Relive Ste. Genevieve County's Rural Heritage

Ste. Genevieve's rich agricultural heritage is the focus of the Rural Heritage Day celebration on October 22, and organizers hope it will be a reminder of a simpler, if harder, way of life.

"I think people will be amazed to see how much time and effort it took to accomplish some of the things we now take for granted and find easy," says Luann Miller. "For example, today we drive everywhere without thinking much about it, and for the most part, only having to remember to put gas in the tank. In the 1800s and 1900s, a trip to the store meant pulling the horses in from pasture, harnessing the team and hooking up a wagon."

In the same way, other daily chores were infinitely more difficult.

Many, if not most, everyday items had to be handmade. Food was home-grown and prepared in kitchens that lacked labor-saving appliances.

"It's interesting to remember that the conveniences we take for granted----universal electric power, grocery stores, the telephone, central heating, computers----haven't always been available," Miller says. "Can you imagine relying on making your own soap? Or plowing with a team?"

Miller says hard work was something everyone took for granted a century-plus ago.

"I think understanding what life was like 100 or 150 years ago gives us a new appreciation of the kind of people our ancestors were,"

Miller says. "Life was very hard, but they survived and made good lives for their families by working together as a community, planting and bringing in crops, raising houses and barns, and sharing both joy and adversity. "In doing so, they passed a valuable legacy on to us, and Rural Heritage Day is a way of remembering that."

The event includes a wide variety of activities designed to turn back the clock. Among the highlights are demonstrations of blacksmithing, blacksmithing, soap making, threshing, apple cider and apple butter production, sugarcane pressing and sorghum cooking, beekeeping, trapping and fur tanning, tatting and quilting, and wool spinning.

Antique farm equipment will be on parade, then displayed and demonstrated throughout the event, and magnificent draft horses and other farm animals will provide terrific photo opps for camera buffs.

There also will be plenty of opportunities for hands-on experiences for adults and kids, including a chance to try plowing the old-fashioned way, and Civil War period games for children. Those who want can try their hand at driving a plow or wagon team.

Down-home music, a period fashion demonstration and show, a "Spirit Reunion" at historic Memorial Cemetery featuring actors portraying some of the town's most prominent early citizens, and a pumpkin pie contest are part of the mix for the day. Old-fashioned food will be available at event headquarters on St. Mary's Road.

Horse- and antique tractor-drawn shuttles will carry passengers to activity sites. Visitors may "park and ride" from the downtown area.

Maps and schedules will be available on the shuttles. Aside from the food concession, most activities are free.

Rural Heritage will be held concurrent with a fascinating exhibit from the Smithsonian Institution, titled "The Way We Worked," which focuses on how Americans have worked over the last century. The exhibit is mounted at the Ste. Genevieve Welcome Center through November 5.

Ste. Genevieve is located one hour south of St. Louis, four miles from Interstate 55. For more information call the Welcome Center at

1-800-373-7007 or 883-7097.