Season opens at Depreciation Lands Museum in Hampton

When Kelly Enders told her daughter that she was going to tan her hide, she meant it literally.

It seems that Bri Bicker has a Renaissance fair costume in which she portrays a satyr — “So she’s half-goat, half-human,” her mother said — and wanted to change it up with a leather tunic.

“So I did some research, and I came back to her a little while later and said, ‘If you can give me a year to learn how to shoot a gun, to learn how to hunt a deer and then to make leather, then I will give you a tunic,’” Enders recalled. “And she did, and so I did.”

Thus began the Delmont resident’s foray into tanning, a skill she demonstrated May 5 during opening day for the 2024 season at the Depreciation Lands Museum in Hampton. Enders first visited the museum in the fall and decided to become part of this year’s group of volunteer interpreters.

“I came here, and I was hooked instantly,” she said. “I’m glad that I got to join up, and I’m hoping to get some apprentices to learn the trade.”

Since teaching herself and finding out “how hard it was to learn, even with the internet,” she decided to serve as an instructor, often visiting history-related events to provide details about tanning, the process of altering the protein of an animal’s skin to make it more durable and less susceptible to decomposition.

Her starting point is making lye from wood ash, followed by using the byproduct to dilute water to an effective ratio. And into the liquid go the hides.

“They’re in there for anywhere from three days to a week. It’s temperature-dependent, so the hotter it is, the faster they go,” she explained.

Soaking the hides eases the task of removing flesh. That’s followed by “bucking,” the removal of hair from the hide, and “braining,” which is applying a solution — you probably can guess the part of the animal from which it’s made — for the sake of preservation.

For the sake of historical reenactment, Bicker is joining her mother as a Depreciation Lands Museum volunteer, as is Enders’ husband, Tim Artman.

In fact, several new volunteers are donating their time this season, which runs through October, greeting guests at museum attractions including the original Covenanter Church building, constructed about 1837; the Armstrongs’ Log House, built in 1803 and the oldest surviving structure of its kind in Hampton; the McClarren-McCully Schoolhouse and Talley Cavey Blacksmith Shop; a barn that holds a Conestoga wagon, replica mercantile and wood shop; and an 18th-century-style tavern that’s available for rental.

The museum will host Friendship Day, with free admission, from 1 to 4 p.m. May 19. Featured at 2:30 in the tavern is a performance by the Pittsburgh Shape Note Singers, named for a method of writing music that was intended to enable those who could not read traditional notation to sing in church and social settings.

For more information about the Depreciation Lands Museum, visit dlmuseum.org or call 412-486-0563 and leave a message.