Cracker Country Homeschool Day: Music & Art

Cracker Country is hosting a homeschool day focused on music and art on Tuesday, May 11, 2027, from 10 AM to 2 PM. It's part of a series of homeschool days they put on for families to spend a few hours with Florida's rural history.

If you haven't been, Cracker Country is Tampa's only living history museum, a site on the Florida State Fairgrounds dedicated to life in the late 19th century. You walk among original structures from the late 1800s and meet docents in historic dress who can talk you through home life, trade, commerce, and transportation as they were in rural Florida. The museum usually keeps to educational field trips, privately scheduled tours, and a handful of public events each year, so these homeschool days are one of the few times it's open to the general public.

This particular session centers on music and art. There are live demonstrations on the dulcimer, pump organ, and conga drum, and you can watch instruments being made. There's also watercolor painting of Cracker Country scenes, and you can try your hand at old-time chores like churning butter or washing laundry on a washboard. The General Store stocks nostalgic reproduction items, historical toys and games, books, and candy, with the proceeds going back into the museum's education programs.

Tickets are $14 per person for ages 4 and up, and children 3 and under are free. You have to buy them in advance online, and they're limited, so it's worth grabbing yours early. The museum is at the Florida State Fairgrounds, 4800 N US Highway 301, Tampa, FL 33610—use the MLK Blvd Entrance, Gate 2.