at seven highway. Go south five miles and turn west on Cowherd road. At the end of Cowherd road turn north and follow the signs or you can take the scenic route like we did through lake Jacomo.
There were plenty of park rangers on hand to guide us to the parking areas. A short walk brought us to several tepees. I have never seen one in real life and didn’t realize how big they are. Most of the tepees had a man dressed, in character, either inside or just outside the entrance. In fact, this was the case with every structure we visited. They were all very knowledgeable and you could see that they loved answering questions. I always figured that Indians had to have a fire in their tepees to stay warm and that the smoke would simply go through the hole in the top. But what would happen if it rained? Wouldn’t it put out the fire? I was told that the fire is not built in the center of the tepee but off set enough so the rain water wont hit it. In addition to this, there is a flap at the top that can be pulled over enough so that very little water gets in.
We continued on and got about halfway down a slight hill when we saw the first buildings. The smell of burning wood and food being cooked drifted through out the town. We passed a couple of men hard at work splitting wood as we made our way over to where the kettle corn was being cooked. I bought the biggest bag I could get and we walked over to where a group of 12 or so people were about to start dancing. It was interesting and much different than how we dance now.
I would have to say that my favorite building was the blacksmith shop. It was a fairly large structure that was home to a great deal of heat, smoke and fire. We stayed for a while watching the blacksmiths work and shape red hot steel. It only takes a few minutes of watching them to see that they are indeed masters of fire and iron.
A large group, of mostly women dressed in clothing from the 1800s, were busy stirring huge pots hung over fire pits at the end of a rustic looking house. The wonderful scent of apples being turned into butter and cider filled the air. We walked into a house where a woman was playing beautiful music on a harp. Another building had more quilts hanging from the ceiling than I have seen in my entire life. I had no idea that there were so many different designs and that it took so long to make one.
As we walked up a road towards the end of town I saw what I thought were cows. As we got closer I could see that these two massive animals were not cows at all but oxen. At least that was my best guess. Volunteer, Linda Goin smiled as we walked up to her and told me that they were indeed oxen. She is an average sized woman but her head didn’t even come up to their shoulders. Linda went on to say that these powerful animals were very important to pioneers in the 1800s. They pulled their wagons and plowed their fields with them. They were easy to handle and would eat almost anything. The combined weight of the two oxen tipped the scales at 5,000 pounds.
As we turned around to leave we saw what I thought could be two Missouri mules pulling a wagon filled with people up a hill. Linda told me I guessed right again. She said compared to the oxen, these muscular animals were athletes. While not as powerful as oxen they are much faster. Kind of like a receiver verses a lineman in football. There was one last thing I wanted to do before we headed for home and that was to try a buffalo burger. I must say that it was every bit as good as a hamburger and didn’t really taste much different. I plan to try a buffalo steak, or a roast, the first chance I get.
Twenty-five buildings make up Missouri Town which opened in 1994. They all came from a seven county area surrounding Kansas City on the Missouri side. Each building was painstakingly disassembled, marked and reassembled in Missouri Town. The tavern is one of the oldest dating back to about 1823. This years festival attracted about 8,000 people. Over a100 volunteers and 40 Jackson County employees worked this years event. It was a great way to spend an afternoon learning what a town was like in the 1800s.
Dale Castle is a freelance writer from Missouri.
Published U.S. Legacies January 2006
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