1860s Lifestyle Expo returns to Gray-Campbell Farmstead

Rediscover life in the Ozarks more than 150 years ago at the 22nd Annual 1860s Lifestyle Exposition, Saturday, Sept. 21, 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 22, noon to 4:30 p.m. at the Gray-Campbell Farmstead in Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park, 2400 S. Scenic Ave., Springfield.

The expo includes the opportunity to tour the oldest house in Springfield, built in 1856 and once owned by Springfield founding father, John Polk Campbell. The house was relocated to the park in 1984 and contains many artifacts from the 1850s. The farmstead also includes an exterior log kitchen, a two-crib barn and a log granary and is the future site of Liberty School.

Activities include:

• Saturday and Sunday (all day): Hearth cooking, fiber arts, blacksmithing, storytelling,       woodcarving, papermaking and old-time fiddle music
• Saturday only: 11:30 a.m. Horseshoe contest, 1 p.m. Seed-spitting contest
• Sunday only: 11 a.m. Old-fashioned outdoor service, 3 p.m. apple pie-baking contest

Admission is free, but donations to the Friends of the Gray-Campbell Farmstead are accepted.

For more information, visit www.graycampbellfarmstead.org; or call Michelle Atkinson, President of the Friends of the Gray-Campbell Farmstead, at 417-725-4921; or e-mail atkinsonplace@sbcglobal.net.