If you head out Bryant Ridge Road in Casey County during a mid-September weekend, you may wonder if you’ve traveled back in time. For the past seven years at this time, the area around Greg and Carol Lawhorn’s home has transformed into an 1800s scene centered on the art of making sorghum.
However, the Lawhorns and company make much more. Molasses Day includes open-flame cooking, gospel and bluegrass music, blacksmithing and other demonstrations of a simpler life. They share old memories and create new ones for family and friends who join them every year at the event, celebrated on Sept. 21 this year.
Molasses or Sorghum?
You may have heard the words molasses and sorghum used interchangeably. Greg said that happens often, but the two differ significantly. Although he calls his event Molasses Day, Greg actually makes sorghum. He says, “Sorghum comes from sorghum cane stalks. Molasses [or black strap] is a byproduct of sugar cane.”
Making Sorghum
Sorghum-making is a labor-intensive process. Friends and family help Greg harvest and strip the leaves from the cane. Then they run the stalks through a cane press or grinder. One of Greg’s mules, harnessed to a pole, walks in a circle to power the press. Juice flows from one side of the press, and stalks exit the back. Discarded leaves and stalks enrich the soil in Greg’s garden and fields.
After the juice is strained four or five times, it is boiled in a 100 gallon pan over a wood-fired furnace about six hours. While it’s boiling, Charles Smithers and several others help Greg skim and discard the green foam that forms on top of the juice. When the juice reaches 227 degrees, four strong men immediately pull the hot pan off the fire. Greg believes a lower temperature makes the sorghum too thin; higher makes it too thick.
When a valve on one end of the pan is opened, sorghum pours into waiting jars or pitchers. As soon as it cools, it is ready for biscuits and butter or a spoonful straight from the jar. Every guest receives a free half-pint of sorghum.
More Than Sorghum
Sights, smells and serenity surround visitors as soon as they step onto the Lawhorn property. Pinto beans, boiled potatoes, greens, apples, corn on the cob and other delicacies steam from large black kettles over open fires. Pulled pork is readied on an oversized grill. Guests snack on Greg Streeval’s chili throughout the day, but the full feast begins around 4 p.m. Several guests supply a bounty of side dishes that put church potlucks to shame. Military veterans go through the line first, followed by senior adults, and then the rest of the visitors.
The strains of gospel and bluegrass vocals, accompanied by banjo, guitar, fiddle, bass guitar and piano, inspire toe tapping, head nodding and hand clapping. One of Greg’s younger mules powers the corn grinder that operates much like a sorghum press. Emily Masiker cards and spins Angora goat hair as she answers questions and explains the spinning process. Meanwhile, Anthony Salyers wields control of the blacksmith shop. He alternates pumping the bellows to maintain the fire, heating the metal for his work in progress, and hammering his creation into shape.
All this takes place in Greg and Carol’s backyard, just beyond a massive oak tree estimated to be more than 200 years old. Greg constructed the property’s buildings and crafted many of their furnishings—replicas of a simpler, though harder, life. He split the rails for the fence that fronts a small cabin and hand split the shakes (shingles) for the cabin roof. Greg planted flowers in front of the fence and filled the cabin with ancestral treasures as well as his own creations. Front-porch rockers beckon visitors to come and sit a spell. Other buildings include an outdoor kitchen, open-air entertainment center, stable, barn, shed and blacksmith shop. According to Greg, the blacksmith shop “is just like my dad and granddad built about 1932. The bellows came from Adair County in 1915.”
From time to time, a mule team pulls a covered wagon loaded with visitors through the nearby trees and fields to a hilltop view of the surrounding countryside. Brush Creek Church nestles in the middle of the picture-perfect scene below.
Near dinnertime, Greg introduces games and awards prizes. Log benches and chairs invite guests to relax and visit with others. Before visitors leave, Greg and Carol’s daughter, Tammy Meece, snaps a photo of them in front the old oak tree.
Memories Old and New
Greg started Molasses Day as an event for families and children—something everyone could enjoy. Signs near the driveway remind guests: “Be respectful: No alcohol or foul language.” Greg says mostly friends and family attend. However, he adds, “Anybody’s a friend, if they act nice.”
Carol says Molasses Day is “pretty much Greg’s baby,” although she welcomes and signs in guests and mingles throughout the day.
Perhaps the teacher in Greg spurred his desire to recreate a bit of history. The quality of that teaching shows in his commitment to excellence as he celebrates tradition and hard work.
“This is how Daddy grew up,” Tammy says. “Papaw did this. He blacksmithed and farmed for a living. In addition to teaching, Daddy always farmed.” She says that her father wants others to remember and teach their children lasting values. “The world’s kind of going off the rails, not realizing what’s important.” Greg hopes to change that a bit with Molasses Day, his “gift to everyone who comes.”
Every Christmas, Greg and Carol’s three children give them a photo album of that year’s Molasses Day memories. An abundance of rain one year resulted in the album title “Soggy Days.” Yet, the event goes on, rain or shine.
The Lawhorn family wants this special day to create memories for others, as it has for them. They welcome anyone with craft skills from the 1800s to join the festivities. In 2017, they hosted a Revolutionary War re-enactment. Whether you have a craft to offer or simply want to soak it all in, you won’t leave disappointed … or hungry.
Picturesque and peaceful, the setting invites you to slow down, relax and remember what matters most.
For more information, contact Greg Lawhorn at (606) 706-9422.
Molasses Day, September 21
The Lawhorn Farm, 984 Bryant Ridge Road, Liberty