JUNE 2

     After checking out of the hotel in TN, we drove about 15 minutes away to the Appalachia Museum. I thought this museum trip would be a big building with a tour guide but it was actually the opposite. As the bus pulled up to the museum I saw multiple peacocks walking around plus a few cats. My first priority was to pet the cats.

After buying the tickets we were able to walk around to see over 30 small houses, workshops, churches and more. It was filled with historic artifacts dating back as far as early 1800s. I found the history of healthcare very interesting. For example, to treat coughs, lung inflammation, hemorrhage, asthma or tuberculosis the plant, Comfrey, was used. It was said to “clean the blood”. Respiratory diseases spread quickly in the very small houses with large families especially with the less than sanitary conditions. However, these small houses were all many people could afford or build back then. Tuberculosis is also common in prisons. Jail/prison cells were even smaller in the 1800s; four people fit one room with only enough space for a small walkway between them. I also thought Dr. Odie Miller’s statements were interesting. It is crazy to see how far the world has come in the past hundred years. In this time, the idea of keeping a baby healthy by bathing them daily was not common sense to the public. This is obviously much different from the current day. There are strict standards for someone with a respiratory disease such as tuberculosis such as isolation, testing, medications and more.

The Appalachian communities have a strong sense of family and are hard workers. In the museum there were many biographies under pictures and every single one included a story of the person’s strong dedication to work. Not only did the Appalachian residents work day jobs mining, sewing, wood-working, etc but they also managed farms, animals and large families. In the current day, you can see this kind of hard-working dedication in some families however it is far less common. Although they lived difficult lives in the Appalachian area I like to think it was a simpler time. Their days were spent working and surrounded by family.