Annual Sassafras Tea Festival kicks off April 27

The Jennings County Historical Society will present the annual Sassafras Tea Festival and Civil War Living History on April 27 and 28.

The two-day event is the longest-running annual festival in Jennings County.

Festivities run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Sunday. The historical society’s headquarters, the North American House Museum, and the town of Vernon are bustling with first-person interpreters such as Lew Wallace, Hagerman Tripp, General Grant, General Lee, Abe Lincoln and a whole host of Civil War re-enactors who camp on the courthouse lawn and around the square.

History, music, homemade pies, sassafras tea, wood carvers, musicians, Underground Railroad tours, carriage rides, mock battles, Blue/Grey Ball and hands-on demonstrations in the old-time arts offers something for the entire family, according to a news release.

Other festival activities include working blacksmith shop, wood carving and mud throwing from the pottery wheel of artist, Karen Chilman.

Jennings County has a connection to the Civil War with the challenge by John Hunt Morgan and his band of raiders who threatened to take the town of Vernon by force on July 13, 1863. Knowledgeable Civil War re-enactors, Union and Confederate, perform skits, skirmishes and mock battles both days.

First-person Carol Collins portrays Dr. Mary Walker, who was an American abolitionist, prohibitionist, prisoner of war and surgeon. She is the only woman to ever receive the Medal of Honor.

Collins is also the dance caller for the Blue/Grey Ball on Saturday evening, 7 p.m. at the Vernon gym.

Eric Jarboe Contra Dance Band provides period music for the ball. The ball is free and open to the public. The only admission fee for the weekend’s activities is $5 per vehicle for the mock battles.

Hot meals of ham’n beans, chicken and noodles, pulled pork and chili are served all weekend.

Society volunteers bake over 800 pies that are sold at the North American House Museum. Pie flavors include blackberry, rhubarb, strawberry-rhubarb, bumbleberry, sugar cream, cherry, apple and Kentucky pecan.

“New to the pie flavors this year is red raspberry,” said pie baker Kathryn Johnson.

The aroma of sassafras tea steaming from a huge brass kettle and brewed over an open fire fills the air with the smell of spring. Hundreds of bundles of fresh-dug sassafras roots are available for sale as well as free samplings of the tea.

“Society volunteers have been serving the deep red brew since 1962. Locals and visitors alike line up for the ‘spring tonic,’ ” comments festival chair, Chris Asher. “This event is the society’s biggest history program of the year and has become nationally known for the quality of the Civil War history, performing arts, period musicians, sassafras tea, ham’n beans, chicken and noodles, pulled pork and homemade pies.”

Sassafras trees were plentiful in Jennings County in 1806 when government surveyors came to the area. Surveyors kept very detailed journals and many entries describe “quite large sassafras trees, growing in groves, throughout Jennings.” These trees are basically a Midwest/eastern US native.

Digging sassafras roots has gone on for centuries. The Branham family donates roots, which are dug on their farm. Roots must be dug in the spring before the sap starts to run. Native Americans made medicine from the roots.

Old-timers say the tea is a spring tonic, good for rheumatism, a blood thinner. Others say it is “an energy booster, gets the blood flowing.” The surgeon general says it “could be toxic to your health when taken in large quantities.”

The best part of tea making is all the stories that surround the huge brass kettle as the tea is brewed outside throughout the event. Those tasting tea for the first time aren’t sure what to expect. Most like it from the first taste while others don’t care for it.

Historical Society events are sponsored in part by local businesses, donations from individuals, mini-grants such as the Jennings County Community Foundation and, in part from support from the Columbus Area Arts Council, the Indiana Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.

“We still need sponsors,” said Asher. “It is a great opportunity for businesses and individuals to help the historical society maintain all the fine traditions of Jennings County. The Sassafras Tea Festival has been held annually for over half a century and thousands of visitors pour into Jennings County. It’s an economic boost for everyone.”

Donations may be sent to the Jennings County Historical Society, PO Box 335, Vernon, IN 47282. The historical society is a not-for-profit 501c(3) organization.

Also, by popular demand the local Running Club is sponsoring the Spring Tonic 5K Walk & Run which takes place at 9 a.m. on April 27. For registration and information on the run visit https://runsignup.com/Race/IN/Vernon/SpringTonic5K.

For more information call the historical society at 812/346-8989.