GRAYLING- The Great Depression brought daily living to a level of learning to thrive in survival for many families in the early 1900’s. Small rural farm communities learned to lean on each other and work together and it was a time of home innovation and invention out of necessity to get daily jobs done or to bring in income. Food was grown, processed, and preserved in summer kitchens and tools were made in barns with wood sourced from the land nearby cleared for fields and homesteads. During these challenging years in history, life was simpler, purposeful, and homemade.
A visit to Grayling’s Wellington Farm offers an authentic chance to experience life in 1932 during these times of challenge and triumph. Most days you will find Founders Howard and Gloria Taylor somewhere on the grounds. “We sometimes get Mondays and Tuesdays off, but there is always work to be done” Howard shares as he walks up the stairs to the 1883 Stittsville Church, where he begins each tour of the Farm Park Museum.
The church went through many different renovations before it was the first building to be moved to Wellington in 2005, and now stands restored to original standards with a bell tower that can be heard a mile away when it is rung. A sign hangs from the bell rope saying, “don’t even think about it” and a glimpse of Howard’s insight gained as a long-time teacher and community education director shows as he smiles at youngsters tempted to try to ring the bell unnoticed.
Many tours are given by Howard himself, and there is perhaps no better person for the job. Being a self-proclaimed lifelong collector of all kinds of things, years ago his wife Gloria told him to stop filling up the yard with everything and to go put it somewhere where people can see it and appreciate it. And that is exactly what Howard and Gloria did, creating Wellington Farm Park, a living history complex and 501c non-profit dedicated to teaching those willing to learn this important part of our country’s history.
There are now 26 buildings on site, quite the expansion from the humble start of equipment, a plot of land, and a dream. Many artifacts have been sought and pursued for decades and there is a one of a kind, first in the world 1888 belt sander with original blueprints to be found in a stroll down “crafters alley”.
Gloria herself manned the basket weaver shop for many years and her work can still be seen in progress on the table of her namesake shop. Just down the alley in another unassuming roughhewn wood building is the broom maker shop. Howard demonstrates how he crafts genuine Shaker tradition brooms as he has for decades, one cannot help but sense the reverence and commitment to continuing what is becoming a lost art in today’s fast paced culture.
Wellington has added a 1927 Montgomery Ward House called the Anis House to showcase exactly what a home would look like during this time. Visitors will learn about why everything was ironed in the summer kitchen from socks to underwear to shirts. The working wood stove still has the capability to bake pies and cookies, should an interpreter be available.
Before covid affected the Farm Park, these interpreters might be found in many of the shops, dressed in period clothing and sharing what each implement found in the buildings would be used for. Wellington now has a desperate call for volunteer interpreters, and the limited (mostly family) staff are willing to teach the period’s information and how to share with others.
Even as the Farm Park finds its way forward with less manpower, the experience of learning and stepping back into time isn’t lost.
The walk into the park is set back from the main road and entrance building by a field with human powered machines crafted for “punkin’ chuckin’”, an event held each fall where visitors get to experience the thrill of launching pumpkins across the field. The farm also curates seasonal adventures such as a local favorite large corn maze and jack o’lantern hay rides. This October the farm will host a weekend long Civil War reenactment to accompany the festivities, a golden opportunity for locals and visitors to have a bonus experience while stepping back into time.
From the admission building offering hand crafted soaps, cold water, and other items made on site, to the friendly goats outside and museum steps away, guests will start to sense a shift to a time. They will experience the way days were used was intentional and contributed to a whole that gave space for many to create homes and community.
Families love that there is space for their children to wander and move. Howard and other tour guides welcome and invite conversations with young guests to translate how life today looked like in the 1930’s, some things the same, while others quite different. Most apparent to anyone who takes the time to visit the farm is reverence to learning from the past. Wellington tells the stories and showcases the evidence of inventions and innovations that are an important thread in the tapestry of our time.
