Johnston Farm

We traveled to the town north of us to visit Johnston Farm. John Johnston was an Indian Agent near Fort Piqua in the early 1800's and his homestead has been preserved for visitors. We received a marvelous tour and learned many interesting things about life during this time. For example....

Caleb: They didn't have many clothes because they made most of what they wore. They went to the bathroom in an outhouse.

Ethan: They passed down clothes and when they were turned to rags, the rags were used to make rugs. Their refrigerator was a room down at the spring house where they kept their food cold. Also, they had two kitchens- one was inside for winter and one was outside for summer.

Adam: They had to share beds and they didn't take baths very often because they thought that being chilled would make you sick. If they had to go to the bathroom at night, they used a chamber pot underneath their beds. And, they traded with the indians.

Abigail: They used a spinning wheel to make thread- just like in Sleeping Beauty.

The master bedroom

Flax hangs in sheaths waiting to be made into linen.

The flax is beaten, pounded and dragged through these "brushes".

It ends up looking like this (gives meaning to the phrase "flaxen hair").

We also saw how they comb the wool and spin it into yarn.

Then they dye and weave it on a loom. It took 250 yards of yarn to make this scarf.

They made their own candles as well.

We also took a ride on the Erie Canal which stopped at Johnston Farm on it's route between Toledo and Cincinnati.

The mules which pulled our canal boat.