- This is the Hickory Ridge History Museum in Boone, North Carolina.

Nestled high in the Appalachian mountains, costumed interpreters guide visitors through recreations of daily life for the colonists who first settled this corner of the state.

- All any spinning wheel does is put twist in your fiber.

- But to understand their world, you'll have to go back more than 250 years.

In 1763, King George III drew a line straight down the spine of the Appalachian Mountains following the Eastern Continental Divide.

The settlers crossed it anyway, but they were caught between two forces, indigenous nations like the Cherokee, protecting their homelands and supported by the British Crown and their own lust for land.

Britain had just spent a fortune fighting France and their native allies for control of their North American colonies.

So when the Seven Years' War ended, the King drew that line as a promise to make terms with those same nations.

But settlers kept coming.

The King was an ocean away, Britain's treasury was exhausted, and there were never enough troops to enforce the border.

By the time the revolution started, many colonists were already living on the wrong side of that line.

Hickory Ridge brings that world to life through six historic cabins, period interpreters, and hands-on demonstrations in the crafts that defined backcountry survival.

Hearthside cooking, blacksmithing, candle making, spinning.

The self-sufficiency of a people who had no one to rely on but themselves.

- When you get here, it's like a step back into time.

All of a sudden, things, they start getting slower.

- Right in the woods, I'm in your marshes out here in the open.

- Our goal is to educate the public on what life was like in Western North Carolina during pretty much the American Revolutionary period.

- We really want people to be able to kind of wet their curiosity, but in a very authentic way.

- Life in the backcountry for settlers in the late 18th century was not the easiest.

(laughs) Technically, everything around here was out to get you, was out to kill you.

But it was a daily struggle to survive.

They don't call it the frontier for nothing.

- You get to see everything that happened from back many, many generations ago, and it's a great educational tool.

- And when the sun goes down, the story continues.

Horn in the West is one of the nation's oldest outdoor revolutionary war dramas.

Set in the years before and during the Revolution, it follows a small mountain community torn between loyalty to the crown and the fight for independence, with Daniel Boone as their guide through the wilderness.

According to the museum, since its premiere, 1.4 million people have seen this historic play.

- We've got romance.

We've got battles.

We've got fire.

We have everything you can possibly imagine.

There's plenty for anybody to enjoy it, young and old.

- It is a full-on theatrical production that takes many hands.

It means so much that we can share what happened many years ago.

It moves you, and we would love for folks just to come and enjoy and be a part.

- But both the Hickory Ridge and Horn in the West show are seasonal operations with robust summer offering, so check visitor information before planning your trip.

- When you learn about history, I think you develop a certain amount of understanding and respect for what came before you.

- Hickory Ridge History Museum is located at 591 Horn in the West Drive in Boone.

You can take a guided tour Tuesday through Friday from 10 to three, or explore on your own Saturdays from 10 to one.

For more information and seasonal events, visit hickoryridgehistorymuseum.com.