The End of The Beginning

It has been a long haul but we are nearly through constructing the first of the buildings for the Gwaltney Frontier Farm which will depict life in this part of Virginia for a single man recently released from his term as an indentured servant and in the process of building his life in the New World. My earliest white ancestors came to the land within six miles of mile horse lot in the mid 1600's.

The smoke house is a real working model. In a few weeks ham, bacon, shoulder meat, hog jowls will hang from the rafters. Daddy has been showing the kids how meat is salted, and smoked to preserve it. We will also be smoking fish by spring. I hope that we will be able to get herring which runs in the spring from the salt water to the deep slow moving rivers/swamps of the Blackwater, Nottaway and Meherrin tributaries.

We have authentic Colonial era horses and goats. Our hogs trace themselves back to the early colonial years through their mother. Colonial Chickens will be phased in.

I expect our next structure to be the settler's home, a small clapboard dwelling. I want Mill Swamp Indian Horses to be more than a place to ride. I want it to be a historical and cultural learning center.

This is step two in reaching that goal.