Forest Capital Museum and Homestead by: Mrs. H

Our second stop of Day 1 was at the Forest Capital Museum in Perry, FL. A special thanks to Mr. Jared Beauchamp for arranging for us to tour the museum and the Homestead. We appreciate Mr. Joe Mitchell coming in on his day off to share his knowledge of the history of the Homestead. All of the foresters who came were very knowledgeable and happy to share information on the displays and equipment.

The kids were especially surprised at how the sap was collected from the trees and how that was stilled into turpentine. Turpentine has many uses. What was left over after the turpentine was separated was a thick tar that was used as pitch to seal up boats.

The Cracker Homestead had several buildings that represented what you would have seen throughout Florida at the turn of the century. There were several pieces of antique equipment that would have been pulled by horses or ox. Sugarcane would have been pressed and cooked down into cane syrup. An old hollowed out log was used for scalding pigs when they were processed. There were lots of interesting things to see and stories to hear from Mr. Jared and Mr. Joe. This is definitely a place to come back and learn more.

 

Mr. Jared showed us some of the equipment they use.