The Home Place

We spent last week in Martin and on Thursday we took a trip and visited The Home Place at Land Between the Lakes... it was SO much fun!

As children both Russ and I visited The Home Place on several occasions, and Russ more than me as he and his family camped there quite often.  I am guessing some our West Tennessee blogging friends have fond memories of visiting The Home Place, too. :)

We had a great time making what we hope to be the first of many memories at LBL!

We left Martin around 8:30 and made our first stop at Trollingers in Paris to pick up our BBQ lunch which we later enjoyed on our picnic.  Trollingers did not disappoint and as always it was delicious!

We stopped at a picnic area not far from The Home Place and it will always be a very memorable experience for us as it was our first family picnic.  The boys seemed to enjoy eating outside, especially Lawson.  Emmitt was slightly distracted and didn't eat as much as the rest of us... we, however, enjoyed enough for him.

As we were cleaning up our picnic mess, I looked under the table for a quick check only to notice the two rocks below... they were the most special rocks I had ever seen.  They instantly made me smile, and yes, I did bring them home. :)

Helicopters... I'm sure, or at least I hope, you know about helicopters.  Russ and I "flew" many of them during our childhood days and guess who learned about them while we ate... Lawson, of course!  Who knew that these little leaf thingamajigs would be so enjoyable for kids? :)

And more love from nature was discovered... in the leaves!

And amongst our purchases at Trollingers, the boys got to pick out one treat. 

Emmitt chose gummy bears...

...and Lawson a super size tootsie roll.

=The entrance to The Home Place=

The Home Place is a "living museum" and depicts a farm settlement from the 1800's.

This cabin was our first stop, and I must say that Lawson was extremely cautious and begged with tears not to go inside.  Of course, once we finally convinced him to go in he loved it.

These corn bundles were located across from the cabin.

The Spring House was built along the naturally cold spring where items were placed to keep cold... Once again, Lawson very cautiously walked towards the little house.

The Blacksmith at work... Dad was more interested than Lawson.

:)

The pigs were rolling in the mud to keep cool... did I mention it was hot?  The heat has been against us in our outings this fall.  On Wednesday it was a comfortable 75.  On Thursday, our visit to LBL, it was 88.  I was like seriously?  I had the boys in long sleeves, but fortunately threw short sleeve shirts in the diaper bag.  We changed mid-afternoon.

I suppose I'm trying to say that I didn't blame the pigs for rolling in the mud. :)

And then the sheep.  For some reason, I am fond of them. 

The boys were quite fond of them, too.

Somehow, this picture is slightly out of order, but this is broom corn {hanging to dry} and it is/was used to make brooms.  I'm unsure of whether or not is still used in the making of brooms.

Back to the sheep... the sheep were being held in a fenced area as there was a large group of first graders visiting on a field trip.  Once the first graders had departed, this nice man released them to freely roam.  We felt so special as he came to release them right in front of us.  The boys were SO excited.

I want to add that as the man was letting them out, I asked Lawson if he thought he was a shepherd... he wrinkled his nose, tilted his head to the right, and quickly said, "No mom, he is just a man."  :)

We got to see them up closely... so exciting for the boys!

Beautifully grazing in the back of the farm.

This is the tobacco barn and strangely enough, the smell of the tobacco smoking instantly reminded us of fall, and smelled kind of good.

The "shepherd" was now tending to the tobacco...

And lastly, a few snapshots from our visit...

Ten minutes after we left they were both out... a quiet ride to Madisonville, Kentucky where we went to visit Uncle Jim and Aunt Erin.  We were excited to see their new house and also to get a tour of Madisonville where we finished the evening at a great local restaurant.

We safely arrived back in Martin around 9:15... we made a full day of it, indeed!

It was a fun and much needed break!

If you are ever visiting Land Between the Lakes in the Tennessee/Kentucky area, I would encourage you to visit The Home Place at Land Between the Lakes.  You could certainly see it in a little over an hour, and I can assure you that it would be worth your stop!

Happy Monday and thanks for reading!