Danville-Neel Pioneer Day
Clif Knight
Hartselle Enquirer
A living history lesson was created for Danville-Neel Elementary School students on Friday as volunteers dressed in antique-like clothing and demonstrated many of the skills and practices that were commonplace 100 years ago.
The school‘s annual Pioneer Day celebration offered students more than 25 learning stations, which were set up and operated by volunteers inside classrooms and on school grounds. For two hours, classes from kindegarten through fifth grade, rotated from one station to the next.
Students kicked off the fun-filled day by climbing abroad tractor-pulled trailers and riding around the school playground several times. Afterwards, they spent 10 minutes at each learning station to see and hear about a different aspect of pioneer living.
For example, they watched Waylon Alexander and Don Clark rendering lard from chunks of pork fat, observed Martha Shipley and Donna Brackeen stitching a baby quilt and tasted kettle corn popped by Robert and Susan Hester.
In classrooms, they learned how to make small dolls from corn shucks and how to churn butter from representatives of Burritt Museum in Huntsville and how to preserve food from Tom Broadfoot.
Youth musicians Kia Mause, Garrett Mason, Ben Mause and Chandler Brown entertained students in the school lobby.
Other learning stations included The One Room School House, Rainy Day Room, Wood carving and chopping, Crocheting, Spinning, PTO silent auction, Soap Making, Indian Exhibit, Animal Farm, Chair Caning, Blacksmithing, Bow Hunting, Square Dancing, Hoe cake cooking, Cooking over an open flame, Roping and music.
Following the activities, a delicious Thanksgiving dinner was served in the school cafeteria to over 800 students and guests.
“This is the biggest meal we have all year,” said cafeteria manager Lesia Bowen.
“We started cooking the day before and prepared food for 800 to 1,000 people. Last year, we fed over 700.”
The meal consisted of about 180 pounds of roasted turkey, three cases of chicken breasts, 15 large pans of cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, green beans, mashed potatoes, broccoli salad, Hawaiian wedding cake and over 1,100 homemade rolls
“We had about 20 volunteers helping this year.” she pointed out. “Several of them are members of Shady Grove Church and some have been coming for as long as 15 years.
There’s no way we could do it without their help.”
Principal Tara Murphy said the success of Pioneer Day is a reflection of the excellent support the school gets from the community.
“We have such talented parents and grandparents,” she said. “They’re always happy to share their pioneer experiences and skills with the students.”