Take A Step Back In Time

Article published on Work-for-RVers-and-Campers Website, 14 Jan 2012

We are Bob and Michelle Hazlett from Jamestown, OH. We recently completed our first WorKamper adventure as volunteers at the Panhandle Pioneer Settlement (PPS), Blountstown, FL during September and October 2011. Blountstown is a rural community in the Florida panhandle halfway between Panama City and Tallahassee.

PPS brings together the material history of life between 1840 and the beginning of World War II. The mission is to acquire, document, research, and restore buildings and tools that were used in daily life. The settlement is arranged to simulate an agricultural community and serve the public as a rural living history museum.

PPS relies heavily on volunteers. Local volunteers turn out in large numbers to help with community events held at the settlement. There are five FHU campsites for full-time workampers. In addition, workampers have use of a laundry facility and access to the internet through the settlement's wi-fi network. While not officially acknowledged, there is a lot of cooking and free eating that includes the workampers.

Volunteers help with Pioneer Day

FHU Campsite for WorKampers

Here is a cross section of the current workamper population at PPS. One couple has been workamping for over 15 years. They came here frequently in years past and now have pretty much settled down to permanent full-time. A second couple is here for the winter (Sept. to May). This is their third workamping experience. We are here for two months (Sept.-Oct.) between other commitments. Another couple is scheduled to arrive in December and stay the winter. People with varied backgrounds and from all walks of life make this a very interesting experience.

Workamper duties vary. PPS asks for ten hours per week per person and workampers are expected to participate in setup, conduct, and cleanup involved with the community events held at the settlement. Beyond that they operate a "job jar" system -- "if you see something that needs to be done and it interests you, do it".

Some tasks are regular, routine, and continuing such as storekeeper, tour guide, and grounds maintenance. Speaking of continuing, if you enjoy painting, you can consider PPS to be heaven. There is no end to things and structures that need to be painted. Other tasks come from an ever changing list of one time repairs and improvements.

This is what we did with our two month stay at PPS. Bob assisted in grounds maintenance, trash collection and disposition, and facility setup for events. He completed the restoration of two hand plows which are used as farm implement exhibits here at the Settlement and in travelling displays. For his big task, he selected the stripping and refinishing of the floor in one of the exhibit rooms. This task is a prerequisite to being able to display the collections of 19th century wood tools and railroad tools.

Restored Hand Plow

Michelle served as shopkeeper in the country store/gift shop, conducted visitor tours, and assisted in facility setup for events. She chose to perform the semi-annual house cleaning of the 19th century cabins and all of the artifacts therein. During this task she discovered a container of partially completed quilt squares (circa 1900) in one of the cabins. An accomplished quilter, she undertook the task of completing a quilt, using these squares, to be displayed at the Settlement as representing this period in American history.

General Store and Gift Shop

The finished quilt
made from quilt squares found in the Sexton Cabin

We enjoyed "taking a walk back in time" in this unusual workamping experience.

Learn more about The Panhandle Pioneer Settlement here
See Workamping Opportunities at PPS here

Our Life at Panhandle Pioneer Settlement

Panhandle Pioneer Settlement, Blountstown, FL

Here is a synopsis of what we did with our two month stay at PPS.

I assisted in grounds maintenance, trash collection and disposition, and facility setup for events. I completed the restoration of two hand plows which are used as farm implement exhibits here at the Settlement and in travelling displays. For my big task, I selected the stripping and refinishing of the floor in one of the exhibit rooms. This task was a prerequisite to being able to display the collections of 19th century wood tools and railroad tools.

Michelle served as shopkeeper in the country store/gift shop, conducted visitor tours, and assisted in facility setup for events.

She chose to perform the semi-annual house cleaning of the 19th century cabins and all of the artifacts therein.

During this task she discovered a container of partially completed quilt squares (circa 1900) in one of the cabins. An accomplished quilter, she undertook the task of completing a quilt, using these squares, to be displayed at the Settlement as representing this period in American history.

Sexton Cabin Quilt

Panhandle Pioneer Settlement, Blountstown, FL

While house cleaning the 19th century Sexton Cabin, Michelle discovered a basket of twenty quilt squares. An accomplished quilter, she undertook the task of completing a quilt using these squares, to be displayed at the Settlement as representing this period in American history.

Pioneer Day

Panhandle Pioneer Settlement, Blountstown, FL


Every year in October, PPS holds a festival to showcase aspects of daily life in the late 1800s /early 1900s.

Visitors were treated to displays of...

... old tools and farm equipment

... old skills

... some animals

... a couple old volunteers

... fun and entertainment for all

It was a great day

A New Take on Boiled Peanuts

Wednesday-Friday, 21-23 September 2011
Panhandle Pioneer Settlement, Blountstown, FL

Boiled peanuts are a big thing in the south. Now I love peanuts! Just about every thing you can do to a peanut suits me just fine. Raw, salted, roasted, peanut butter, Reese's Peanut Butter cups, by the bucket with a pitcher of beer. But this yankee has a hard time getting around boiled peanuts.

So when I learned that Panhandle Pioneer Settlement has a "Peanut Boil" as an event, I was eager to participate, learn, and maybe convince my taste buds that here was a new pleasure for their enjoyment.

Preparations started on Wednesday with two street size trash cans of peanuts donated by a local farmer. We washed the peanuts in the contraption shown in the picture. (I can't remember the name of that thing to save my life.). Washing took most of the day. We washed a couple buckets of peanuts at a time.

Thursday was drying day. Our only activity was to occassionally rake the pile to make sure all the peanuts got exposed to the breeze to dry thoroughly.

Friday we boiled peanuts. The pot was more like a Wok than a kettle. First task was to get a roaring hardwood fire going under the kettle, bring the water to a boil, and add rock salt. Then start dumping in the peanuts. Stoking the fire and stirring with a shovel, kept this mixture cooking for several hours.

The finished product was bagged and sold to the public.

"THE PEANUT BOIL" was a community event sponsored by Panhandle Pioneer Settlement. It ran from afternoon into the evening with games, entertainment, and of course boiled peanuts.

A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL