June 2nd, 2019:
Today was an eventful, fun filled day! We departed from our
hotel in Powell, TN around 0845 and traveled about 15 minutes to the
Appalachian History Museum. Once here we lead ourselves (with a map of course)
on a self-guided tour of the museum where we learned a lot and got to see a lot
of things first hand. Before coming here, I did not know very much and did not
have much knowledge of the Appalachia. However, after leaving the museum I felt
that I had gained a lot of knowledge. The biggest thing that stood out to me
was how different things use to be. Medical equipment, tools, houses, schools,
and jobs were all so much different than they are today. Seeing how different
things were made me think about how blessed we are to have the things we have.
The Appalachian culture is actually really unique and I saw
this first hand at the museum. The most unique thing to me is that they work
for almost everything they have. These people grow their own foods, chop their
own wood to use for heat sources, and have their own meat houses. In just one
area of the museum there was a house that had a dairy house, meat house,
fireplace for heat, and only two bedrooms. They work hard and are proud of
everything they have and bring home. To me that is the most unique thing a
culture can have.
My highlight take away from this experience was how small
the medical house use to be. Knowing that they had so little medicines compared
to what we have now makes me realize how critical diseases and illnesses use to
be to them, because they did not have access to medicines like we do today.
Tomorrow will be another busy day and I
can’t wait to share my experience with you!
