At the suggestion of a friend, we visited the yearly heritage festival at Ames Plantation near Grand Junction, Tennessee in 2012. More than interesting, the whole event was down right fascinating, well organized, and educational. As a little girl of seven or eight, I remember the monstrous hog dangling from the old dilapidated garage door...waiting. Inquisitive...yes. Scared...absolutely. Was I prepared for what happened next...no.

However, 55 years later, my fascination with hog butchering peaked again soon after arriving at Ames Plantation last October. This time I hid behind my camera as I captured image after image of men "just doing their job." Don't if I would have been so interested if the hog hadn't been bled beforehand, though. http://www.amesplantation.org/