Heritage Festival - Industry

There were three “heritage industries” that we found interesting at the festival last weekend. I have photos of two of them; we had fun talking with someone who has taken up the third industry as a retirement lifestyle.

The first industry was blacksmithing. There was a small forge set up - shown in the photo - to demonstrate how this craft is currently practiced, and probably a half-dozen artisans were present. Lots of wares for sale.

A second interesting activity was lumbering – there were two rip saws set up to make boards out of felled trees. To do this, one of the machines had a large belt hooked up to a steam engine that was designed to drive a saw blade. The second one, shown in the photo, used a tractor engine to drive the blade. They made boards and planks out of tree trunks. Some of the trees were over 20 feet long. At one point they were ripping up a cedar and the fragrance was everywhere.

As we moved into one of the covered areas, there was an association of local beekeepers with a booth, selling honey and beeswax goods. They had a small hive on display with about 3,500 bees in it – the queen had a small yellow paint spot on her so you could keep track of where she was.

In light of the blight that struck western industrial beekeepers earlier this year, we took a few minutes to ask questions about the trade. Turns out, one of the keepers lives between the Chevron and the Hawksbill Café, maybe three miles as the bee flies from our place. He estimated that his bees ranged just about that far as they collected pollen. He is retired and moved out from Arlington…there is an emerging Northern Virginia theme, we are finding.

I have two final entries on the festival that I will post:
Canning and Clogging
Tractors

Then it’s back to posting about the work on the cabin!