Wash Day teaches kids about old ways

WAKEFIELD - The Wakefield Historical Society Museum held its annual Wash Day on Saturday afternoon. Several local children attended the event.

The museum had several vintage washing implements out on the lawn. The children were outfitted with aprons and bandanas before they took to the basket of "dirty" laundry.

Several volunteers from the museum were on hand to teach the kids about how laundry was done before the invention of modern washers and dryers.

The volunteers brought out and explained various laundry items from the time period, including: handkerchiefs, dish towels, long johns and cloth diapers.

"Before Dial shampoo, nothing else came in plastic bottles." said Bella Schroeder, another volunteer at the museum. "Our mothers would turn the cloth sacks that flour came in into dish towels for future use."

First, the children used pails to haul water from the outdoor hose. Donna Ferson, a volunteer with the museum, explained to the children: "Back then, Grandma would have to haul water up from the well for doing laundry."

After a bar of laundry soap was hand shaved for the wash, the children learned to heat water over a fire, before soaking the soiled laundry.

After soaking, the laundry was scrubbed using washboards.

The children ran the laundry through a wringer before hanging it out on the clothes lines to dry.

After the laundry was hung-up to dry, the children were offered snacks and refreshments inside the museum.

The Museum is open from Tuesday through Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m.

It will host a Collections Day on Aug. 6, from 1 to 4 p.m. Members of the public are invited to bring in tables and display their personal collections for people to view.

To participate, contact the museum at 906-364-1504. The museum is always looking for new volunteers.