Malabar Farm State Park

Assalaamu Alaykum world.  My grandmother, my grandmother's friend, and I went to Malabar Farm State Park in Lucas, OH.  It was in May 2016 that we went and I enjoyed it.  Afterwards we went to the Butter Nut Trail though I did not hike the trail all the way.  I was asking a lot of questions during our tour of Louis Bromfield's home, an author and the original owner of the farm.  

The next three pictures of a parrot that likes to have his pictures taken.

This is Dolly.  Her mother rejected her so she's with another female goat.

Louis Bromfield Home

The sign by the side of the smokehouse below says:

A Presidential Smokehouse?

Malabar's Smokehouse was built by Louis Bromfield after he purchased the farm.  The bricks you see came from Henry Wallace's grandfather in Mansfield.  Wallace was Vice-President of the United States from 1941 to 1945 under Franklin D. Roosevelt.

What does a Smokehouse do?

The smokehouse was the pioneer's answer to the need for preserving their food without refrigeration. In the fall, the meat to be smoked was cut into sections and soaked in brine (salt, water solution) for several months.  This process would draw out all the blood and bloody fluids.

The smoking process took place in the following spring.  The salt dried meat was hung from the rafters of the smokehouse and green wood or bark from hickory or maple trees was set on fire.  The idea was not to cook the meat but to smoke it.  This process drew the fat out of the meat, encasing it in a thick coat of fat, adding flavor.

The bottom of the sign has the name of the park and the website on it.

Smokehouse near Louis Bromfield's Home

The next several pictures are of the inside of Louis Bromfield's home.  He loved Boxers and I think the person who showed us the house said that he had 15 dogs at one time in his home.   The park got the farm when one of the daughters sold it and the daughter lives in South America.

Some of Louis Bromfield's dogs and his cat.

Louis Bromfield and one of his dogs

Original chessboard game

The next two pictures are of a couple of miniature horses in the pasture at Malabar Farm State Park.  They are hard to see because of the tall grass in the pasture.

The next nine pictures are of a side road going up to an overlook where you can view Malabar Farm in the distance as well as the river.

The next three pictures are of Louis Bromfield's home from a side road as we left to go to Butter Nut Trail and Olivet Cemetery.

The last several pictures are of Olivet Cemetery.  It was hard to find.  You had to go down a side road, then go down another road off to your left which is by another farm.  A lot of the headstones are hard to read due to being so old that time and weather have eroded the words.  It is a small cemetery surrounded by a white picket fence with a gate that latches.