Woman's Work

It has been interesting to see what a woman's life was like in 1880.  I am drawn irresistibly to the old ways of doing things but I also recognize the strenuous physical life that was endured by everyone at the time, men and women alike.  We took over three hundred photos today and I wish I could share others with you but I will end with the following:

There was church to nourish the soul...

and kittens to love...

with fine things to strive for...

and Long Horns for meat on the table...

along with a villain here and there to keep things interesting!

One Room Home

Seeing "the way we were" is an interesting exercise in recognizing just how much work it took to maintain a household in 1880.  Like the one room school houses, homes were one room or two from what we saw reconstructed here at the "1880 Town" today.  Live, eat, sleep and cook all in one room as you can see below:

1880 Town

South Dakota's Original "1880 Town" is situated near Midland, S.D.  Gathering original buildings from the local area after being given an abandoned movie set, Richard Hullinger began the creation of this town in 1969.  The movie set had accumulated turn of the century period buildings and artifacts for a movie that was never completed.  Thousands of additional unique relics and buildings have been collected with authentic contents reflecting the time period from 1880 to 1920 since the project was started.  The main street above reaches the central point of town-one of two churches with a homestead (pictured below) up the hill beyond.

The transportation of the time from horses to a buggy or wagons and a stage coach are all represented.  The double wagons in the barn were actually used by Kevin Costner in the movie "Dances With Wolves" and for some years the horse Costner rode in the movie called "Cisco" was onsite here for some time until the horse died here just a few years ago.

Trains were able to travel across the plains after the completion of the Northern Transcontinental Railway in 1883.  This became a major method of transportation during the time this town represents. Residents soon learned the area's strong winds could produce reliable power for drawing up precious water.

We enjoyed ourselves here for over two hours today and this was the reason for spending the night here 22 miles west of Murdo, South Dakota at a very nice KOA.  Both have made this a very enjoyable day.