Tobacco Farm Life Museum

We wanted to get out of the house and see what there was around Four Oaks, North Carolina. When we had been at the Outlet Mall I saw a brochure for the Tobacco Farm Life Museum in Kenly, NC. I saw that on this day they were going to have a Blacksmith present and that sounded pretty cool so we loaded up the van and headed out. It was $8 for me and $6 for the kids. Princess was free since she was under 2.
We decided to start by looking around the museum. There was a lot of fun things from the past that the kids were amazed by. They had an old kitchen set up including a doll inside a tub on the stove. This lead to some interesting conversations about throwing the baby out with the bath water, no indoor plumbing, heating water, wood stoves, ect. There was an old doctors office set up too which I think made all all VERY thankful for modern medicine. I mean VERY, VERY, thankful. We also found a little kid area that was super cute. It has a little kitchen with fake food, a checker board, dress up clothes, tools, puzzles, and so much more. We spent a good amount of time in there just playing. We were the only ones there most of the time, and the only littles the whole time.


We finally made it outside to find the Blacksmith. Outside the Blacksmith workshop they had some guys there making rope. Each of the kids got a turn to make a piece of rope and they also got to keep it. It was really cool watching them make the rope. They asked about where the twine came from to make the rope and if the guy made the twine too. (He did not and was quite amused when the kids asked why not. Apparently my kids are an all or nothing bunch.)

We went inside and watched the Blacksmiths for quite a while. The main guy was making Oyster knives. They had some nice things you could buy there but I had no cash on me. The Boy was really into it and asked a lot of questions. Monkey enjoyed it as well but Cat Boy was done after a few minutes. He is much more a doer then a watcher.


We decided to take a break and walk around the grounds a bit. There were a few houses set up like they used to be int he early 20th century. We talked about what beds were made out of back then, and how the houses were set up, and observed how little"stuff" they had. Even with us living in a RV traveling we have so much more STUFF then they did back then. When I think about all the crap stuff we used to have in oue home compared to now, or what they had back then it is mind blowing. To be 110% honest with you, I DO NOT MISS ANY OF IT! Sure, I sometimes miss being able to sit in the bathtub without eating my knees. I sometimes miss having counter space that is bigger then a plate. Sure I sometimes miss having a closet where my shirts don't bunch up at the bottom. But, I have NOT ONCE missed the CRAP STUFF!

We stopped by the Blacksmiths again on the way out to see what else they were up to. It was starting to rain and it was pretty chilly so we decided to head on out. We stopped at the little store on the way out and they had some cute stuff. I was hoping for some of the little key chains the blacksmiths had for sale in the workshop but no luck. They had some other things for sale but they were bigger and it was nothing we NEEDED. See the above comment about STUFF. We talked tot he shop workers for a few and then headed to the van. We were all happy to turn the heat on and get toasty. We had a good time and I would recommend checking it out of you are every close to Kenly, Nc.