Weekend Wonders with Bob and Lynn

Every day at Locust Grove is a little bit different, but the weekends are an especially fun time.  While our weekdays see a lot of visitors, weekends are anything but slow! This Saturday, we hosted a den of Boy Scouts who were especially interested (or grossed out) to learn that pig’s bladders were often boiled and blown up for use as toys by the Croghan children. And that’s only one of the cool things you’ll learn if you hang out with our weekend staff! We have a wonderful corps of docents and volunteers, and a few of them can only be found at Locust Grove on the weekend, so I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce you to two of our weekend faces.

Bob Pilkington has been a volunteer at Locust Grove since 1990, and is one of our longest serving docents. If you take a tour with Bob on a Saturday afternoon, you’ll learn everything you’d ever want to know about Locust Grove, and the Croghan and Clark families. Before he was a docent, however, Bob dressed up like George Rogers Clark in the winter to greet guests ! Although his late wife, Audrey Pilkington, had been a docent at Locust Grove since the 1970s, Bob didn’t know much about the property until he had to learn about George. I think Bob should reprise his role as GRC this winter. Won’t you help me persuade him?

Try to stump Bob with a question about George Rogers Clark. I dare you.

One of our Weekend Managers, Lynn Lamb, had a special connection to Locust Grove even before he joined the staff. Lynn is a reenactor, and has participated in several of Locust Grove’s military encampments, such as the one we host during the Market Fair. Lynn started reenacting in 1977 and has he says, once he got the bug, “it was all over.” Lynn has reenacted every major American military conflict from the French and Indian War to the more recent Vietnam War, although he now focuses his energies on serving as a American Revolution-era militiaman for Logan’s Company here in Kentucky. If you want to learn more about the life of a reenactor or what it was like to serve in the military in the 18th century, Lynn is your man.

Although he currently participates in Revolutionary reenactments, Lynn’s favorite era is the Civil War.

When we’re not too busy on the weekends, I tend to practice my cup and ball skills. My current record is seven in a row, but once we’ve recovered from the Fall Antiques Fair, I’ll begin to work up to eight in a row. If cup and ball ever becomes an Olympic sport, I’ll be so ready.

Patience, fierce concentration, and an expert flip of the wrist lead to victory.

This weekend also saw an exciting development in our ongoing dairy project: The gate was delivered and stained!

Installing a gate in the dairy is one of the final steps in its completion. It will help keep the artifacts on display safe while allowing guests to step into the dairy to experience its clean, cool atmosphere.

Once it’s properly installed, we’ll be able to finish setting up the building as it would have looked circa 1790! It’s going to look so historically accurate, I can’t even stand it.

There’s never a dull moment at Locust Grove, even on Saturday and Sunday, and you’ve only met a few of our Weekend Wonders. And if there is a break in the action, you can always enjoy a Coke with your new BFF, George Rogers Clark.

I remain, as ever, your faithful blogger,

Hannah

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