When we buy new clothes, we usually think no more deeply about the process than going to the store and picking out what looks best on us. But the process was much, much more involved for our ancestors and the early settlers of the Shenandoah Valley. Not only did they have to harvest the raw materials, but they also had to clean them and transform them into cloth. Finally, they had to turn the cloth into wearable clothing or other textiles. Each year during Wool Week, the Frontier Culture Museum invites visitors to celebrate spring as well as the process of creating useful products from raw materials.
How can I visit?
Wool Week 2022 is April 25 – May 1
There is no extra cost beyond regular admission to the museum.
What will I see?
- Demonstrations focusing on wool and flax processing
- Sheep shearing
- New baby lambs
- Regular museum exhibits
How long will the lambs be little?
Lambs are born in the spring when there’s plenty of grass to eat and the weather has lost its winter chill. Ewes give birth to one to three lambs at a time, but twins are most common. They usually weigh about the same as human babies. They can walk within a few hours of being born!
What is wool? How did people on the frontier harvest it?
Wool is the heavy winter coat of the sheep that’s harvested once a year, often in the spring. While we typically use mechanical clippers now, people from the frontier would use sharpened blades like scissors with the pivot point at the end. A skilled shearer can remove the wool quickly and in one piece.
Do sheep like getting shorn?
Sheep shearing is very much like getting a haircut, but nervous sheep may struggle during the process. It takes a lot of strength to hold them still and clip the wool at the same time. Sheep shearers should take their time to prevent injuries. Shorn sheep feel cooler for the upcoming hot weather and are probably relieved to be rid of their heavy, dirty coats.
How do they clean the wool?
Contrary to what we see in picture books, sheep are pretty dirty. Museum interpreters use their hands to pull and tease the wool fibers apart to get rid of dirt and parasites. Next, they wash and card the wool. Carding untangles the fibers and stretches them out so that they can be spun. The museum staff will teach you how to perform each of these steps.
How did settlers dye the wool?
We didn’t have the synthetic dyes we use now until the middle of the 19th century. Before that, people colored their fabrics with plants, lichen, and even insects. They used fixatives like salt and vinegar to help the dyes stay in place. Professional dyers were very protective about their recipes, since some worked better than others. Many colors weren’t readily available, especially in the materials for the dyes came from far away. Wool can be dyed before or after spinning.
How did they turn that pile of wool into a favorite sweater ?
Spinners wind stretched-out wool fibers into yarn, which can be dyed before or after spinning. Next, the yarn is formed into fabric by knitting or by weaving on a loom. Both the German and the Irish farms have looms and visitors can watch the intricate, time-consuming process of working one.
What’s flax?
Flax is a kind of plant. When it’s harvested, it is dried, deseeded, and retted, which means that the interior of the plant is removed and the rest is split into long fibers during a lengthy series of steps. The fibers are spun and then woven into linen fabric. Though it’s difficult to produce, linen is one of the most durable natural fabrics.
What else can I see at the museum?
The Frontier Culture Museum is a living history museum that connects present-day visitors with the lives and histories of those who lived in the past. The walkable museum offers a chance to explore the homesteads of the various people who settled the region from other places. They include farms from West Africa, England, Ireland, and Germany. The museum also offers a Native American village and American farms from various time periods.
What I did: I wrote this post for the City of Staunton’s Tourism webpage to draw attention to a special event at the living-history Frontier Culture Museum.
What I did: I used storytelling to draw the reader into the content. I wrote this with clear, concise language and included useful information about time and location.
What I did: I researched the event, the museum, and the process of making fabric from wool and flax. Next, I simplified this complex information into short, readable sections. I organized the content into a question-and-answer structure.
What I did: When I researched the topic, I found that many people had concerns for the feelings of the sheep. I addressed that concern with an explanation that will hopefully put those people at ease. I also defined unfamiliar words like “carding” and “flax.” I replaced some difficult vocabulary like “mordant” with easier terms like “fixative” to make this more user friendly for an audience without much experience with sheep or wool.
What I did: I continued the story of the wool in a way that a reader could relate to.