Lake Houston Sentinel - News
Pioneer Day brings homestead to life at Jones Park
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| Children in 1880s East Texas invented their own entertainment with homemade games. |
Jesse H. Jones Park & Nature Center hosts the 19th annual Pioneer Day Nov. 8 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visitors can learn what life was like for early East Texas settlers and how they survived without modern day conveniences like refrigerators, gasoline-powered vehicles, or electricity.
Enjoy a day of old-time fun as the park comes alive through the sights, sounds, and flavors of settler life. Visitors of all ages have the opportunity to enjoy a variety of demonstrations, seldom-seen crafts and skills, sample old-fashioned foods, and enjoy many other activities. The Jones Park outdoor stages will feature folk music performed by various groups throughout the day. Festivities are featured in the green space at the front of the park and at the Redbud Hill Homestead.
Staff members and volunteers transform Redbud Hill Homestead into a living, working settlement of the early 1800s. Samples of cornbread from the bread oven, jerky from the smokehouse, and stick bread and hoecakes cooked over an open fire are available.
Volunteers in the wood shop demonstrate how useful tools, furniture, and other items were fashioned out of wood, while volunteers in the blacksmith shop show off their metal working skills. Don Roe and other members of Roe’s Rangers demonstrate black powder weapons of all types including pistols and cannons. Other pioneer skills to be demonstrated include quilting, leather working, lye soap making, gardening, American Indian crafts, and much more. Visitors can even try on period costumes and have their picture taken in a variety of settings.
Youth activities include making beeswax candles, writing with a quill, shelling and grinding corn, washing clothes on a washboard, and churning butter, which are typical chores of children in the 1830s. Children visiting the park can also listen to American Indian folklore, shoot bows and arrows, make paper bonnets, bead bracelets, or craft cornhusk dolls. Hayrides will be offered from the playground parking lot to the park entrance and from the park entrance to the homestead from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Jesse H. Jones Park & Nature Center, a Harris County Precinct 4 facility under the leadership of Commissioner Jerry Eversole, is located at 20634 Kenswick Drive in Humble. All programs are free of charge and open to the public. Harris County Precinct 4 programs serve people of all ages regardless of socioeconomic level, race, sex, religion, national origin or physical ability. For more information about the park or any of its programs, call 281-446-8588 or visit www.hcp4.net/jones.
Enjoy a day of old-time fun as the park comes alive through the sights, sounds, and flavors of settler life. Visitors of all ages have the opportunity to enjoy a variety of demonstrations, seldom-seen crafts and skills, sample old-fashioned foods, and enjoy many other activities. The Jones Park outdoor stages will feature folk music performed by various groups throughout the day. Festivities are featured in the green space at the front of the park and at the Redbud Hill Homestead.
Staff members and volunteers transform Redbud Hill Homestead into a living, working settlement of the early 1800s. Samples of cornbread from the bread oven, jerky from the smokehouse, and stick bread and hoecakes cooked over an open fire are available.
Volunteers in the wood shop demonstrate how useful tools, furniture, and other items were fashioned out of wood, while volunteers in the blacksmith shop show off their metal working skills. Don Roe and other members of Roe’s Rangers demonstrate black powder weapons of all types including pistols and cannons. Other pioneer skills to be demonstrated include quilting, leather working, lye soap making, gardening, American Indian crafts, and much more. Visitors can even try on period costumes and have their picture taken in a variety of settings.
Youth activities include making beeswax candles, writing with a quill, shelling and grinding corn, washing clothes on a washboard, and churning butter, which are typical chores of children in the 1830s. Children visiting the park can also listen to American Indian folklore, shoot bows and arrows, make paper bonnets, bead bracelets, or craft cornhusk dolls. Hayrides will be offered from the playground parking lot to the park entrance and from the park entrance to the homestead from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Jesse H. Jones Park & Nature Center, a Harris County Precinct 4 facility under the leadership of Commissioner Jerry Eversole, is located at 20634 Kenswick Drive in Humble. All programs are free of charge and open to the public. Harris County Precinct 4 programs serve people of all ages regardless of socioeconomic level, race, sex, religion, national origin or physical ability. For more information about the park or any of its programs, call 281-446-8588 or visit www.hcp4.net/jones.
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