The Rowan Museum will sponsor its fifth annual Colonial Spring Frolic Saturday, in celebration of the arrival of spring and the re-opening of the 1766 Old Stone House for the season.
Included in the festivities are tours of the only surviving colonial house in Rowan County with guides in period costumes. Historical interpreters will offer crafts, including dyeing Easter eggs with natural dyes and guests may participate.
Muskets will be fired, along with woodworking, weaving, spinning, candle making, open fire cooking and tastings, children’s games, colonial dancers and music, and much more. There will be animals, and there will certainly be treks to the creek and to the family cemetery down through the woods on the property.
“It’s a great way to herald spring in a simpler fashion, just as our ancestors did many years ago,” says Kaye Hirst, executive director. “They picked violets and used them to create a beautiful blue dye; onion skins made a yellow dye — all for coloring eggs. Pokeberries turn eggs a beautiful rose color.
“They cleaned out the root cellar. We will make a soup they made many years ago called ‘Scrag End Soup.’ It is made from the leftover end of a hambone from the smoke house, beans that were dried and not used over the winter, potatoes and carrots from the root cellar (probably a little shriveled), and fresh dandelion greens from the yard and fields, and maybe some greens in the garden.
“All of this is cooked over an open fire. It’s delicious! And we will share rosemary cookies and black walnut cookies. We will dance in the fresh green grass, and the kids will frolic in the yard and through the trails down through the woods. Many end up with their feet in creek. We will celebrate spring!”

The Old Stone House is open Saturday and Sunday afternoons from 1 to 4 p.m., April through November.) It is located only one half mile off of Highway 52 in Granite Quarry, at 770 Old Stone House Road, just a few miles from Interstate 85 in Salisbury.
Activities on the April 5 are from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. The cost is $5 for adults and $3 for students. For more information call the Museum at 704-633-5946 or email the Rowan Museum: rowanmuseum@fibrant.com