Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 25, 1995 TAG: 9506260004
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-16 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: WENDY L. TURNER SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: FLOYD LENGTH: Medium
A woodworker who crafts such things as walking sticks and sheepskin duster handles, Johnson has always had a fascination with antique tools. Now, he's sharing his love for those tools and the period they come from by creating a living history museum, Williamsburg style, in the heart of Floyd County.
Located on U.S. 221, Wintergreen Farm is two miles from the town of Floyd. Here, Johnson has restored an old turn-of-the-century farmhouse and turned it into a showcase for relics of 1900-1910.
Johnson's Appalachian living history museum, situated on four acres of farmland, consists of the farmhouse, a log barn, a workshop and a craft shop, which is jammed full of pre-electric tools.
The two-story, whitewashed farmhouse is made of American chestnut wood, consists of five rooms and is appropriately topped with a tin roof. Johnson has refinished the parlor, kitchen and bedrooms on the lower-level of the home for public viewing.
According to Johnson, the parlor was the most important room of a family's home; therefore, it was the most elaborately decorated. Here, pastors visited on Sundays and guests were entertained. Johnson has furnished the museum parlor with a pump organ that was brought into Floyd County new around 1911. He has retrieved red velvet furniture that was ordered from a Sears catalog in 1902. Books by Robert Louis Stevenson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and William Wordsworth, along with textbooks and a family Bible dated from 1854, adorn the parlor as well.
A water pump, the sole visible means of running water in the house, is located in the kitchen. Other artifacts include a wood-burning stove, cast iron pots and pans and a cast iron waffle iron. The fireplace in the kitchen, made from 100 percent Floyd County soapstone, is made according to the Rumford design, which dates back to the 1700s.
In order to restore the bedroom, Johnson scraped off 10 coats of wallpaper, sheet metal and newspaper to expose its chestnut walls. In the process, he also discovered that someone had glued cloth (with a paste made of flour and water) over the cracks in the wall for insulation. Because the bedroom was seen only by its inhabitants, it was usually the most scantily and plainly furnished room of the home.
The workshop displays hand-powered woodworking tools with a soapstone forge as a work area for blacksmiths. Huge leather bellows, which date back to 1840, provide the power to operate the furnace.
A turkey feeder, stacking fork, fanning machine and a hand-crank sheep shearing machine are among the objects on display in the log barn. Johnson obtained the barn from a family on the other side of the county who wanted it torn down.
Johnson tore it down, moved it, and rebuilt it as part of his museum.
To put the finishing touches of turn-of-the-century authenticity, Johnson has erected an outside privy, a white picket fence and a wooden gutter, which was useful in capturing rainwater for washing hair.
Asked how he finds all of these antiques, Johnson simply replied, "Oh, I've been shopping around for years."
Johnson held a farm festival last weekend to celebrate the opening of his museum, which will continue operation until December. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday through Sunday. Admission is $1 for ages 12 and older. Entry to the gift shop is free.
Why is Johnson doing all of this? Along with his love of pre-electric artifacts, he has an ulterior motive.
"I would like to preserve the farming heritage of Floyd County people and present it to people who have not experienced it and have no idea what farmers went through," he said.
For more information, call (800) 493-6968.
by CNB