After a month at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, Tom and I are getting settled and developing our routine.  It usually takes us a month before we feel like we are in the groove.  Even though we usually work the same basic days at each park where we volunteer, finding the right balance of work and relaxation takes a little while.  Today I will talk about our work, and then talk about the relaxation part next week.

Part of getting settled is becoming comfortable with the rangers.  Because we have worked at Cumberland Gap before, we already knew five of the rangers really well.  We really like them and enjoy working with them.  They know what we can do and we know what their gifts are.  Two of the rangers are new, and there is a new intern who has stayed in the background so far.

I work at the Visitors Center desk all day Friday and half the day on Sunday.  I like being at the desk and getting to talk to all the people who come in.  But, by the end of the day, I feel like I have said the same thing 100 times.  Probably because I have.  “The two most popular things to do in the park are the Pinnacle Road and the historic Cumberland Gap Trail.”  I say that over and over, with some variations and plenty of explanation.

Saturdays, Mondays, and half of Sunday I am up in the textile room.  I love having an indoor room set up for my textiles.  The park owns two spinning wheels, a flax brake, a historic loom, a drum carder, and a hackle.  I can supplement these things with my small loom, spinning wheel, and weasel and have a great demonstration.  I can demonstrate each step of the textile process in my room.  People especially like learning about flax and flax processing.  I have plenty of things that kids can touch and ways that folks can help with one of the machines.

Tom’s schedule is more varied.  Friday mornings he does anything that needs to be done around the park. Friday afternoons he gives a talk at the Iron Furnace, the oldest structure in the park.  Saturdays he does coopering, demonstrating bucket making.  Sunday morning he is sweep on the cave tour and in the afternoon he leads a Gap Hike.  On Mondays he blacksmiths.  When we were here two years ago I also did the cave tours, but my wonky hip does not allow me to move through some of the tighter spaces in the cave.

In addition to our assigned duties, we fill in where we can.  Because of staffing shortages, the rangers now have to do all the custodial work in the Visitors Center.  Tom and I help with that.  I cover lunches for the women who work in the bookstore.  We have a great gift shop that sells a lot of stuff and it is fun to see what people have picked out.  I have also read most of the books we sell, so I can talk to people about those.

Over Memorial Day weekend we helped set out 50 flags every morning and take them down as the Visitors Center Closed.  It is a really nice display of all the state flags and our visitors like finding their flag and taking a picture with it.  Tom ended up washing all the flag poles after the weekend, because the ends were covered with mud.

Tom and I also spent some time working with the historic loom.  Although it was working when we restored it two years ago, the park moved it into the textile room and it had developed some glitches.  Tom and I moved some pieces and changed the way the loom was set up a little.  We tweaked things until it is working as well as I expect it to.  All machines like to be used, and the loom is getting better the more I use it.

Cumberland Gap is a great place to work.  We really like the people we work with, and they are very appreciative of us being here.  Tom gets to spend most of the day outside, which he enjoys.  And I get to spend my days in the air conditioning, which I enjoy!  Getting settled hasn’t been difficult at all.  I look forward to going to work every day.