Looking back in time

As a docent at the Swannanoa Valley History Museum, I can share some of the exhibits with you.  The museum and history center is right in the middle of town in Black Mountain.  It's open Tues - Saturday, 10-5 during spring, summer and fall months.  The main display is about Beacon Blanket Mills, which I shared earlier here and here.

Today Old US-70 passes by the old entrance to this property, and there are schools across the street.  I never knew that it was the site of this WW II hospital.

A very modern Veterans Medical Center is located right down the road toward Asheville.

Artifacts from Indigenous residents

I mentioned in my last post that Indigenous people lived in this valley 12,000 years ago. The archeaologists have found evidence of these people's lives.  They were Mammouth hunters, and didn't have a settlement apparently...being hunter/gatherers for many generations.

When a settlement appeared, more artifacts have been found.

More tools of people living before metal-working!

The use of ground grain seeds meant someone used 2 stones to grind them! Then add water and bake on another hot stone, and voila, bread was born!  Think tortillas, Nan, chapatis, Pita!

Here is the other end of blow darts...they didn't include a blow gun however!

This large gourd in the back didn't have any description, so I asked the director, who knew the person who had donated it, but it had been in her family for generations and she didn't know it's significance.  It really is too big for a drinking gourd (used by a water barrell for anyone to dip a drink from.) So maybe it was for serving chili (or soup?) but again was a bit big.  Maybe it just won a prize at a fair!

 

Anyone for a game of chunky stone?  I would certainly not want to roll the triangular stone as it would wobble its way down the course.

Today's quote:

Peace starts within us - we cannot bring to the world what we do not have to offer.

Swannanoa Valley - cultures 12,000 years ago

A couple of times a month I get to be a docent (greeting guests, trying to answer questions) at the Swannanoa Valley Museum and History Center...right downtown in Black Mountain NC.  It's a great "job" for a retired person. Not much stress, sometimes not many visitors, and I can haul my laptop to the desk and look up things or download things or write things that come to mind.

Last week I walked through some of the displays upstairs.  It is chock full of interesting stuff! And I'm not one of those antique buffs who go google-eyed (yes that term used to mean just that without any web connotations) at all the old dusty moldy stuff at antique barns.  There are sure a lot of them around these days. I can't go through them because dust and mold are triggers of my coughing spells. I could always wear a mask I suppose...

So I'm very grateful that the upstairs at SVM has been well cleaned. Here are a few items that caught my eye before I even got upstairs.  I'll be sharing a few at a time, when I get a chance.

A local college (Warren Wilson) has sponsored some archaeological digs in the area, and provided some information of 3 stages of settlement in the Swanannoa Valley. (appologies for those of you who saw these displayed over on Alchemy of Clay along with the pottery.)

There's a display of flint points of various sizes and from various eras.

I'm glad to see that the use of pottery was included, since the creeks and riverbeds are rich in clay around here. You need to go to Cherokee NC (about an hour west of here) to see more historic pottery!  But I'll have more of this display soon here!


Today's Quote:
Those in-between times that happen in our lives can be viewed as being rich with possibility for what is coming next.  Madisyn Taylor, Daily Om

Behind the Center for the Arts

A brick cross walk leads from the down-hill parking area.  Behind the bright Crepe Myrtle is the Swannanoa Valley History Museum, (right) and to it's' left is the Black Mountain Center for the Arts.

There is an upper level of parking,

with a steep slope that's landscaped between the two parking areas.

The path shows that the black Mountain Beautification Committee has been at work here.

Quote for the day:

If we open our hearts, we will also find open hearts - it is always mutual.

Abbot Leo von Rudloff,  A Benedictine Legacy of Peace; The Life of Abbot Leo A. Rudloff

Wheels remains

These were BIG wagon wheels.
Makes you think about all the time before "tires" that people transported things using wagons...and how very bumpy the rides must have been too!

The three don't all go to the same wagon.  They hang outside the Swannanoa Valley Museum, on the wall of the building which houses the Black Mountain Center for the Arts and the Museum.  The walkway leads also to the Dripolator Coffee Shop.  So I walk past these wheel rims frequently.