This evening we took a drive up to the north part of White County, specifically to Hardman Farm State Historical Site. You can see the three girls posing for a picture over the small creek there. Nana had a wonderful time this evening, strolling along the grounds there, looking around at the older structures and learning a bit about the life of settlers so long ago.
We got there as the sun was setting, and that was initially the plan, so that we could see the lights and join in on any festivities there, as it was somewhat of a Christmas party. But the pandemic and other events soured those plans a little, as there was no ride in a horse drawn carriage, no bonfire, no singers or musicians - only hot chocolate and decorated Christmas trees.
Though disappointing, we still at least enjoyed ourselves, as we've never been to this place before. You can see the house above, a large structure that was such a pleasure to walk through. There was a sense of history walking through a house like this - walking in the footsteps of others so long ago.
We got ourselves a hot chocolate when we first arrived, and you can see the location of this place is quite scenic. Across the way, on their property, is the Indian mound with the gazebo on it, a rather iconic sight in North Georgia. Mt. Yonah towers off in the distance there, still illuminated by the setting sun.
We walked inside and were greeted by three folks there, dressed in Victorian garb and ready to tell us a thing or two about the house. We could never get to the one lady, but the upstairs volunteer was quite happy to answer plenty of questions from Nana, Mom and myself. You can see above how the house was decorated on the inside, beautiful trees adorning each room. Some were lit up with lights, like this one here, and it really was quite nice amongst all the period furniture.
Madison took this picture above, which I love. It's was a chair in the end of a hallway, and the photo has such a mood to it. Madison, as usual, took plenty of pictures on her phone throughout the evening, some of which we have posted here as well.
Don't these rocking chairs look comfortable? This is upstairs, I think, in Anna Ruby's room. She's the same Anna Ruby that the nearby waterfall is named after.
We went upstairs and downstairs, sticking to the middle of the house, and looking into each room to see how they were decorated, and admiring all the antique furniture and objects within, and of course the trees.
These rooms look remarkably cosy. There were a good number of people in the house, all of us sort of in the middle there, so it was a tiny bit claustrophobic, which was sort of odd considering the limitations that were set on the amount of people allowed at the place. Still, we did get to see everything, and there were some lovely trees.
I couldn't tell you each room's occupant, but there were plenty of rooms to see in the house. This has been here all this time - all my life - and so close by too. I just never got around to seeing until now, remarkably. I literally passed by this just about every day, and now that I live so much farther away, we finally visited. But it was a nice trip tonight, certainly.
Ah, look! Christmas crackers! So close and yet out of reach. You know you want to pull on one and see what's inside. Besides trees, there were these and other Christmas accessories, including this small tree on another table.
Madison snapped this picture of a cake set up in one room, and she took this photo of a lamp below as well. She was snapping a few pictures inside the house, some close-ups and other photos from different angles.
All in all, the inside of the house was beautiful, a really comfortable place you'd want to spend a cool December day inside of.
We made our way outside of the house afterwards saying goodbye to the inside of the house, and taking one last look back at the entrance.
Afterwards, we were off walking through the rest of the grounds, looking around as the light faded in the sky. The weather was chilly, but not so cold that we were rushing to and fro. We enjoyed a nice walk about.
This picture shows much of the property, which includes the Indian mound in the distance. I asked about that, how the Indians feel about it, and the obvious answer is that the gazebo wasn't exactly a respectful thing to put on the graves of Indians that pre-date even the Cherokee people. But the gazebo itself marked the mound, and actually protected it from being flattened and used for additional farmland.
Speaking of farms, here's a shot that Madison took inside a stable area, and below is a photo of the servants' quarters. We actually tried out those beds!
They weren't too uncomfortable! Mom and Nana were off ahead while Madison and I were hanging back, taking pictures and looking around, and reading all the placards along the way as we learned about the farm back then.
The horse barn was there, and also a place to keep sixty-something cows. That's a lot of milk! The barn was carefully preserved, making for all kinds of nice photos. Nana and Mommy were exploring a lot of these places as we were following along, not far back.
There were plenty of buildings here, each one labeled, with Nana full of energy and looking around. She enjoyed this day so much. She was talking about it a lot on the way home, talking about how much of a good time she had.
There was a lot to see, a lot of different buildings there, but we were soon finding our way back to the main entrance building when things were done. There's a gift shop there, and of course hot chocolate. We all had some hot chocolate, a gift shop, and bathrooms of course.
Madison enjoyed it too, although it obviously wasn't an amusement park or anything. It was interesting, and there were a few neat places to take pictures of things.
It was a good day today. And a full one, of course. This was just part of it. After the house, we went off to Helen to see the lights they had set up. There were a lot, and there were a lot of cars and traffic too! We got home a little later, and were ready to settle down for the night, watching a Christmas movie of course.
Earlier in the day, we were doing a good bit of work towards KidPak's Christmas service tomorrow, which should be great. We went to an optometrist this afternoon, where Maddie was getting her eyes looked at. She ordered two new pairs of glasses, both of which are coming in a few weeks. She's excited about that, as she's been having some difficulty lately seeing from the back of the room. That'll be a nice gift just in time for Christmas.
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