Fried pies on Frontier Day menu

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Frontier Day is about celebrating life in the 1800s, the time when Pope's Tavern was utilized as a stagecoach shop, tavern and inn. Saint's homemade treats fit the mold, for the most part (ignore the electric skillet she uses).

“It's to particularly let the young people see what living was like back in the last century,” says Pope's Tavern Museum Curator Jo Parkhurst. “The people couldn't go out and buy their things. They had to be able to make what they needed, and they were very good at doing that.

“It's pleasure and educational combined,” she said.

Artisans on hand to demonstrate pioneer life will be quilters, potters, wood carvers, broom makers, chair caners and many musicians, such as those from the Shoals Dulcimer and Folk Music Association.

Parkhurst has served as museum curator for 22 years — “I'm one of the relics, I tell you,” she says — and festival attendees can view the various artifacts on display, many dating to the Civil War or before. Children love to play on the restored organ that dates to 1846 and was once used by a traveling preacher, although they are confused when they hit a key and don't hear any sound.

“They don't know that at first, air has to be pumped into the organ,” Parkhurst says.

Children also will be able to make their own pottery this weekend with the help of University of North Alabama art professor Robert Shady.

But if it's the food you're after, Saint will be on hand Saturday. She has two workers who help in the preparation and distribution of her pies, and they usually make about 1,400 a week. A granddaughter also helps her deliver.

“I'm 81,” she says, laughing. “I can't lift everything.”

Her husband is 87, and with age comes a slower pace of life. Businessmen already are trying to buy her out, but her Mondays and Tuesdays are still dedicated to cooking, with Wednesdays for delivering. Customers contact her from all around Alabama, as well as Georgia, Mississippi and Florida. She wondered about selling them online, but her daughter pointed out that she would probably receive too many orders to handle.