Museum to Host Heritage Month Programs for Schools
Old Independence Regional Museum was recently awarded a 2014 Heritage Month Grant from the Department of Arkansas Heritage. The theme for Heritage Month is Come to the Table: Arkansas Foodways.
Old Independence Regional Museum will be celebrating the state cooking vessel of Arkansas – The Dutch Oven. The Dutch oven was a basic necessity for early Arkansas settlers. These cast iron ovens were used on the trail and on the hearth for baking, roasting, braising, frying, and boiling. Cornbread, biscuits, and cobblers were some of the most common dishes baked in a Dutch oven.
School groups scheduling during the month of May will have the opportunity to add a Dutch oven cooking demonstration to their regular tour, at no additional charge. During the program, students will learn about Arkansas Foodways during the early 1800s. Focus will be on seasonal foods and cooking, preservation methods, buttermaking, and of course, the Dutch oven. Students will help prepare a simple recipe. While the students tour the museum, the oven will bake, and before they leave, the students will be able to sample the result.
This humanities program was made possible in part by a grant from the Department of Arkansas Heritage, funded by your 1/8 cent conservation tax, Amendment 75, local support from Independence County and the City of Batesville, as well as by Challenge Grant Endowment funding from the National Endowment of the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities
Normal museum hours are: Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and from 1:30 to 4 p.m. on Sundays. Admission is $3.00 for adults, $2.00 for seniors and $1.00 for children. The museum is located at 380 South 9th street, between Boswell and Vine Streets in Batesville.
Old Independence is a regional museum serving a 12-county area: Baxter, Cleburne, Fulton, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Marion, Poinsett, Sharp, Stone, White, and Woodruff. Parts of these present-day counties comprised the original Independence County in 1820’s Arkansas territory.
