The American Long Rifle: Backbone of Frontier Culture

Historic Rock Ford will host Dr. Mel Stewart Hankla of Carter County, Kentucky, on Saturday, August 27 at 2 PM. Dr. Hankla will present his program “The American Long Rifle: Backbone of Frontier Culture.” Hankla will showcase examples of early material culture, knitting high-quality detailed images together with the stories of early American frontiersmen. He contends that the emergence of art, fine silverwork, elaborate furniture, and the dramatic architecture of early America was made possible by a culture that had, as its backbone, the iconic long rifle. 

This program will be held on the first floor of the Rock Ford Barn. This program includes admission to Historic Rock Ford’s special exhibit “Long Rifles of the American Revolution: How Lancaster County Craftsmen Helped Win the War” located in the Snyder Gallery (2nd floor of the Barn). 

Reservations may be made at Rockford.yapsody.com. Tickets are $20 for the general public and $15 for members of the Rock Ford Foundation, the 501(c)(3) organization that owns and operates Historic Rock Ford.  

The founder of American Historic Services LLC, Hankla is a noted collector, researcher, lecturer and writer of Kentucky’s heritage. He has been an active member of the Kentucky Rifle Association since 1990, is past president and co-founder of the Contemporary Longrifle Association, and editor-in-chief of American Tradition Magazine. He is a builder of traditional Kentucky Longrifles and in 1984 was awarded a National Endowment of the Arts Folk Art Apprenticeship grant to study with legendary riflesmith Hershel House. A historical actor/educator, he worked 23 years with the Kentucky Humanities Council presenting Chautauqua characters of frontiersman Simon Kenton and General George Rogers Clark. In 2012 he was cast for the leading role, in the PBS documentary, An Audacious American, the story of Kentucky abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay. Hankla, a 32-year member of the Kentucky Rifle Association, has served on the Museum Board of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (NSSAR), currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) and the Governing Board of the Kentucky Historical Society. He is a proud member of the Kentucky Material Culture Collectors and the prestigious American Society of Arms Collectors.