DOVER, Tenn. – The Land Between the Lakes Recreation Area is a vast expanse with a lot to see and do. The recreation area is in both Kentucky and Tennessee.  Those who enjoy early farming history will love the Homeplace 1850s Farm. Located outside of Dover, the farm shares what life was like on an 1850s farm. The Homeplace represents a two-generation farm with a museum inside the visitor’s center, where the visit begins.

After checking in at the museum/gift shop, visitors can head out, and step back in time and take a walk on the farm. The farm is an example of an Upper South “yeoman” or middle-class family farm. The brochure they provide states, “Built for the hot climate, many features identify this as a southern farm: separate animal barns and pens, breezeways, and covered porches to provide shade for both man and beast.

The Homeplace features a variety of buildings. There is a blacksmith shop and chicken house. The chicken house served not only as a haven for chickens, but also for ducks. While the chickens would sleep on poles and roosts, ducks made their nests and slept on the ground where they laid their eggs. At the farm they use heritage breeds that include Dominque chickens and Black Cayuga ducks.

Visitors can imagine the farmer putting up corn in the corn crib. It took an array of buildings to support the farm family. There were living quarters like the double pen house onsite. It has two spaces, one for the family, and then a hallway that separates the space where the parlor was located. There are a few home examples. There is also a single pen house and crib known as the first-generation house.

For a water supply, the farm has a spring house. The one they have was the original water source for the farm. It was dismantled in 2015 when they tried to revive the spring, but sadly it was unsuccessful.

Fences tell the story of how the livestock was held. They offer examples of rail, paling (or river board) and split-rail snake fencing. They had a saying, “Rural fences were ‘horse high, bull strong, and pig tight!’”

The sweeping views on the farm are lovely depicting the average 40 acres of corn and information about tobacco that served as a cash crop. There was also a garden with heirloom vegetables that was used by the family with extras sold in town. The farmers in this area used the Ohio and Mississippi rivers as access to send cash crops to urban markets. At the Homeplace, they have a garden crib that stored bean poles, hoes, and other garden tools. They use only heirloom seeds dating from before the Civil War.

Besides the garden, there is also an orchard which every farmer in this time would have. The orchard at the Homeplace includes Bartlett pears, Horse Apple, and Sheep Nose apple to name a few.

It was interesting to learn that often hogs were free range and ate acorns, chestnuts, and hickory nuts. Then, after fattening them up over the summer, they were placed in hog enclosures to be fattened for winter slaughter. The museum information indicates that Tennessee was the number one hog producer in the U.S. during the 1850s. The smoke house was where they kept their supply of meat, and they did this by dry salt curing to preserve the meat. Smoking provided the flavor.

Sheep also were free range and used mostly for wool. At the Homeplace, they have Border Leicester sheep.

Work on the farm was animal powered, and mules played a big role in field work.  They were the draft animal of choice and weighed around 1,500 pounds. A combination of a horse mother and donkey father, they were hardier and more tolerant of the heat than their horse counterparts. Along with the mules, oxen were teamed together to do the heaviest of farm work. Visitors can view the woodshed where oxen pulled logs from the forest to be used for the fireplace and wood stove. There also is an ox barn, and crib providing shelter and a manger for feeding.

The barns are beautiful. The stock barn has three stalls with a tack room for storing harnesses, saddles, and feed. There is a breezeway and loft. On the farm they have livestock that include rare and endangered breeds offering a true view into agricultural livestock history. The tobacco barn served the two cash crops, tobacco, and corn. In the museum, they explain the process of dark-fired tobacco’s curing process where farmers “fired” and “cured” the crop by using smoldering fires in floor trenches of the barns. While being used in the 1850s, a decade later, it was a major crop.

Every farm must have a place for tools, and the Homeplace has its own tool barn.  Antique tool and implement collectors will enjoy perusing the equipment in this cool barn where they had cribs with plows, wagons, and buggies along with a variety of tools and implements.