THE FRONTIER LIFE OF THE LONGHUNTERS | Living Historian | Simeon England

Simeon England is a blacksmith, traditional flintlock hunter, and living historian portraying the 18th-century frontiersmen, scouts and longhunters of Kentucky. We start this living history episode about the daily lives of the colonial longhunters [1760s-1770s] who set out from Virginia & North Carolina for deer skins & furs in the wilds of Kentucky, with readings of first-hand accounts about beavers and salt licks. From their hunting methods to their frontier camps we discuss topics such as: tomahawks; boiling salt; hide work; backcountry blacksmithing; traps; horses; dogs; wolves; a slippery elm cure for peeling feet; deer & bear hunting; and buffalo traces. There's learning from books & then there's learning from doing, as Simeon shares some lessons learned from hunting with period gear & flintlock rifles. We hear of Simon Kenton's harrowing experiences running the gauntlet while captured by natives and conclude on a sort of reverence for the craftsman's raw, natural materials [that perhaps we have lost in our age of fast & cheap mass manufacturing]. 

Readings from The History of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North Carolina by William Byrd and by A Tour of the United States of America by JFD Smyth.

Check out Simeon England's blacksmithing at SimeonEngland.com. Follow him on Instagram & watch his Townsends Longhunter living history features.

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