Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2015 - 42

melted butter over the biscuit
tops before you bake
them.
The folks who drive an
hour just for breakfast or
dinner at this out-of-theway
restaurant with sloping
floors and a stream flowing
underneath usually mention
the biscuits. They like the
legendary "healing" water
that comes out of a spigot
behind the restaurant, but
really, they come here to
eat...a lot.
Shatley Springs' specialties
pop up in the conversation
- sweet rutabagas
seasoned with ham and
bacony, peppered collard
greens. The slaw, made with
local cabbages and
McMillan's family recipe,
elicits requests for seconds,
even thirds, at the familystyle
tables. Bean cookery
begins the old-fashioned
way, with an overnight soak,
and grits cook up gently in a
double boiler. Chicken,
ham, roast beef - they all
emerge tender and flavorful
from Shatley Springs'
sprawling kitchen.
"Mother was the first
cook I had here," McMillan
says, shrugging. "This is just
the country food we ate
growing up. Now it fills up
the dining room every
weekend."
SHATLEY SPRINGS INN
407 Shatley Springs Rd,
Crumpler, NC 28617;
336-982-2236;
shatleysprings.com
Eat all 3 meals at the inn, 7 days a
week, April--November
Stay at Shatley Springs Inn's log
cabin 4 beds, $70/night.Or camp
pondside cottages$45-50/ night
1-4 beds -Su Clauson-Wicker
42 | BlueRidgeCountry.com
includes log sawing, pole
climbing, horseshoe pitching, a
biscuit eating contest and
more. Meeks Park, Blairsville.
706-745-4745.
KENTUCKY
WINTER ADVENTURE
WEEKEND, JAN. 24-25.
For both beginners and
advanced, this weekend is
packed with trips and
workshops for rock climbing,
kayaking, caving, campfire
cooking and much more.
Carter Caves SRP, Olive Hill.
606-286-4411.
KENTUCKY BLACK BEAR
FESTIVAL, MAY 9-10.
In addition to games, music,
food, arts and crafts and
carnival rides, festival attendees
can see live bear and learn
about bear safety. A petting
zoo features educational
sessions to discover how to
care for farm animals.
Cumberland.
606-589-5812.
HATFIELD MCCOY
HERITAGE DAYS, AUG.
28-30.
Craftsmen will display their
skills, including basket weaving
and quilting. Event also
includes opportunities to learn
more about the Hatfield's and
McCoy's, music, food and other
activities. Pikeville.
606-432-5504.
MARYLAND
47TH ANNUAL HERITAGE
DAYS FESTIVAL, JUNE
13-14.
Celebrate history with tours
and museum exhibits,
demonstrations of 18th century
games, a mini-encampment
and more. Cumberland.
301-722-0037.
WENCHING AT
SMITHFIELD
PLANTATION,
BLACKSBURG,
VIRGINIA
Su Clauson-Wicker, third from
right, "protests" the sin of
gambling in Lewisburg, W.Va.
I wanted to be a common
working woman, an indentured
servant - a wench.
That's my role at the colonial
Smithfield Plantation,
where I point out the gaudy
teal paint that signaled the
Preston family's wealth and
the rope jack used to firm
up their beds. I like playing
a servant, not wearing
waist-cinching stays and
being privy to the family
secrets. I cup my hand over
my mouth and blather away
like the gossipy house servant
I am, about the gentlemen
visitors' gambling
debts, marriage proposals
wordlessly refused and
sweet poems written by the
master of the house.
To portray this wench,
I've had to dig into 18thcentury
life, both into the
recorded facts, such as
Colonel Preston's role in the
Revolutionary War, and
into behind the scenes
minutia, such as the number
of baths folks took in
the winter (0), which
Preston wore the most
makeup (the dad, William),
and Smithfield's major cash
crop in the early days
(hemp).
What I do is many
things: education, history,
role-playing and Halloween
year-round. When I step
across the hand-hewn floor,
the 1774 plantation
becomes my whole world.
To get into character, I
might carry medicinal
herbs snipped from the
kitchen garden or a piece of
wool that needs carding. I
imagine myself as a scared
young English woman in
this strange, wild country,
so I ask my visitors if
they've seen any Shawnees.
I want them to strain their
ears for those war whoops,
to scan the fields for smoke.
As an interpreter, I want to
impart some sense of the
hardships and danger faced
by people who settled here
at the edge of civilized
society.
These colonials - their
men may wear face powder,
but they're no wimps - that
I've learned from being a
colonial character.
http://www.shatleysprings.com http://www.BlueRidgeCountry.com
Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2015

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