About Us

 

Mission

The main goal of Green Frog Southern Historic Village is to preserve history and educate.

“You don’t spend all this work saving things just for the sake of saving them, but you dream of people being able to enjoy it and learn from it.”
- Dr. John Freeman, owner

History

Dr. John Freeman, retired doctor and missionary, began Green Frog Village 1991. He has always loved history and architecture — in fact, he built his own log-cabin home. As a missionary in Thailand for 10 years, his love for history only grew as he collected Thai artifacts. When he and his wife, Nancy, moved back to the United States, he continued his love for history and architecture by starting Green Frog. The first buildings were a donated country store and an 1840s-era log cabin. He collected the other numerous buildings and historical artifacts over time from various states, ranging from Tennessee to South Dakota to Alabama.

Attractions

The Cotton Museum of the South: The Eatman Gin, Gin Pond, and General Store
The centerpiece of the Cotton Museum of the South is the Eatman Gin. In 2000, the Eatman family donated this four-stand Continental cotton gin to Green Frog for use as a museum. It was restored by a dedicated group of volunteers after being moved to the historic village all the way from Mantua, Ala. The gin produced its last bale in 1957, using equipment manufactured in 1915. Originally powered by a steam engine, the gin now displays a 1920 Fairbanks diesel engine donated by Tom Wade from his family gin in Como, Tenn. A gin was an essential part of a cotton farmer’s life during the early 1900s because it weighed, ginned (removed the seeds), and baled cotton.

The Gin Pond is located next to The Eatman Gin. Cotton gins were typically located next to ponds, as the outbreak of a fire was a constant threat. In addition, the ponds served as watering holes for mules that pulled wagons to the gin.

The General Store completes the Cotton Museum of the South, as it was another common accompaniment to a 1900s-era gin. Though the Eatmans additionally donated their country store from Mantua, there was not enough resources to transport the building the substantial 250 miles to Green Frog. However, Miller Petty donated enough lumber to frame the general store. It was modeled after the Eatman’s store, and much of the furniture was also donated by the Eatmans.

The Delaney Farmstead
The main attraction of the Delaney Farmstead is the Delaney cabin. The log cabin was constructed by Lofton Delaney in 1880, made as a home for he and his wife in Sardis, Tenn. It demonstrates excellence in log house craftsmanship, created with careful attention to detail and unique features like overhangs for the front and back porches. Inside, the cabin contains true-to-the-times antique furniture and household objects, such as a Wonder Washer, cast-iron cookware, and a spinning wheel.

The farmstead includes a cypress hog house and cow barn from the Samson Boykin farmstead, and a log smokehouse from the Farrow farm in the Green Frog Community.

Green Frog Press
Green Frog Press is a complete antique print shop from the hot lead type-era of printing. The shop includes a letterpress, metal-engraving machine, Ludlow, proofing press and Model-8 Linotype machine (circa 1911). The Linotype machine is the only working one of its kind in West Tennessee. The various pieces of equipment came from “The Crockett County Times” newspaper of Alamo, the “Jackson Sun” newspaper and 2003-tornado-destroyed Laycook Printing Company of Jackson, Tenn., and a shutdown antique print shop in South Dakota. Jesse James Roberts, a retired Linotype operator, helped initially clean and restore the machine to working order.

Historically, one of the first things to come to any new frontier town was a print shop so they could produce newspapers. The Linotype machine alone was a groundbreaking piece of technology in its day, revolutionizing the printing process as significantly as the Gutenberg press.

To read more about Green Frog Press as a working print shop, click here.

The Thomas Williams House
Mr. Thomas Williams, one of the first settlers in Crockett County, built this log house for one his daughters. The house was moved to Green Frog from the Walnut Hill community and restored afterward. Inside, the large two-story cabin is fully furnished. The yard contains a herb garden and muscadine arbor, which is the only native American grape plant.

The log cabin now serves as a dressing room for brides who are married in May Chapel, located nearby.

May Chapel
This small church came from the Cross Roads community, only about four miles from Green Frog. The congregation which built the church was formed in 1823, but disbanded in 1985 due to demographic changes. The building was constructed before 1900 with hand-hewn poplar log timbers, even in the ceiling. The building was damaged by a fire in 1957 and rebuilt with the same materials. The church still contains its original poplar plank pews.

The church now houses regular services on Sunday morning, and is available for weddings. To learn how to reserve May Chapel for a wedding, click here.

The Redmon School
Built around the 1920s, this school was donated by Cindy Nyland from the Crockett Mills community. Eight grades were taught by a single teacher in this one-room schoolhouse. Inside the school is filled with antique desks, books and two pot-bellied stoves bought from the Sears-Roebuck catalogue.

Grace Lake
This lake is located behind the Thomas Williams house. It was named after Grace Uselton, wife of Willard Uselton — the couple who farmed the land where Green Frog village now resides. A wooden gazebo is built on this lake, and has been the site of numerous weddings and receptions at Green Frog. Additionally, the Bell Garden Club has planted a wildflower walking trail around the lake.

The Louise Pearson Arboretum
The Bells Garden Club established an arboretum (a botanical garden devoted to trees) at Green Frog, which now contains almost one hundred different species of trees. They are scatter throughout the village and are labeled by signs displaying their scientific names.

Curve Railroad Station
This little flag stop station once sat beside the Illinois Central Railroad in the small community of Curve, Tenn. The train’s boxcars used to be filled with strawberries that were being transported to Chicago.

The Davis Wheat House
This house was donated by the Davis family to be used as a part of the Green Frog’s museum. The log part of the house can from the Davis’s farm in Chesterfield, Tenn.

Cotton Museum Gift and Snack Shop
This former country store was located on Old Jackson Road, about four miles from Bells, Tenn. It was built by Will Scammerhorn, who ran the store for several years. The store was run by other owners until 1980, when it was donated to Green Frog by Mrs. Elsie Scammerhorn.