Friendship, IN

Buckskin, Black Powder, and Brotherhood

The smell of wood smoke wafts on the breeze in Friendship, Ind., (pop. 79) and the song of a harmonica takes you back to a simpler time. A man in buckskin whittles away on a stick, a woman in a tradecloth dress stirs a pot of stew, and two young boys play a game of tag amid the teepees.

Friendship is home to the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association, and several times a year the organization’s members bring the past to life in a town synonymous with buckskin, black powder, and brotherhood.

“There’s something about black powder that gets in your blood,” says Jim Lemon, 75, an association member since 1942 and a lifelong resident of Friendship. “It takes us back to the days of our forefathers and gets us out of the hustle and bustle of today.”

The association was founded nearly 70 years ago by a half-dozen black powder enthusiasts who got together in Portsmouth, Ohio, to shoot their old muzzle-loading firearms. The competition became so popular that the group soon was looking for a permanent home. When they came to Friendship, the town lived up to its name and the association settled along Laughery Creek, a mile east of town, in the 1930s. Since then, the organization has grown to 22,000 members from around the nation and 27 foreign countries.

“People come from all over for the camaraderie and the personal challenge of the championships,” says Donna Gatlin, 69, curator of the association’s museum and a resident of Elizabethtown, Ky.

The museum showcases the collections of powder horns, Kentucky rifles, and other black powder paraphernalia of association members and is open during the organization’s major gatherings in June and September. The events feature competitions for muzzle-loading rifle, pistol, shotgun, musket, and other guns, as well as tomahawk and knife throwing.

Attendees also can participate in yesteryear’s craftsmanship, view firearms built by contemporary gunmakers, or walk back through history at the museum, housed in the 1878 Rand House, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

During these and other rendezvous, teepees and tents spring up in the primitive area, while campers with trailers and mobile homes head for a section equipped with electricity.

“There’s no electricity, no Styrofoam, no plastic, no modern appliances in the primitive area,” says member Christi Lemen, 26, of nearby Osgood, Ind. “It’s all pre-1840 there, and that’s the way people try to keep it.”

Many who attend are known only by their nicknames—Bear Claw, Muskrat Jack, Medicine Man, Hawk, and Buck. Handcrafted goods are traded or sold, home-style food is shared, stories are told, and old-time music drifts on the evening wind.

It’s family time, says Roger Trammel of Sharonville, Ohio. “We’ve been coming to Friendship since 1982, and we take our grandkids now,” he says. “It’s a whole lot better for them than just sitting and watching TV or trying to get the latest electronic game that’s out. We’re not schoolteachers, but we teach history the living way.”

Clad in leggings, a long linen shirt, and moccasins, Trammel (known as Panther; his wife, Linda, is Sassafras) says the teepee time replenishes his spirit and helps him stay connected to the past.

“It’s nostalgic,” Trammel says. “You go to this little bitty town like Mayberry—with one grocery store and one gas pump—and you find the world.”

Max Vickery of Yorktown, Ind., says the partnership between Friendship and the buckskinners is a match made in heaven. “God bless them, the townspeople and us have held hands together for years and years.”

A retired firefighter and 53-year association member, Vickery says people from all walks of life enjoy the chance to pay homage to the past and connect with each other when they come to Friendship.

“When you get tired of the neon and the monoxide and the hurry,” he says, “it is very, very nice to come here and slow down. Reminds you of how good life can be.”

Jackie Sheckler Finch is a freelance writer in Bloomington, Ind.

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