Staff report
The Dominion Post
FAIRMONT, W.Va. — Pricketts Fort highlighted the African American experience on the western Virginia frontier July 11 with catfish stew, hoecakes and other homecooked staples.
(Submitted photo)
Historic interpreter Cordelia Spencer led a hearth cooking demonstration featuring dishes common among African American slaves. She prepared catfish stew — with potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips, turnip greens, onions and okra — in a pot suspended over an open flame. She also roased pork belly, which she noted was a less-desirable plece of meat often given to slaves as part of their rations.
“I think history is important,” Spencer said, explaining the value of historic programs like those at Pricketts Fort. “… I feel like we’re losing the information from the past that we need to retain and the lifestyle of the people that were here and what they endured to make our lives better.”
African American Week, which continues through July 13 at Prickett’s Fort State Park in Marion County, also features living history presentations by interpreter Sheila Arnold Jones. Jones portrays Old Bess, a slave from Williamsburg, Va., who discusses the differences between city and rural life for slaves, as well as Bess’ own family and how they lived.
Info: 304-363-3030 or prickettsfortstatepark.com.
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