Luray Caverns Virginia - Heritage Village (Not Just Caverns #4)

...continuing on our tour of The Shenandoah Heritage Village at Luray Caverns.  We took even more photos as we explored the exhibits in the Luray Valley Museum...part of the Heritage Village complex.  I edited the remaining photos...or perhaps the term should be I curated the remaining photos and picked 3 that were more unusual of perhaps just more interesting to me...

This is a Henkel Proofing Press...ca. 1840 from Ohio.  Basically, proofing presses help identify errors in design or print placement before committing to a larger print run, saving time and money.  That big typeset case at the left brings me back to my youth when I helped in the family rubber stamp and printing operation.  I spent a lot of time setting type and spacers in forms for printing.  That big inked roller 'ball' would be rolled over the type and the paper creating a document or page for a book.

In  1806 the Henkel brothers started one of the first German language presses in the South.  Their father was a prominent Lutheran minister.  Many of the people living in the Shenandoah Valley shared a German heritage and early Henkel materials were printed in German...and then later in English.  The Henkel Press became an important source for devotional materials, newspapers, song books and children's books.  The press was more than a business venture as it was a way to preserve the German culture, language and religious beliefs.

This is a flax brake. (ca. 1750 - 1800) Flax brakes were used to soften stalks of the flax plant to make the material to make linens.  Flax was widely grown in the 1700s and early 1800s.  Flax was eventually replaced by southern cotton.

Producing linen yarn from the flax plant is both labor-intensive and time consuming.  To begin, the hard outer coating of flax stems is removed by rotting, drying and then breaking to extract the useable fibers inside the stems.  A flax brake was the tool used to 'break' or remove that outer coating.  Bundles of flax stems are repeatedly pounded between the hinged upper and lower bars of the tool.

This photo shows a Civil War Camp Shower.  These units were developed in the 1850s but this one was discarded and then found on the battlefield after the Fredericksburg campaign.  It was likely only used by high-ranking officers...as the average soldier either bathed in a pond or stream...or just didn't bathe for long periods of time.  

This camp shower could be used with either hot or cold water and it's height could be adjusted to fit the officer who was taking the shower.  The unit actually has retained some of its original canvas.  A true luxury indeed as in the 1860s very few homes even had indoor plumbing.  As compact as it is, it looks like a tight fit for any 'plumpish' officers.

This is the Shenk Farm House.  It is original to the site.  The back portion of the house was built in 1876 and the front was added in 1901.  Before 1899 the land was owned and farmed by an African-American family, the Perry family.  The Luray website states that this particular home isn't open to the public as it needs restoration.

If this photo isn't from the kitchen inside the Shenk farmhouse, then my photos are totally 'out of wack'!  Perhaps the home has been closed since we visited back in early October.  In any case, this kitchen is certainly appropriate for an early 1900s farmhouse.  The stove is a Home Comfort brand.  They were built by the Wrought Iron Store and Range Company of St. Louis between 1900 and 1920.  I also noticed the barrel style butter churn under the window.  I can't tell for sure, but it appears that a small jar type (Dazey) butter churn is located on the top shelf above the stove.

This Blacksmith Shop dates back to 1850.  The chestnut log building was moved intact from a farm near Lynchburg Virginia.  If you didn't have a blacksmith in your vicinity in the 1800s, life was much more challenging.  Blacksmithing was vital to everyday life before 1900.  Most iron tools, implements used in the homes and farms...including farm equipment and wagons, were made by blacksmiths.

This is the 1846 Meeting House at the Shenandoah Heritage Village.  This heavy timbered and brick structure was a meeting house for Mennonites and 'Dunkards'.  It was moved in one piece from a site 3 miles from its location in the Village.  I had no idea who the Dunkards were... I now know that they were also known as the Old German Baptist Brethren, a conservative Anabaptist denomination.

During the Civil War, both Union and Confederate soldiers found shelter in this building.  Proof of this is provided by the signatures and graffiti found on the interior walls of the structure.  A Union soldier from Indiana wrote "Passed through Luray at 4 PM.  Stopped for the night at the Dunker church.  Got straw for our beds.

This small looking home is full of surprises.  Dating back to the mid-1700s, the Willy House is an unusual surviving example of a 'townhouse' from the Colonial Shenandoah Valley.  It was originally located in downtown Woodstock Virginia but it was taken down to make way for an apartment complex.  It's named for Reverend Bernard Willy, a Swiss-Reformed Lutheran Church Minister who lived in the home from the late 1780s until 1810.   

This home is surprisingly large.  The photos above are from the main floor as viewed from the doorway.  There is another level above this one...probably used for a bedroom or bedrooms.  The furnishings are appropriate for the time period.  But, wait, there's more!

I failed to take a photo of it from the side or from behind the Willy House which really exposes the fact that it is a 3-level home!  (Sorry for this photo but the Internet wasn't friendly to this download).  So what was on the lower level of the home?

The lower level of the Willy house is revealed as a well equipped and expansive kitchen and work area.  It's safe to say that most work in the home was done in this area.  Plus in the winter it's easy to heat and being partially buried on 3 sides, it might have been a bit cooler in the heat of summer.   Although Laurie and I have toured many old homes, this is the first that we've seen that were designed like this one.

We did not tour this large home...or at least I didn't.  By this time, after all we'd seen, I was tuckered out.  If Laurie looked inside, she didn't take any photos.  This is the Bell House and it dates back to ca 1835.  This yellow pine log home, "Belleview", was built for his family by a local farmer named Reuben P. Bell.  Originally it was located in Kimball Springs near Luray.  

This home was moved piece by piece to its current site where it was reassembled.  Several years after the home had been built, the logs were covered by plaster and then siding.  I personally love it restored to its log cabin origins.  Coincidentally, the site the home is now on once belonged to the Bell family back in the 1800s.

We took photos of the old corn crib but we failed to take photos of the Hamburg Regular School or the "Switzer" barn...another structure that was moved to the Village and reconstructed.  The Switzer or "Burner Barn" now serves as the Heartpine Cafe.

We really enjoyed our time at Luray Caverns.  Even without touring the caverns themselves we had a great time!  While I appreciate our free admission to the non-cavern portion of the Luray Caverns attraction or park, I would have been more than happy to pay a reduced admission charge just to view what we did...

Visit Luray Caverns and its variety of attractions!  Luray Caverns is located at 101 Cave Road in Luray Virginia.  Phone: 540-743-6551.  Website: https://luraycaverns.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them...

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave