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PHOTO BY LAURIE ANDERSON
The petting zoo allowed children to get up close with a variety of farm animals.
PHOTO BY LAURIE ANDERSON
The silent auction included a variety of gift baskets.
PHOTO BY LAURIE ANDERSON
Boys check out a “dig” at the booth of archeologist Charlie Burton.
PHOTO BY LAURIE ANDERSON
Kelly J. Hammack (right), great-great grandson of Dr. Pound, takes a photo with his family.
PHOTO BY LAURIE ANDERSON
A family poses for a Christmas photo with a special Pound House guest.
PHOTO BY LAURIE ANDERSON
Guests were treated to a spinning demonstration on the porch.
PHOTO BY LAURIE ANDERSON
Zion Huey entertains the crowd.
Visitors to Christmas at the Pound House Farmstead & Museum last Saturday got a chance to step back in time with a classic Christmas celebration. Spinners and weavers were doing demonstrations on the front porch, while Santa greeted families in the parlor.
In the back yard, there were several food vendors set up, including Turcotte Butcher Shop and Pig Pen BBQ. There were also booths offering handcrafted items for sale.
There were a variety of activities for the kids, including a petting zoo and a hayride.
Kelly J. Hammack, great-great grandson of Dr. Pound, came out with his family to celebrate and reminisce about past Christmases at the old homestead.
“It was good times,” Hammack said. “My grandmother and great grandmother lived here, and we’d come up every time we were out of school. Every Christmas was spent here.”
He said the place reminds him of the innocence and wonder of childhood.
“It was a lot of fun. We’d just go out and run amok out in the pastures and stuff,” Hammack said. “Whenever dinner was ready, they’d honk the car horn three times, which you could clearly hear, no matter where you were, and you had about 10 minutes to get here or you were in trouble.”
Hammack said he has a lot of favorite Christmas memories from those times.
“Stringing popcorn, stringing cranberries, and actually having candles on the tree,” Hammack said. “Everyone absolutely loved my grandmother’s pinto beans that she did. It was a layer of pinto beans on the bottom, and then she put a layer of ground meat on top of that. And then a heavy, heavy dose of sharp cheddar went across the top of that and was melted into it. It made a fabulous dish.”
His grandmother was also big on homemade pies.
“She had at least at least a half a dozen different types of pies, and she was offended if you didn’t try them all,” Hammack said.
He said times have changed a lot from those days.
“There were 250 people in Dripping Springs when I was a kid and used to come up,” Hammack said.
He said he’s very glad that the homestead has been preserved.
“I hope that people will continue to support it, and we hope that it will be something that continues,” Hammack said. “It’s important to keep track of our history.”
He said the area has changed so much that it’s hard to recognize sometimes. But when he looks around, he still sees where things were, and it comes back.
“I remember how grandmother would be outside, and we’d come out and get ready to leave and she would say ‘Oh, Charles, don’t leave yet. Oh, don’t leave yet,’” Hammack said. “So yes, it’s bittersweet. I’m just grateful that everything is still here.”
