Smoky Mountains National Park - First Visit - Part 5

This is the last installment of the Smoky Mountains Mountain Farm Museum.  In order to have a homestead, you needed a water source, so they were located around either rivers, creeks, or ponds.

Homesteads did not have electricity so they used a hand pump system that suctioned the water up through a well lined with stone.  By pumping the hand pump you are able to draw up water to use in cooking, bathing, drinking, etc…


Read this sign, because it gives valuable information if the grid would ever go down.  Sorry but generators won’t help after the first week or two of a grid collapse.

The Springhouse.

Inside the Springhouse.

Outside the Springhouse.
The last subject I want to discuss on this topic are the Gourds.  I forgot to post the pic by the garden of the Gourd trees.  The Gourds serve as bird houses.  I suppose they were used to attract birds whom are predators of insects.  They were essentially using natural pesticides.

This concludes The Smoky Mountain Mountain Farm Museum.