Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum will stage a special exhibit,
Food, Glorious Food, on display Nov. 3 through Jan. 6.
This exhibit will be displayed in the Montgomery Gallery and
is sponsored by the Joe R. Engle Galley Fund. It will
highlight foodways in Coshocton County— traditions and
customs surrounding the growth, distribution, preparation,
serving and consuming of food from field to table through
the 1950s. The public is invited to the exhibit's opening
reception which will take place on Sat. Nov. 3 from
2:00—4:00. Antique tractors will be displayed on Whitewoman
Street, and music will be provided by the Chestnut Hill
Band. Coshocton County foods will be featured on the
refreshment table.
Ohio's first white settlers were farmers. Many men received
one hundred Land Grant acres as payment for service in the
Revolutionary War. After the war, men packed up their
families and belongings and headed west to establish
homesteads in the Northwest Territory. This influx of
settlers quickly led to a population large enough to qualify
Ohio to become the 17th state in the new union of
the United States. Ohioans are proud of their farming
heritage. The Ohio state seal flaunts an idyllic scene of a
sun radiating over green hills separated by a blue waterway,
in the foreground a cultivated field with a sheave of
wheat. Our area, now Coshocton County, dates back to this
time of land grant settlement.
Canals and railroads that developed here were once primarily
used for agricultural commerce—to transport the fruits of
Coshocton County fields to distant markets. The livelihoods
of most residents depended on farming or food production.
Although Ohio eventually became an industrial state, in
rural areas like Coshocton County, we still see the vestiges
of a farming heritage, and for many families here active
farming still sustains their economy. Food, Glorious
Food celebrates this aspect of our local heritage. Come
on over and get a glimpse of how food was grown,
distributed, prepared, served and eaten in the era before
fast-food. Take a look—at implements once used to plant and
tend our food-growing fields; at a, then common, summer
kitchen where our food was prepared during hot summer months
and preserved for winter use; at some cheese-making
equipment used in an award-winning business started as a
cottage industry; at a local restaurant serving up “home
cooking” and home-away-from-home atmosphere; at a general
store and a grange display from the county fair.
Supplementing these are many other icons of our
food-producing background—historical aprons, a cider press,
butter churns and milk bottles from local dairies all
representative of what once sustained our county and its
inhabitants.
Enjoy free admission and FOOD at the opening of Food,
Glorious Food, dawdle and reminisce over the
displays—show your kids and grandkids what life was once
like back in the day. Come visit again over the
holidays—bring your out-of-town guests. There is something
here for everyone—old and young, city-born or country-bred.
Come and make an afternoon of it.
