Tails of Heaven Scent Farms

Posted By Elaine on December 7, 2009

We went back in time this week. The time is 1787 and William Bowen has just come to Kasper Mansker’s Station. Kasper Mansker was a Long Hunter. He would go on hunting expeditions for up to a year at a time. He came here from Virginia with his wife and set up this station. In 1787 we are still in North Carolina, not in Tennessee as we are today.

Block House

This is the block house. This was used to defend the fort. It would house single men, kind of like a bunkhouse. The small square openings that go all around the building were gun ports and it is designed for the upper level to be larger than the lower level for defense purposes. There are two block houses at this fort. The wooden fence around the compound also had gun ports in them. There were many Indians who lived in the area at this time and they were not happy about the settlers coming on their land.

Fort entrance

There are three small cabins, two of which have lofts in them much like I would picture on “Little House on the Prairie” . There is a tool/storage building and two blockhouses. 40 settlers came over the mountains to settle here. They left in October and arrived Christmas day. Their first block house was finished in March. Our guide told us that in order to replicate this station it took 2 and a half years to build what the settlers built in 3 months without power tools. I think the settlers were a hardier lot than we are today.

Our Guide

Everyone was in period costume and since it was a Living History event a good number of these people were spending the weekend there living as if they were in the 18th century. The temperature Friday night was 22 degrees! These crazy brave people had a wonderful Yuletide program Saturday evening. The boys got to show Quinn all about what they learned the day before. So much fun. We started out at the Bowen House. Capt. William Bowen served with Andrew Jackson in the Revolutionary War. He had a very beautiful Plantation house. There were 4 rooms and a kitchen with a smokehouse. Very elaborate for the time period. The brick walls are 17 inches thick. There was a lady playing the Celtic Harp, also called a Folk Harp, in one of the rooms. Very beautiful music.

Back side of Bowen Plantation

They also had a story teller in one of the cabins Saturday night. He told about how hard it would have been and how little they had but that they were happy. Everything that they cared about was in that little cabin. Mom, Dad, and probably 6-8 children. When you were inside the fort walls you were safe. If Dad had to hunt he had to leave the fort and was not sure if he would be back. Their library consisted of a Bible… hope, in a very scary world. Then he read the Christmas story out of the Bible. It was a wonderful ending to a great night for my family.

Y’all come back now!

Categories: Family, Field trips, homesteading, schooling
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