(A gallery of photos follows the story below. Photos by Titus Mohler)

The way older generations lived and made a living was experienced for the first time for some and revisited for others Saturday, May 10, at the 31st annual Heritage Day in Courtland.

The event was hosted and sponsored by the Southampton County Historical Society (SCHS) and the Southampton Heritage Village/Agriculture & Forestry Museum.

SCHS President Lynda T. Updike said, “We had 675 people, give or take, which was fewer than normal and fewer than we were hoping for, but the ones who came had a great time, and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect.”

She said organizers figured children had ballgames to play in the morning on Saturday, but in time, young people did arrive at the event in larger numbers.

“Around 12:30 to 2:30 (p.m.), there were lots of kids in the petting zoo,” she said, referencing a feature of the event that she was directly responsible for.

As for 31st Heritage Day highlights, she said, “Several people have told me that my lamb stole the show.”

Part of the petting zoo included a 2-month-old lamb named Inkspot that Updike brought to the event.

A new part of Heritage Day included an exploration of the history of the Theo K. Hann & Sons Basket Factory formerly located in the southern section of Franklin.

Heritage Day featured an exhibit with some of the baskets produced by the company, along with an old Theo K. Hann & Sons company truck. Clayton Newsome was on hand to tell people about the business and to answer questions about it.

“Next year, hopefully, we’ll do something about another facet of our history to emphasize something that a lot of people don’t know anything about,” Updike said. “We haven’t decided what yet, but we’re thinking about it.”

She then highlighted another new feature of this year’s Heritage Day.

“They gave the kids a little container of cream that they shook and shook and shook until it converted to butter,” she said. “And I bet most kids didn’t understand where butter came from. I know they didn’t know how to milk a cow, and they enjoyed milking the (replica) cow.”

She praised the people who helped make Heritage Day possible.

“We have a lot of wonderful volunteers,” she said. “The Boy Scouts helped with parking, and we had people volunteering in the buildings, making cornboard and making hominy and cracklins.”

She said that most of the crafts vendors present for the event seemed to do well, as did the concessions stand.

“We sold all of the barbecue, we sold all of the Brunswick stew, we sold all the snacks,” she said.