Camping

This past weekend I went camping with a group from my church. We went to Watkins Mill State Park. It was the perfect weekend for camping. Not too cool or hot. The beautiful surroundings were a big plus. On Saturday we went on a tour of the woolen mill. It is the last woolen mill still standing in the US. After sitting for years it was bought at an auction for $650.00 by two men. They renovated it and opened the mill as a museum. In later years the state bought the mill, the Watkins home, and surrounding land to create the State Park. Our tour guide was great and told us all the little stories and facts about the mill. Let me just say that was a very unsafe place to work!The women running one of the machines had to rethread a spool every few minutes. To save on time the women would “kiss” the spool to pull the thread through. This spool was handled by many people in the mill. This spool was called the “kiss of death”because the women who used it were so prone to becoming ill from the germs on the spool. Our guide told us about the wool dying area. He held up a glass jar for all the little children to see. It was full of dead bugs. These bugs create the best red dye known at the time. The dye from these bugs was used for the wool and have also been used for red M&M candies. (Yuck!) What amazed me about this mill was the workers had no electricity which meant no light. The area for the dye man was so dark and this was a sunny day. That would have been a difficult task! In Missouri during the hot humid summers the workers couldn’t open the windows. They wanted it to be as humid as possible in the mill to help with the wool production. The mill was so loud when it was running it could be heard 2 miles away. It ran on a steam engine.We then took a tour of the Watkins house. One of the daughters lived in this big house until age 92 I believe. There was never any electricity, running water, or a bathroom. Mrs. Watkins had her summer kitchen built very close to the house. The roof actually attached to the main house. Cooking began at 4:30 to 6:00 in themorning. The men would usually eat first, then the children would come in, then the men. They had a very large household with 6 children, grandmother, servants, and mill workers living in their home. Mr. Watkins had a smokehouse built, kept bees, and had a huge outdoor drying rack/shed built to dry fruit. They had a massive orchard. As our home tour guide told of all the work that needed to be done each day I was very thankful I live today. No wonder they died young between illness and hard labor! It was mentioned a number of times through the mill and in the home how common sickness and death was in those days. The children would play funeral with their dolls. It made me realize what a blessing God had given the Israelites in the Old Testament with portions of the Law of Moses. God gave them instructions on purification,cleanliness, and unclean issues (see Leviticus 15 as an example) that were to be strictly obeyed. It was until the past few hundred years that the reasoning behind God’s laws became known in science. Germs, bacteria, and viruses were discovered. Now we know why it is important to eat clean meat, to clean your home after the plague has entered it, or wash your clothes and hands after touching someone who has an infection. Amazing how a historical tour can remind me how awesome God is! Later that day our group went around the 3.5 mile trail at the lake. At one point Iwas walking with a little girl, Nanna, who is quite the talker. She was running , picking up acorns for treasures, and swinging her arms as much as she could. She insisted her Daddy told her she could run faster if she swung her arms. Once she was worn out she went back to the stroller for a ride. It was beautiful on thetrail. Once it was quiet I was just walking along and praying. I love to be out in the woods to pray. There are no distractions! We had a church service in the amphitheater Sunday morning then left for home. I didn’t want to leave. It’s wonderful to stop and have a retreat from the busy days and reflect on life.