Put four gallons of cider in a large copper kettle, add cut-up apples to within two inches of the top, cook, and 5-1/2 hours later there is apple butter. This is only one of the many exhibits at the annual Pioneer Day, an event sponsored by the Lynn-Heidelberg Historical Society and held in New Tripoli on October 6.

This year the stirring was made easier when it was found a rocking chair matched the motion required for the constant stirring.In the Zeisloff House the five-plate stove was keeping the parlor "nice and toasty" one visitor said. Coals from the kitchen fireplace are placed in the stove through an opening at the rear of the fireplace.A dulcimer group, Strings of Stoney Ridge, was playing in the yard."We play for our own amusement or at churches, including Jerusalem United Church of Christ, Trachsville, and festivals such as this," said Janet Laky. They practice at the Laky home on Fridays until "I get tired of sitting."Members are from the Palmerton-Lehighton area. They are Bob and Janet Laky, Lorraine Weiss and Carolyn Hill.At the Colonial Toys and Games section children made darts with corncobs and feathers. They try to throw them through a ring. There was corn to shell and beads to string.A blacksmith is set up to shoe a horse. Nearby is a sign giving information about horses: they are measured in hands and a hand equals four inches, they sleep for about three hours a day and the pupil in their eyes is rectangular instead of round like people's eyes. Pans of oats had buried treasures to be found. Each treasure hunter received a horse shoe and a lace to lace through the nail holes and hang on a wall.Ernest "Ted" Symons is weaving placemats. He and his wife Kathryn went to the John Campbell Craft School in Brasstown, N.C., in 1987. It took them a week to learn weaving. Since then they have returned to learn weaving on a triangular loom. As far as Symons knows it is the largest craft school in the country where you learn by doing.Sausage stew and homemade bread were available in the fort. The stew was heated in the fireplace. The bread had been brought from the homes of the bakers.Dave Miller, cooper, talked to school children about making wooden buckets and barrels. He said the clamp he used is probably like the one used by Christ, who was also a carpenter. Thereafter the kids called it a Jesus clamp. The clamp is part of a "dog - a way of holding wood."A man told the cooper he had an opportunity to buy a set of 53 planes, a tool to work wood, and did not get them. He is sorry for bypassing the opportunity. Miller told him they are worth $75 each now.Miller asked him if he knew they came in pairs, a left and a right, because you have to plane to match the grain of the wood.There were tractor-drawn hayrides and horse-drawn buggy rides, each giving riders a good view of the festival. Father and son Dale and Alex Snyder Phillips took turns driving the tractor.A family drum, Mark One Hawk's, played for the Indian dancing. A family drum can contain both men and women. When the Itchey Dog Drum plays at pow wows the women stand behind them and sing.Becky Snyder Phillips and Susan Kistler display a sign reading "A walk in the Park, Ontelaunee Park, just a beautiful spot." They were leading walks through that area.The Rural Preservation Association was selling french fries made from fresh, local potatoes that came from Forrest "Smokey" Wessner's Flint Hill Farm.Jan Bogert of Whitehall said he does his own restoration work on cars. In addition to his 1953 Henry J, he has a 1933 Willys model 77 sedan. Only 9,033 of them were made. His third car is a 1931 Model A coupe.It took him three years to complete work on the Henry J which gets 32 miles per gallon of gas. It is a four-cylinder car and took him from 1999 to find the tip for the hood ornament. The tip was only made to fit the 1951 to '53 Henry JsWhen he said he did everything, it included painting, bodywork, interior and mechanics.There were animals for people to admire: chickens, a calf from Lynnacres, alpacas from Y-Knot Alpacas, and goats.Hartman Butcher Shop was offering sausages and one of the craft tables was donating all profit to church charities. A large chinese auction was set up near the pavilion.