ASP 0907 cvr1 · of baseball and prolific writer James Fenimore Cooper. BY MEGAN PACELLA {Historic...

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September/October 2007D a u g h t e r s o f t h e A m e r i c a n R e v o l u t i o n

Cooking a Colonial Breakfast

I’ll Drink to That: The Role of Taverns in theAmerican Revolution

A Grand Tour of Hyde Hall

Best Foot Forward: The Evolution of EarlyAmerican Dance

Tracing Captain John Smith’sHistoric Trail

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Consider membership in the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR), a volunteer women’s service organization that honors and preserves the legacy of our Patriotancestors. More than 200 years ago, American Patriots fought and sacrificed for the freedoms weenjoy today. As a member of DAR, you can continue this legacy by actively promoting patriotism,preserving American history and securing America’s future through better education for children.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR MEMBERSHIP?Any woman 18 years or older, regardless of race, religion or ethnic background, who can provelineal descent from a Patriot of the American Revolution is eligible for membership. DAR volunteers are willing to provide guidance and assistance with your first step into the world ofgenealogy.

HOW IS PATRIOT DEFINED?DAR recognizes Patriots not only as soldiers, but as anyone who contributed to the cause ofAmerican freedom. To find out if your ancestor is recognized by the DAR as a RevolutionaryPatriot, a request form is available online at www.dar.org by clicking on “Membership.”

HOW MANY MEMBERS DOES THE NATIONAL SOCIETY HAVE?DAR has 165,000 members in nearly 3,000 chapters worldwide, including chapters in 11 for-eign countries. Since its founding in 1890, DAR has admitted more than 800,000 members.

HOW CAN I FIND OUT MORE?Go to www.dar.org and click on “Membership.” There you’ll find helpful instructions, advice onfinding your lineage and a Prospective Member Information Request Form. Or call (202) 879–3224 for more information on joining the work of this vital, service-minded organization.

Preserving the American Spirit www.dar.org (202) 879–3224

Revolutionary PatriotIN YOUR FAMILY TREE?

DO YOU HAVE A


American Spirit • September/October 2007 1

ContentsBorn to Greatness 14

Amazingly, 770 members of the Daughters of the AmericanRevolution were the actual daughters of Patriots, an honor

duly recognized by organizers of the National Society. BY MAUREEN TAYLOR

Best Foot Forward 28America’s dance fever started long before the first season of

“Dancing With the Stars.” From country dances to minuets,early Americans loved putting on their dancing shoes.

BY BILL HUDGINS

I’ll Drink to That 32The Colonial tavern, a mainstay in New England towns, played an important role in lighting the fire for freedom.

BY NANCY MANN JACKSON

Cooking a Colonial Breakfast 38Armed with four recipes and a cow bladder, 21st-century cooks

gather to create an 18th-century breakfast. BY GIN PHILLIPS

On John Smith’s Trail 45Retrace the almost 3,000 miles of John Smith’s 1607 journey up

the Chesapeake Bay on the Captain John Smith ChesapeakeNational Historic Water Trail.

BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL

September/October 2007 Volume 141, No. 5

Features

38ABOUT THE COVER: THE DAR RECOGNIZED REAL DAUGHTERS,MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL SOCIETYWHOSE FATHERS SERVED IN THEREVOLUTIONARY WAR, BY PRESENTING EACHOF THE WOMEN WITH A GOLD SOUVENIRSPOON. THE COVER EXAMPLE WAS DONATEDTO THE AMERICANA COLLECTION.

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Daughters of the American Revolution2

{Today’s Daughters}

A Living Legacy 5Dorothy Young, the last living member of Harry Houdini’s

1925 touring show, is as full of energy and life as ever. BY LENA BASHA AND GLADYS HAYNES

{Class Act}

Hands-On History 10Keil Hileman fills his classroom with relics from the past,

letting students touch and feel America’s history.BY EMILY McMACKIN

{National Treasures}

A Link to the Past 11A 19th-century sausage stuffer provides another example of how

today’s simple tasks used to be much more cumbersome. FROM THE DAR MUSEUM COLLECTION

{Spirited Adventures}

Playing to History 19Explore the idyllic town of Cooperstown, N.Y., the birthplace

of baseball and prolific writer James Fenimore Cooper.BY MEGAN PACELLA

{Historic Homes}

Grand Tour 22The grandeur of Hyde Hall, a neoclassical mansion along

New York’s picturesque Otsego Lake, gives readers a glimpse of an important family in the early republic.

BY EMILY McMACKIN

Departments

{Plus} President General’s Message 3

Whatnot 6Letters to the Editor 12

Bookshelf 13

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American Spirit Magazine ISSN–1536–223X is published byNational Society Daughters of the American Revolution,1776 D Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20006–5303; Phone:(202) 628–1776. Issued bimonthly by Hammock PublishingInc., 3322 West End Ave. Suite 700, Nashville, TN 37203,Phone: (615) 690–3400.

Copyright © 2007 by NSDAR, all rights reserved. Editorialinquiries, e-mail: [email protected]. Additional NSDARinformation available at our Web site: www.dar.org.

Single copy and subscription orders can be placed onlineor by mail, telephone or fax. Subscribe via mail: DAR Magazine Office, 1776 D Street NW, Washington, DC,20006–5303. Online: http://www.dar.org/americanspirit.Via toll-free phone: (866) DAR–MAGA (327–6242). Viafax: (202) 879–3283. MasterCard, Visa, Discover andAmerican Express accepted or checks payable to Trea-surer General, NSDAR. Single copies $3.95 each. AmericanSpirit Magazine/Daughters Newsletter subscription rate:one year, $18; two years, $34; three years, $48. Subscrip-tions including shipping to Canada and Mexico: $23; twoyears, $44; three years, $63. All other foreign subscriptions(incl. shipping): one year, $30; two years, $58; three years;$84. If you prefer shipping via Air Mail outside the U.S.,please add an additional $20 to the subscription rate; twoyears, $40; three years, $60. No refunds will be issued.

NSDAR reserves the right to accept, reject or edit contentof any copy. Articles published in American Spirit reflectthe views, opinions or results of research of the authoronly and do not necessarily represent the beliefs or opin-ions of NSDAR, its officers, employees or membership.Advertised products and services do not carry NSDARendorsement. POSTMASTER: Send address changes toDAR American Spirit Magazine, 1776 D Street NW, Wash-ington, D.C. 20006–5303.

Periodical postage paid at Washington, D.C.,and additional mailing offices.

Every member of DAR takes pride in her heritage and treasuresher connection to the American Revolution. Imagine the distinctionfelt by Real Daughters—members of the DAR who were just a singlegeneration separated from the Revolutionary War. Our cover featurehonors the 770 known daughters of America’s first Patriots who werestill alive when the National Society formed in 1890.

We invited an enthusiastic group of DAR members from theSarah Polk Chapter, Nashville, Tenn., to create an authentic Colonial

breakfast in a modern kitchen. The cooks tracked down the ingredients and bravedrecipes like “An Egg as Big as Twenty” from a 1742 cookbook, Accomplish’d Gentlewoman’sCompanion. The blend of 21st-century cooks and 18th-century recipes resulted in a fascinating cooking experiment and glimpse intoearly American life.

Our feature on Colonial taverns details theimportant role that taverns and public housesplayed in early America. Taverns were not onlyplaces for gathering and dissecting the news ofthe day; circuit-riding judges used taverns to holdcourt in towns without public buildings, andPatriots turned them into a hotbed for incitingpolitical change and plotting the Revolution.

Taverns were just one of the places where Colonial Americans enjoyed dancing,the subject of our next feature, which delves into the origins and evolution of earlyAmerican dance. From stylized minuets to country dances, dancing was an organic artthat developed from the intersection of cultures and classes in the new republic.

Our Historic Homes department explores Hyde Hall, a country estate along NewYork’s Otsego Lake that transports guests back to the days of English patriarchy. Builtfor George Clarke, an Englishman who inherited a fortune in land, the neoclassicalmansion is preserved by a foundation dedicated to its restoration and interpretation.Our Spirited Adventures department travels across Otsego Lake to Cooperstown,birthplace of the Susquehanna River, James Fenimore Cooper and baseball.

When John Smith arrived on Jamestown Island in May 1607, the intrepid explorerlost no time charting the reaches of the James River and Chesapeake Bay. We retracehis almost 3,000 miles of exploration in our story on the Captain John SmithChesapeake National Historic Water Trail. It’s another way we’re celebrating the400th anniversary of the country’s first permanent English settlement at Jamestown.

Our Class Act column features Keil Hileman, winner of the 2007 OutstandingTeacher of American History, awarded by DAR at the recent 116th ContinentalCongress. Hileman takes “show and tell” quite literally, collecting objects from the pastand turning his classroom into a museum to help students connect to history.

Today’s Daughters are known for their remarkable accomplishments and generos-ity—and Dorothy Young, an original member of Harry Houdini’s 1925 touring group,is no exception. Age hasn’t slowed her down. This 100-year-old living legend is stillsharing her time and talents with others.

As the seasons change and cooler weather arrives, I hope that you are warmed bythese inspiring stories and discover even more ways to carry on the legacy of servicethat has defined the women of our great organization for generations.

From the President General

NSDAR Printing and Publications DirectorEdith Rianzares

Publications Coordinator Courtney PeterAdvertising Coordinator Toni-Ann IgnacioCirculation Coordinator Meaghan Trimyer

Managing Editor Jamie RobertsArt Director Kerri Davis

Senior Designer Lynne BoyerGraphic Designer Carrie Wakeford

Production Director Barbara MathiesonProduction Manager Patrick Burns

Administrative Assistant Natalie Willis

Contributing Editors Lena BashaBill HudginsNancy Mann JacksonEmily McMackinMegan PacellaGin PhillipsPhyllis SpeidellMaureen TaylorGrant Thomas

Advertising Information Nancy Bonney(719) 633–9056

National Society Daughters of the American RevolutionVolume 141, No. 5 • September/October 2007

President GeneralLinda Gist Calvin

DAR Magazine National Chairman and Editor-in-ChiefDenise Doring VanBuren

Linda Gist Calvin

© J

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★

“... to become an effective philanthropist you do not requirewealth, but the desire to make a difference.” BEA DALTON, MEMBER, DAR

“... It is possible to include my favorite organization in my estate plans while still providing for my

family and friends.” VIRGINIA LINGELBACH, MEMBER, DAR

“Why wait to make a differencewhen you can do it today?”

PATRICIA HOLVICK, MEMBER, DAR

Create Your Legacy

YES! Please send more information about:

� Estate Planning and Wills

� Charitable Gift Annuities

� Other Life Income Producing Gifts

NAME ________________________________________________________________________________

ADDRESS _____________________________________________________________________________

CITY ______________________________________ STATE ___________ ZIP ___________________

TELEPHONE _______________________________ BEST TIME TO CALL ______________________

E-MAIL _______________________________________________________________________________

Return this completed form to: NSDAR, Office of Development, 1776 D Street NW, Washington D.C. 20006-5303

SPIRIT_GEN

0907_ASP_p04 8/8/07 1:03 PM Page 4


BY LENA BASHA AND GLADYS HAYNES

{Today’s Daughters}

1925, at the age of 18, DorothyYoung landed the job of herdreams—as Harry Houdini’son-stage assistant. Today, 82

years later, as the last living member ofHoudini’s touring show, the 100-year olddescribes that experience with so muchdetail you’d think it happened yesterday.

“Houdini told me that he chose mefrom the more than 1,000 girls whoshowed up that day because, unlike all ofthem, I was a quiet, little girl sitting all theway in the back—and because I was shorterthan he was,” she remembers.

Mrs. Young’s career in show businesswas sparked in high school when she firstsaw the ballet “Swan Lake.”

“Here I was watching the great AnnaPavlova dancing the divine swan,” she says,“and from then on I knew I had to be a dancer.”

She spent the next few summers studying ballet in New York City and audi-tioning for various shows, including thefateful audition for Houdini’s magic act.

After a year traveling with the legendarymagician, Mrs. Young married RobertPerkins and had a son, Bob. She wasted notime returning to work, performing onBroadway at night and working as a modeland a body double during the day. She mar-ried her second husband, Gilbert Kiamie,in 1945, and they traveled the world as theinternationally acclaimed dancing team“Dorothy and Gilbert.”

When World War II broke out, Mrs.Young (who now goes by her maidenname) contributed to the war effort by tak-ing a job at the Standards Agency at FortMonmouth, N.J., writing the purchasingspecifications for shock absorbers used bythe Army and Navy. She didn’t return to

the stage when the war ended, but shealways kept her love of the arts and startedtaking painting lessons. “It just came natu-ral to me,” she says. “You completely forgetthe world when you’re painting.”

She painted regularly for the next 30years and became a member of the FiftyAmerican Artists, a guild of American real-ists. Her house in Ocean Grove, N.J., isfilled with her stunning landscapes andportraits. One of her works hangs at JerseyShore Medical Center in Neptune, N.J., inthe chapel she donated to the hospital inmemory of her parents.

Mrs. Young has given generously toher community throughout her life. Inaddition to the hospital chapel, theDorothy Young Center for the Arts atDrew University in Madison, N.J., wasmade possible with a substantial dona-tion from Mrs. Young, as was therebuilding of the historical YouthTemple in Ocean Grove in 1977.

“It just makes me happy to giveback,” says Mrs. Young, who credits herfather for her giving spirit. “He was atrue philanthropist and would give hislast dollar to anyone who needed it.”

Today, when she’s not doting on herseven great-grandchildren, the 100-year-old follows her favorite routine: “Everymorning I get up, drink a cup of coffee,look at the ocean and count my blessings,”she says. After her daily exercises, she usu-ally goes to brunch with a friend. ADaughter since 1948 and a current mem-ber of the Governor William LivingstonChapter, Spring Lake, N.J., Mrs. Young alsopasses the time reading and playingbackgammon—and autographing the con-stant stream of Houdini memorabilia thatstill arrives in her mailbox from fans.

“Isn’t that funny?” Mrs. Young says. “Ofall of the things that I’ve done in my lifewith the church, the community and as anartist, the fact that I was with Houdini ishow everyone knows me.”

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To nominate a Daughter for a future issue, e-mail a description to [email protected].

In

A Living Legend

Dorothy Young performing on stage withHarry Houdini. Inset: Mrs. Young today.

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{Whatnot}N E W S > E V E N T S > M I S C E L L A N Y

Book lovers will descend on Washington,D.C.’s NationalMall for theSeventh AnnualNational BookFestival, taking

place September 29. Sponsored by the Library of Congress andhosted by first lady Laura Bush,the event will feature more than 70 award-winning authors, poets and illustrators, includingJoyce Carol Oates, Diane Thiel andDavid Wiesner. The festival isexpected to draw more than100,000 bookworms to thenation’s capital.

For more information on the event and a complete list of scheduled authors, visitwww.loc.gov/bookfest.

War Stories RENOWNED FILMMAKER KENBurns, best known for his Emmy-winning documentary “The Civil War,” has onceagain taken on the subject of war in an epic miniseries documenting World War II forPBS. Burns directed and produced “The War” with partner Lynn Novick over a six-year period, conducting interviews in four American towns: Mobile, Ala., Waterbury,Conn., Sacramento, Calif. and Luverne, Minn.

The stories of veterans and their family members are the film’s focus. Burnsexplores the human cost of the war, highlighting personal accounts that depict howindividuals, families and communities were affected by the horrors and hardships ofthe war against tyranny and the democratic cause around which America rallied.Over the course of the series, Burns brings combat in both Europe and the Pacific tolife through harrowing interviews with soldiers who saw the brutality of OmahaBeach and the assault at Okinawa. By also focusing on the trials of wives and chil-dren left at home during the war, Burns gives one of the most complete accountsavailable of the war and the sacrifices American citizens made to ensure a saferworld for generations to come.

The miniseries airs over a two-week period starting September 23 on PBS. Formore information, visit www.pbs.org/thewar.

BaseballTest your knowledge about America’sfavorite pastime, then turn to page 19to plan your trip to Cooperstown, N.Y.,home of the Baseball Hall of Fame.1. How many balls did it take to walk a batterbefore 1880?2. What was the first domedbaseball stadium?3. How many WorldSeries titles do theYankees hold?4. Who developedthe first publishedrules of baseball in1845?5. What is the onlyteam to play in the samecity since the formation of theNational League in 1876?Answers on page 9.

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IN NEW DOCUMENTARY

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Thanks to a $2 million grant awarded to the Library of Congress by theAlfred P. Sloan Foundation, older books in danger of deteriorating willbe digitized and archived for public access. The project, DigitizingAmerican Imprints at the Library of Congress, will also scan Americanhistory volumes, genealogy histories and rare books authored by

Benjamin Franklin and Hans Christian Anderson. In addition to scanning anduploading the works, project coordinators will include page-turning and index-displaytechnology that will allow for easier public access.

“A significant number of books from the library’s great collection will now be avail-able to anyone in the world in an open, nonexclusive and nonprofit setting, thus bring-ing the ideal of a universal digital library closer to reality,” project coordinator DeannaMarcum says. While brittle books are rarely scanned due to their vulnerable nature, theproject hopes to provide an example of how best to handle such delicate works so thatmore books can be preserved in the future.

Books Go DigitalSeptember 3, 1783: The Treaty of Paris issigned, officially bringing the RevolutionaryWar to a close and recognizing America asan independent nation.

September 13, 1814: FrancisScott Key composes thenational anthem while watching British forces

bombard Fort McHenry.

September 17, 1862: Union andConfederate forces begin fighting atAntietam in a battle that would result in more casualties in one day than any otherconflict in American history.

September 27, 1905: AlbertEinstein publishes an articleintroducing the famousequation e = mc2

September 29, 1789: Congress officially creates the United States military on thelast day of its first session.

October 4, 1957:The Russians launch Sputnik, the first artificialsatellite to orbit the Earth.

October 7, 1777:Benedict Arnold

defeats outnumbered British troops in thesecond battle of Saratoga.

October 12, 1492:Americas are sightedby a sailor aboardChristopher Columbus’ship, The Pinta.

October 20, 1803: The U.S. Senate ratifiesthe Louisiana Purchase Treaty, doubling thesize of the country and paving the way forwestward expansion beyond the MississippiRiver.

On This Day In History

Digging for History TWO EXCITING archaeological discov-eries were made recently in Fort McCoy,Wis., and Mexico City, Mexico. Althoughthe sites may be thousands of miles apart,each finding could potentially be a key toquestions about past cultures.

A team of archaeologists at FortMcCoy recently excavated a pot that couldbe as many as 2,500 years old. The morethan 350 digs at Fort McCoy are a result ofthe National Historic Preservation Act. Todate, the pot has been the most intactobject ever excavated there.

Stephen Wagner, cultural resourcemanager of Fort McCoy, is leading theexcavation team. Six months a year,Wagner and his team search for artifactsand determine the cultural significance ofthe findings. “We appreciate the beauty ofthe really nice stuff, but everything we digup has some value in interpretation,” hetold the La Crosse (Wis.) Tribune. “It’s allabout context.”

Wagner says artifacts such as the potwill give archaeologists a better under-standing of how the region’s AmericanIndians lived in the past.

South of the border, Salvador Guilliemleads a team excavating sunken remains ofan Indian mural painted shortly after the

Spanish conquest. The mural is one of theearliest paintings to show an integration ofthe Indian and Spanish cultures anddepicts a lakeside scene of both real andmythical animals. At the center of the 16-foot-long mural stands a black and whitecross.

Archaeologists believe the Aztecspainted the mural in the 1530s during aperiod of Spanish tolerance and were mostlikely assisted by Franciscan monks. Yetsome details point to a “conflict of interestsbetween the priests and the painter,”Guilliem told the Associated Press, withfigures wearing traditional Aztec clothingbeing depicted with European features.

This pot, believed to be 2,500 years old, was excavatedfrom Fort McCoy, the U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.

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A Divine DisplayThe Museum of Fine Arts, Bayou BendCollection and Gardens, Houston

In 1925, Ima Hogg and her twobrothers, Will and Mike, selected 14acres of thick forest in Houston as thesite of their new home. Although MissHogg described the land as “nothing buta dense thicket,” she had already drawnup the blueprints for an elaborate gardenin her mind, even before the construc-tion of her home was completed. Afteryears of hard work, her organically pre-served garden—which boasts nine sepa-rate sections and represents past, presentand future—remains on display for thepublic as a tribute to her talent as a gar-dener and her dedication to beauty.While the elaborate gardens are beauti-fully maintained, the Bayou Bend homeis arguably just as well preserved.

In addition to Miss Hogg’s love for gar-dening, she also maintained a remarkablecollection of art and decorative art span-ning the years 1620 to 1870. Her collectionbegan in 1920 when she purchased aQueen Anne chair and ended in 1957when she donated her entire compilationof artwork, furniture, ceramics and glass tothe Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.Currently, the Bayou Bend house displaysthe collection of more than 1,000 pieces in28 room settings and is regarded as one ofthe most important collections ofAmerican decorative art. The property as awhole keeps alive the remarkable spirit of

Miss Hogg, a DAR member whose appre-ciation for the arts and charitable characterare still widely remembered today. A cul-tural escape in the middle of Houston,Bayou Bend welcomes tourists year-roundto enjoy one of the country’s finest collec-tions of American art as well as the gor-geous scenery surrounding the museum.

To learn more about Bayou Bend or planyour trip, visit www.mfah.org/bayoubend.

Our Universes:Traditional KnowledgeShapes Our WorldNational Museum of the American Indian,Washington, D.C., ongoing

Exploring native cosmology and thespiritual relationship between mankindand our natural surroundings, “OurUniverses” focuses on native ceremoniesthat take place in the course of a solar year.The ceremonies included in the exhibitrange from Mexico’s Day of the Dead toCanada’s North American Indigenous

Games and illustrate the coming togetherof different native peoples. Spiritual lead-ers from eight Native American tribesworked with the curator to develop theexhibition. “Our Universes” also houses astar-filled “night sky” that allows visitors todiscover how celestial bodies influenceNative Americans’ daily lives and ceremo-nial rituals.

Overlooked Hero: John Glover and theAmerican RevolutionSt. Paul’s Church National Historic Site, Mt. Vernon, N.Y., through January 2009

Explore the inspiring life of JohnGlover, a Revolutionary War general wholed three important operations duringsome of the Continental Army’s bleakestmoments, in an exhibit at St. Paul’s ChurchNational Historic Site in Mt. Vernon, N.Y.

Glover’s many accomplishments arespotlighted in this exhibition, whichincludes historic prints and images, arti-facts, models, text and audio. The displayruns through January 2009.

For more information, visit www.nps.gov/sapa.

Power and Might Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum, Savannah, Ga.

Seventeen medals of honor, 220Distinguished Service Crosses, 7,000

Purple Hearts—these are just a frac-tion of the awardsreceived by theMighty Eighth AirForce after WorldWar II. Now abrochure with GilCoates’ beautiful“Crewman” draw-ing helps promote

the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museumand serves as a historical reminder of thebravery and patriotism displayed by themembers who served.

To find out more about the Mighty EighthMuseum or to obtain a brochure of your own, call (912) 748–8888, ext. 123, or visitwww.mightyeighth.org.

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Discover the meanings behind some of theDAR chapters’ interesting names.

The Dancing Rabbit Chapter, Macon,

Miss., takes its name from one of the last

great treaties between the American gov-

ernment and the Indians east of the

Mississippi. In September 1830, the

Choctaws and the representatives of the

American government signed a treaty on

land located between the Big Rabbit Creek

and the Little Rabbit Creek. A legend

among the Choctaws told that on moonlit

nights, rabbits would dance along these

creeks. The treaty became known as the

Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek.

The namesake of the Dr. Silas

Hamilton Chapter, Jerseyville, Ill., was a

native of Tinmouth, Vt., who died in Jersey

County, Ill., in 1834, bequeathing $4,000

“for the establishment of a primary

school.” In 1870, the original building was

razed, and a stone structure was erected

upon the same site. Tuition-free and inte-

grated, the well-known school brought

many families into Jersey County, as par-

ents were intent upon securing a good edu-

cation for their children. Near the school is

a monument erected according to the provi-

sions of the will of a slave named George

Washington, whom Dr. Hamilton pur-

chased as a young child, freed and raised as

a member of his family. The former slave

attended the school and later became a

respected member of the community. This

is the only known monument a freed slave

ever erected to his former master.

The name of the Golden Spike Chapter,

Ogden, Utah, honors the completion of the

Union Pacific and Southern Pacific rail-

roads. On May 10, 1869, the golden spike

was driven at Promontory Point, Utah, to

connect the west to the rest of the country.

When the Golden Spike Chapter was

formed in 1919, the founding members

thought it appropriate to choose this name.

Every few years the chapter holds one of its

meetings at Promontory Point to see the

two engines come together at the spot

where the connecting spike was driven.

What’s Name?

Does your chapter name have an unusualstory behind it? E-mail a description to

[email protected].

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BASEBALLAnswers to the quiz on page 6: 1. Nine; in today’s game, it’s four.2. The Astrodome in Houston, which opened in 1965. 3. 26 (16 more than the next closest team) 4. Alexander Cartwright, an American engineer and founder of theKnickerbockers, the country’s first organized ball club. 5. The Chicago Cubs, althoughthey have played in numerous stadiums in the Windy City.{ Q

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LOOKING FOR APEACEFUL weekendgetaway this fall? Setyour sights on NewHarmony in southernIndiana. Originallyfounded as a utopiansociety in 1814, NewHarmony remains a

tranquil town in whichvisitors can easily take abreak from the stressesof everyday life andenjoy solitude reminis-cent of quieter times.

The town featureselaborate gardens, intri-cate hedge labyrinths,

historic architecture and art as well as theNew Harmony Inn. The town may besteeped in traditions ofthe past, but the recentlyrenovated inn offerscomfortable lodgingcomplete with wirelessInternet access. Visitorslooking to enjoy NewHarmony’s pristine surroundings will wantto take advantage of thegarden’s walking trails,weekend carriage ridesand the HarmonistLabyrinth, a hedgemaze that symbolizesthe path to true harmony.

For more information and to make reservations, visitwww.newharmonyinn.com.

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Tranquil Travels

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VISITING KEIL HILEMAN’Sclassroom at Monticello Trails MiddleSchool in Shawnee, Kan., is like spendingan afternoon at a historymuseum. Every nook andcranny is filled with someobject from the past, andevery object tells a story abouta person, place or period inAmerican history.

In one corner, you mightfind a gilded 19th-century cashregister next to a turn-of-the-century stove; in another, aWorld War II Navy uniform and the firstpackaged brand of soap (Ivory). Cabinetsand cubbyholes display a hodgepodge ofrelics from nearly every era in Americanhistory, including an oil-stained Colonialfire starter (a precursor to the match) and a1797 chipped “cartwheel” penny, the largestever made, bearing King George III’simage. Student-made models of earlyforms of aviation hang from the ceiling,and boxes hold about 20,000 antiquecoins, buttons and books.

“People say my room smells like anantique store,” says Hileman, who uses theartifacts to help students connect to history.

This isn’t the kind ofmuseum where you have tokeep your hands to yourself.Hileman passes the objectsaround and uses them as teach-ing prompts.

“Many of us grew up look-ing at history books, listening tolectures and filling out work-sheets—and for many years,pictures were the best way to

connect with history,” says Hileman, win-ner of the 2007 DAR OutstandingTeacher of American History award.“When I teach history, I use all the senses.”

In a digital age where students are sospoiled by special effects that nothing daz-zles them, that’s essential, Hileman says.Whether it’s the sparks of a flintlock pistol,the weight of a bronze slave collar or theartistry of a Colonial tea set, artifacts evokereactions that nothing else will. Even themost utilitarian object can fascinate.

Take a Revolutionary-era key, forinstance.

“It’s crude—the round parts aren’tround and the square parts aren’t square—because the key and the lock were handmade, and it had to be whittled downuntil it worked,” Hileman says. “It took twohands to turn because it’s 6 inches long andweighs 2 pounds. We talk about what kindof lock it might have fit and ask questionslike: Why it was so big? What were theColonists trying to protect?

“It shows students how things were andlinks them to a different time.”

When possible, Hileman collects thestory behind the artifact, too, but someobjects possess inherent mystery, such as abutton from a Patriot soldier’s uniform.

“It’s bent, and most of the nickel is wornoff,” Hileman says. “We talk about how itgot that way, when it might have happenedand what that battle must have been like—and then we do some creative writing.”

Hileman’s collection started with CivilWar-era bullets and has grown so muchthat he built a class around it calledMuseum Connections, which draws morethan 600 middle-schoolers. Students helppreserve and restore the museum’s relics,conduct archaeological digs and developprojects from a piece of history that inter-ests them. Though Hileman still scours fleamarkets and garage sales for relics to add tohis stash, much of it now comes from thestudents themselves and their parents.

“They’re always searching their grand-parents’ attics for artifacts,” Hileman says.

Learn more about how to transform a classroominto a museum like Keil Hileman’s at www.usd232.org/education/staff/staff.php?sectionid=461.

{Class Act}Peek inside America’s classrooms to discover ingenious ways of teaching American history.

Hands-On HistoryTeacher turns his classroom into a history museumBy Emily McMackin

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{National Treasures}Take a step inside the DAR Museum for a closer look at its fascinating collection.

IN THE 19TH CENTURY, meat preservationwas a serious business, though quite messyand time-consuming. A family usuallymade sausage at the same time itbutchered a hog. Pork was ground andmixed with several spices as a means ofpreservation. A sausage stuffer was thenused to force the ground meat into a casing, which was usually made from hogintestines.

The DAR Museum’s large, cumber-some sausage stuffer consists of wood andtin. The casing would fit over the funnel-like structure, then the handle would beraised and lowered to push the meat intothe casing. This mid-to-late 19th-centuryexample was used by Rebecca HendricksonConover (1805–1892) of New Jersey.Today’s stainless-steel sausage makers weighonly three pounds, a vast improvement overthis 25-pound example.

ALink

to the Past

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MARGARET’S MANORThe story on she-merchants by Gin

Phillips in the May/June 2007 issue isfascinating.

I have lived in lower WestchesterCounty for 60 years, surrounded byPhilipse Manor, Sleepy Hollow Manor,Van Cortlandt Manor and the thousandsof acres owned by the wealthy Philipsefamily in the 1600s. Never have I heard aword about Margaret Hardenbroeck,who was a wealthy woman before she wasmarried for the second time to a gentle-man named Philipse. It is even moreamusing to me that his name was notmentioned in the article. How fortunatethose Dutch women were!

Thanks to the Rockefeller Foundation,all three manor houses are listed underHistoric Hudson Valley and are in greatshape, welcoming tourists for all kinds ofinteresting programs. The Georgianbrick mansion, Philipse Manor, shown inthe article, still stands today in the centerof Yonkers.

Jean Otto MacIntoshHudson River Patriots Chapter Southern Westchester, N.Y.

MICKLEY’S MISSIONI read with great interest the article on

the Liberty Bell, “Let Freedom Ring,” inthe May/June 2007 issue of American Spirit.

When I was young, my great-grand-father entertained us with stories of howhis ancestor John Jacob Mickley wasentrusted with the job of moving the 11bells of Philadelphia on his horse-drawnwagon to Allentown, Pa., where theywere concealed beneath the floors ofZion Reformed Church so that theBritish could not use the bells to makecannons.

It was not until I read the 1893Genealogy of the Mickley Family of America thatI was able to authenticate this story. Sincethat time, my sisters and I have done ourbest to perpetuate the account of the con-tribution made by our Mickley ancestor

to the Revolutionary effort. We wouldlike to see him given credit for the part heplayed in hiding the bells of Philadelphiafrom the British.

Ruth L. CarlinArizona Member at Large

AN UPTURNED PENNYYour interesting article on the Liberty

Bell ended with a mystery: What becameof the Columbian Liberty Bell?

Most of the bell’s metal was made upof pennies collected from schoolchildrenacross the nation. After the Columbianexposition closed, the bell was brokeninto small pieces and distributed to inter-ested people. My grandfather, a descen-dant of John Jacob Mickley (the manwho transported the Liberty Bell fromPhiladelphia), received one piece that hewore proudly on his watch fob. It passedto me on his death and now resides in mycollection. It is inscribed with his nameon one side and “Columbian Liberty Bell1893” on the other.

Richard C. WolfeCovesville, Va.

HEALTHY HOME LIFEI enjoyed “Manchester’s Little Red

House” in the May/June 2007 issue.Most of my early American ancestorslived in New England so it’s nice to readdetails of life there in those times.

The author writes of General Stark’swife Molly: “She bore 11 children andraised 10 of them to adulthood, a remark-able feat in that time.” My ancestors hadsimilar good fortune in raising most oftheir very large families to adulthood. Ibelieve that what made that possible wasliving in a relatively healthy climate andavoiding living in a city where illnessspread much more easily. Perhaps living ina remote location, as most of my ancestorsdid, made the difference.

Karen Nilsen, RegistrarWashington Crossing ChapterYardley, Pa.

RECOGNIZING DAUGHTERS OF EVERY AGEI took great pleasure in reading “The

Doctor Is In” in the May/June 2007issue. I was elated to discover thatAmerican Spirit is ensuring that all DARmembers, young and old, are recognizednot only for their research but also theiradvocacy and contributions to modernsociety. The Daughters have embracedthe new with the old and acknowledgedthat history is what makes us strong … andpassionate.

As a human resources director, certi-fied financial planning professional andGeneration Xer, I cannot express mynewfound respect for making theseefforts to recognize “Today’s Daughters.”

Jean Marie MardenSwallow Cliff ChapterPalos Heights, Ill.

OUR MOTHER’S DAYThe historical glimpses published in

American Spirit educate and entertain. TheMay/June 2007 issue, which featuredMother’s Day in its Quick Quiz section,is no exception—and it prompted me toshare another historical tidbit.

For more than 30 years, I have man-aged Modern Woodmen of America’sArchives. Several years ago, I prepared aseries of historical trivia for our employeenewsletter, including an item on ModernWoodmen’s involvement in assisting AnnJarvis’ vision for a national day to honormothers. Although we didn’t admitwomen or children to our membershipuntil June 1929, then-president AdolphusR. Talbot led the campaign to raiseawareness among our million members insupport of Jarvis’ endeavor. I’d like tobelieve we made a difference and helpedin establishing the day.

Again, congratulations on a spectacularpublication. The covers entice me inside,and the material never disappoints.

Gail Ann Hodges Levis, RegentHannah Caldwell ChapterDavenport, Iowa

Spirited comments from our readers

{Letters to the Editor}

We want to hear from you. Please send letters to the editor to [email protected].

ASP_0907_p12 8/8/07 1:11 PM Page 12


NEVER BEFORE HAVE Native Americandresses been described with so much detailand eloquence as in Identity By Design: Tradi-tion, Change and Celebration in Native Women’sDresses (HarperCollins Publishers, 2007).

Inspired by the Smith-sonian Institution’sNational Museum of theAmerican Indian exhibitof the same name, thebook highlights thebeauty and culturalimportance of NativeAmerican dresses datingfrom the 1830s. The

book draws from the Smith-sonian’s extensive collection of Native

women’s clothing and accessories from thePlains, Plateau and Great Basin regions ofNorth America and Canada.

For the women who wear them, eachdress is a unique blend of tradition andinnovation that makes a statement abouttheir personality and heritage.Native dresses consist ofmaterials ranging fromdeer hide to elk teeth, butregardless of material, each isinfused with the maker ’sspirit. Identity By Design, filledwith historical and contempo-rary photographs and personalaccounts from Native Americanartists who design and create thedresses, helps readers appreciate the workput into making the dresses and their sig-nificance in ceremony and everyday life.From the side-fold dresses of the North-eastern Plains Indians decorated withbeads and fringes to the two-hide dressesof the Plains tribes ornamented with silkribbons, the dresses integrate the ritualand design that have played an importantrole in Native American culture.

Emily Her Many Horses, award-winning beadwork artist and curator ofthe Smithsonian exhibit, served as the

editor of Identity By Design and wrote anumber of the book’s essays, along withother Native American artists, scholarsand professors.

The exhibit itself contains many of thedresses photographed for the book andruns through January 2, 2008, at theNational Museum of the AmericanIndian in Washington, D.C.

JOHN B.L. SOULE is credited with coiningthe famous quote, “Go west, young man,”in 1851. More than 150 years later, thereare still plenty of reasons for men andwomen of all ages to explore the fascinat-ing cultures, cities, wildlife and geographyof the majestic West. If you can’t actuallymake it out West but would like to learnmore of what the region has to offer, lookno further than the “Look West” series ofcollectible books. From the legend of theO.K. Corral to Navajo rug designs, the

series from Rio Nuevo Publishershighlights western America’s mostsignificant features in hardcovers.

Each book in theseries presents a differ-ent aspect of the Amer-ican West, exploringincredible cities such asTaos Pueblo, fascinatinganimals like the road-runner and the coyote,and Native American

spiritual icons like Kokopelli, the mythicalhumpbacked flute player who inhabits theWestern cliffs. Each title in the series iswritten and illustrated by regional experts,such as Anna Silas, a Tewa-Hopi whomanages the Hopi Cultural CenterMuseum and wrote Journey to Hopi Land,the latest edition in the series. No matterwhat subject the “Look West” authorstackle, each book allows readers to cap-ture a piece of the Western spirit in thepalm of their hand.

—GRANT THOMAS

{The Bookshelf}A collection of Native American dresses and a series dedicated

to the American West highlight the nation’s diversity.

American Beauties

Ever wished you had a place tomeet with other researchers interested in the same sur-names to share information

and work toward solutions ofgenealogical problems? NOW

YOU HAVE!!

Take advantage of our popularresearch reunions. The

Sumner County Archives willmake available our meetingroom to groups for research.

Once a vast wilderness areabeyond the Cumberland

Mountains Sumner Countybecame the most populous

county in Middle Tennessee in1786 only 20 years after itsfirst explorers and 10 yearsbefore Tennessee became a

state. Remarkably, this was allaccomplished while settlers

were enduring Indian attacks.

Sumner played a major andunique role in the expansion ofthe West as a permanent homefor many and a way station for

others who remained longenough to leave footprints.

Those footprints await you atthe Sumner County Archives.

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888-301-7866 www.sumnercvb.com

SUMNER COUNTY ARCHIVES155 East Main StreetGallatin, Tennessee 37066

phone 615.452.0037fax [email protected]

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The Daughters of the First PatriotsBorn to Greatness:

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By Maureen Taylor | Photography By James Kegley

surprising number of daughters of America’s first Patriots werestill alive when the Daughters of the American Revolutionformed in 1890. Amazingly, 770 women once held the distinc-

tion of being called Real Daughters—members of the DAR who were just a single generation removed from the Revolutionary War. Women seeking a way to honor theirRevolutionary history submitted applications for membership to the DAR, offeringproof of their ancestry from the men who served or contributed to the war effort.

Among these women was Mary Hammond Washington (1816–1901), daughter ofSamuel Hammond, who held the distinction of being the first recognized RealDaughter among the first 100 members of the National Society. By 1893, as membersof the new organization examined applications, they realized that many more of theseDaughters were still alive. Chapters enthusiastically sought out the Real Daughtersresiding in their midst. The DAR acknowledged Real Daughters’ status by presentingeach of the women with a gold souvenir spoon engraved with her initials and hernational number on the back.

Beginning in the early 20th century, the DAR collected the stories and photographsof these women to share in regular installments in its publication, the American MonthlyMagazine and its successor, the Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine. The biogra-phies reflected the women’s pride in being members of the DAR and included a historyof their fathers’ military participation.

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Page 15: A collage of letters and photos of Lydia Moss Bradley, Angelina Loring Avery

and Louisa Thiers are just a few of the Real Daughters-related treasures in the

DAR Americana Collection.This page, above: Louisa Thiers’ scrapbookshows a record of family birth, marriage,

move and death dates. Below: Several booksbelonging to Angelina Loring Avery were

donated to the DAR Museum.

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A Living ConnectionMore than 100 years after the American

Revolution, these women represented adirect link to the conflict that formedthe United States, and many couldrecount the stories of their fathers’ service. Phidelis Coffren Lowell(1815–1908), the eighth of 11 childrenborn of Robert Coffren of Pembroke,N.H., remembered her father’s tales ofencamping near Washington’s headquar-ters at Morristown. Coffren often told hischildren how the soldiers foraged for foodand kept their feet warm by alternatelyresting one foot at a time on the oppositeleg. Some women like Sarah EntrottHorton (1825–1904) descended from theGerman mercenary soldiers the Britishhired to fight. Mrs. Horton’s father, HenryEntrott, was a Hessian who deserted hisregiment to serve on the American side.Emily Gerry (1802–1894) was the onlyReal Daughter with ties to the new govern-ment. Her father, Elbridge Gerry, was asigner of the Declaration of Independenceand the U.S. vice president under PresidentJames Madison.

The Fathers They Never KnewIn many instances, Real Daughters

were the youngest daughters of a largefamily or the result of a marriage late in life.In the latter case, these women’s fathersusually died when their youngest childrenwere barely out of infancy. Angelina LoringAvery’s (1839–1937) father, SolomonLoring of Connecticut, died in 1842 whenshe was about 30 months old, leaving heran orphan to be raised by an aunt. Hermother, Loring’s third wife, died while giv-ing birth to her. Sisters Sarah Pool andMary Pool Newsome joined the DAR onJune 5, 1929, under the service of theirfather, Henry Pool. At the time of hisyoungest child’s birth, Pool was 90, and hiseldest child was 64. Elizabeth Ann FrankRussell (1840–1920) and Julia Ann FrankDemaray (1840–1912) of Michigan weretwins born to John Peter Frank when hewas 81.

Community LeadersThe majority of Real Daughters married

and had children of their own, and a few hadcareers outside of the home. SophroniaFletcher (1806–1906), daughter of Peter

Fletcher of Massachusetts, became one ofthe first women physicians in the countryand taught anatomy and physiology atMount Holyoke College. Sally M.Reynolds Allen (1810–1905) ofMassachusetts worked in the weave roomof a fabric factory as a young teen before hermarriage to Richard Allen. At 95, the solesurvivor of 11 siblings, she still rememberedseeing General Andrew Jackson during herchildhood. Amelia Dodge Southard ofNew Hampshire, daughter of BrewerDodge, married at 15. Late in life, sherelated how she returned to school whenher children were young to pursue her stud-ies while her mother cared for her kids.

Lydia Moss Bradley (1816–1908),daughter of Zealy Moss of Virginia, inher-ited her husband’s half-million-dollarestate when he died unexpectedly in 1867.She took over the reins of the FirstNational Bank of Peoria, Ill., where he waspresident, and she served as board directorfor 25 years. In 1897, she founded theBradley Polytechnic Institute, now calledBradley University, endowing it with herentire estate.

Recognition and SupportIn contrast to Mrs. Bradley’s wealth,

many of the Daughters found themselveson limited incomes when their husbandsdied. In 1905, the DAR established a RealDaughters’ Committee to locate moreDaughters and help support those whoneeded financial assistance. The NationalSociety and local chapters supplied neces-sities, such as food, clothing, householdgoods and monetary gifts, when needed.In recognition of their historic designa-tion, the DAR established a pension fundin 1908.

Tracy Robinson, director of archivesand history for the DAR, explains that thewomen “received a pension or a one-timesum as a gift of affection to help them in atime of illness or other need, and howmuch was given depended on the individ-ual’s personal situation.” In 1908, threeReal Daughters received a monthly sumof $8. By the 34th Continental Congressin 1925, it had increased to $25 a month.

Daughters of History Born in the early to mid-19th century,

several Real Daughters lived well into the


“They had drive, they had ambitions, they

had hardships. Theymade a difference in

their families and in their communities. In many

ways they faced the same things we do now:

taking care of their family, trying to instill the

fundamentals of God,home and country to

their children and tryingto lead by example asDaughters do today.”

– KATI GRULKEElizabeth Forey Chapter

Tacoma, Wash.

Above: Mary H. Washington, the first RealDaughter, was honored with a bust placed in

Memorial Continental Hall in 1912. Below: Annie Knight Gregory, the last Real

Daughter, was born in 1843 and lived to 100.

COU

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AR

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20th century. In 1932, at the time of the 200th anniversary of the birth of GeorgeWashington, seven remained—Mary Priscilla Tillman, Mariah Storts Allen, sisters MaryPool Newsome and Sarah Pool, Angelina Avery, Caroline Randall and Annie KnightGregory.

Proud of their Real Daughters, DAR chapters around the country sent presents ontheir birthdays or other anniversaries, while individual members made additional cashsettlements to help these final seven in their advanced age. The last surviving RealDaughter was Annie Gregory (1843–1943) of Pennsylvania.

Today this first generation of American women is still revered, respected andremembered by the DAR. Past Registrar General Shirley Wagers and Kati Grulke,DAR members of the Elizabeth Forey Chapter, Tacoma, Wash., are currently research-ing these women. Using DAR records, they’ve clarified the status of all 770 RealDaughters, updated birth and death dates, and are working to ensure all RealDaughters’ graves are marked.

Throughout their research, Mrs. Grulke has been amazed at the impact thesewomen made, especially in male-dominated times. “They had drive, they had ambi-tions, they had hardships,” she says. “They made a difference in their families and intheir communities. In many ways they faced the same things we do now: taking care oftheir family, trying to instill the fundamentals of God, home and country to their children and trying to lead by example as Daughters do today.”

Mrs. Wagers hopes the spotlight on Real Daughters’ lives serves as “a lesson for allDaughters to help them appreciate and take pride in our organization and our patrioticheritage.”

For now, the memory of these Real Daughters lives on in the chapters named intheir honor, within the archives that chronicle their lives—and through the descendantswho carry forth their unique connection to a new nation.

Maureen Taylor is writing a history of the Revolutionary War generation. Learn about how to partici-pate in her project by reading her blog, www.lastmuster.blogspot.com.

THE FOLLOWING LETTER FROM REAL DAUGHTERHANNAH HESS WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN AN1898 VOLUME OF AMERICAN MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

Harrisburg, June 15, 1898Ladies:

Permit me to acknowledgeyour friendly fellowship in accepting me as one of your patriotic body. I cherish veryhighly the honor conferred uponme at this my advanced age,eighty-one. I am also the recipient of a most magnificentspoon from this same patrioticbody. I prize it beyond all I canexpress. In its solid purity I hold a souvenir of a noble parent shedding his pure blood that hiscountry might have a solid footing. The spoon shall ever besacred to me while I live; and atlife’s close shall be bequeathedto my posterity as a patriotic heirloom from the Daughters ofthe American Revolution. Withgenuine thanks for so beautifula gift, love born of patriotism, I am with sincere thanks a genuine Daughter of theAmerican Revolution.

Yours truly,Hannah Hess Harrisburg, Pa.

This portrait of Real Daughter Lydia Moss Bradley hangs in the Hartmann Center of Bradley University,which she founded in Peoria, Ill., in 1897 in memory of her husband Tobias and their six children.

COU

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UN

IVER

SITY

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estled next to the southern end of Otsego Lake, Cooperstown, N.Y., is the birthplaceof the Susquehanna River, James Fenimore Cooper and baseball—a game that many consider to be America’s favorite pastime. With the Baseball Hall of Fame located on

Main Street, thousands of baseball fans travel to Cooperstown to pay their respects each year.Commonly referred to as “America’s hometown,” this village of about 2,000 located 70 milesfrom Albany embodies the hospitality of a typical small town while offering plenty of homegrown history for visitors who come to explore its attractions. By Megan Pacella

{Spirited Adventures}

N

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ts landscape was strikingenough to garner the atten-tion of FenimoreCooper ’s father,William, who, afterscouring the NewYork countryside andacquiring thousandsof acres of land to findthe perfect plot, chose

to build his village here in 1786. “Cooperstown is designed to

reflect an earlier, simpler time that isat the heart of America,” says BradHorn, communications director ofthe National Baseball Hall of Fameand Museum. “Main Street lookstoday much like it looked 50 years ago. It isvoid of chain restaurants and chain stores.This is small town USA.”

BASEBALL ISN’T JUST A GAME INAmerica; it’s a passion. It’s the game chil-dren grow up playing and dreamingabout—a sport that humbles every playerwhile still providing its participants withsome fleeting but joyous moments of tri-umph. It mirrors the simplicity and excite-ment of the American Dream.

Since its inception nearly 170 years ago,baseball has permeated popular culture andcaptured the hearts of millions ofAmericans. Cooperstown’s appreciation ofand devotion to the game’s history pre-serves the pastime’s storied legacy.

“Baseball is a game that is centered onits history—every year brings comparisonsof today’s players to players past,” Hornsays. “Every effort in Cooperstown isfocused on conserving its history and

connecting generations. Families can comehere, and fathers can tell their sons anddaughters about the players they watchedwhen they were kids.”

Cooperstown’s devotion to baseball’spast makes it the perfect place to house theNational Baseball Hall of Fame, but whywas Cooperstown chosen in the first place?

The quest to find where baseball origi-nated began in 1905 when the MillsCommission, comprised of seven promi-nent baseball leaders, read an article written by Henry Chadwick, a prominentsportswriter in the early 20th century.Chadwick wrote that the English game“rounders” was the primary source that led

to the invention of baseball. In an effort toprove Chadwick wrong and reveal the realhistory behind the game, the MillsCommission formed.

During its three-year investigation, thecommittee didn’t find the answers itwanted until its members began to take theclaims of a man named Abner Doubledayseriously. Doubleday claimed that heinvented the game during his school days inCooperstown, and once his old schoolbuddy, Abner Graves, began to confirmDoubleday’s claims through letters, thecommission took a closer look. Gravesclaimed that Doubleday made changes tothe local game, “town ball,” and added thediamond-shaped field and four bases thatresulted in what we now call baseball. Afteryears of searching and deliberating, theMills Commission officially namedCooperstown baseball’s birthplace onDecember 30, 1907. Years later, the discov-ery of a misshapen homemade baseball in aCooperstown attic cemented the claim.

IVisiting the Baseball Hall ofFame in Cooperstown, N.Y.,gives baseball fans achance to pay homage toAmerica’s greatest gamewhile also learning about itsrich history and standoutplayers like inducteesGeorge Herman “Babe”Ruth and Honus Wagner.Visitors can view vintageitems like Wagner’s baseball card, one of therarest in the world. Legendhas it that Wagner stoppedcirculation of his cardbecause he didn’t wantchildren to buy the tobaccoproducts with which hislikeness was packaged.

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WITH THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE linking baseball to Cooperstown, the ruraltown was an obvious choice for the BaseballHall of Fame, opening at the perfect time—during the celebration of baseball’s 100thanniversary in 1939. On June 12, the first classof inductees, including baseball legends likeGeorge Herman “Babe” Ruth and Ty Cobb,became members of the Hall of Fame. Oncethe ceremony ended, the 15,000 gatheringfans became the first to enter the Hall of Fame.

Since its opening nearly 70 years ago, theHall of Fame has made many improvements,and now draws 325,000 visitors every year.The expansion of the museum has allowedroom for all three floors to be filled with dra-matic stories, statistics and artifacts aboutAmerica’s greatest game. One of the mostpopular exhibits, “Diamond Dreams,” payshomage to the All-American GirlsProfessional Baseball League, as well as otherpowerful women who have served the gamebehind the scenes. Visitors also frequent the“Today’s Game” exhibit to reflect on signifi-cant baseball milestones of the last 10 years.

“The exhibit is widely popular because somany fans come from across the country,” Horn says. “Team loyal-ties have no geographic boundaries today, but 50 years ago lifewould be hard for a New York Yankees fan living in Texas.”

The Hall of Fame’s featuredexhibit—“Autumn Glory: APostseason Celebration”—revivesthe memory of previous WorldSeries with rare artifacts such asthe ball that was caught for the lastout of the 1903 Series. To learnmore about the Hall of Fame andthe history of baseball or schedule avisit, go to www.baseballhalloffame.com.

WHILE THIS SMALL NEW YORK TOWNdraws many visitors for its baseball heritage, itisn’t just a haven for sports fanatics.Cooperstown’s museums, festivals and architec-ture also make it a destination for ruralAmerican history buffs. Stop by any of theongoing exhibits at the Fenimore Art Museumto learn about the lives of 19th-century ruralAmericans. In addition to its large collection ofAmerican folk and fine art, the museum displaysthe Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection ofNorth American Indian Art—more than 700pieces that reflect the craftsmanship and artistryof our Native American ancestors.

Along with the five permanent exhibits,the museum also houses temporary collec-tions. Now through December 30, exhibitsdepict the history of fires in America, thegrowth of cities in New York and originalworks of the native Canyon People. Anothertemporary collection, “The Art of the GreatPlains,” highlights and disproves the mythsabout the Old West and the Plains Indians.Learn more about the Fenimore ArtMuseum at www.fenimoreartmuseum.org.

For a hands-on look at history, the Farmer’sMuseum re-creates a rural 1800s village complete with farmanimals and costumed interpreters. On September 15 and 16,the Farmer’s Museum hosts its annual Harvest to celebrate thepromise of a winter filled with food and friends. For informationabout the Farmer’s Museum or the annual Harvest, call (888)547–1450 or visit www.farmersmuseum.org.

Megan Pacella’s review of Women of Valor: The Rochambelleson the WWII Front was featured in the May/June 2007 issue.

Where to StayEstablished in 1909, the OtesagaResort Hotel is on the southern shoreof Lake Otsego, the famedGlimmerglass of James FenimoreCooper’s Leatherstocking Tales. Golf is available on the resort’sLeatherstocking Golf Course. Forreservations, call (800) 348–6222 or visit www.otesaga.com.

The historic Cooper Inn, built from 1813 to 1816, provides a cozy atmosphere in the heart ofCooperstown. For reservations, call (800) 348–6222 or visitwww.cooperinn.com.

Glimmerglass Opera Fenimore Art Museum

The Farmer’s Museum

ASP_0907_p19-21 8/8/07 1:27 PM Page 21


grandTOUR

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Neoclassical country mansionrecalls a bygone

era of the early republic

By Emily McMackinPhotography by Philip Scalia

Cut into the side of a mountain aboveNew York’s Otsego Lake sits a grand

country mansion that, from a distance,resembles a scene in a landscape painting.

Drive east toward the lake, past thesprawling acres of Glimmerglass State

Park, and you can spot its grayish-brownlimestone façade, airy portico and tower-

ing gables from the horizon. Take a fewmore twists and turns past a covered

bridge, up a hill and down into a steepgorge, and the setting changes from

tranquil to wooded and wild. Then, suddenly, the dramatic pro-

gression stops, culminating at the cornerof the mansion, otherwise known as

Hyde Hall. The mansion’s south sideshowcases an unspoiled view of Otsego

Lake, spanning down the water toCooperstown nine miles away.

{Historic Homes}

ASP_0907_p22-27 8/8/07 1:06 PM Page 23


Its east side is equally stunning, with itsvista of a bay that dips into a valley andfarms that ascend into the forested hillsbeyond.

“It seems as tho’ nature had formed thisfor an agreeable place of retirement,” wrotePhilip Hooker, an Albany architect whodrew the plans for Hyde Hall, which isconsidered by historians to be the oldestand finest example of neoclassical architec-ture in America.

Hooker’s client, wealthy British emi-grant George Clarke, must have thoughtso, too. Though the land sat on the edgeof the wilderness—and a small but steepmountain—Clarke purchased its origi-

nal 400 original acres and cleared aplateau on which to build a lavish 50-room country house, the kind of retreatcommon to the European elite.

“Great country houses were not a tradi-tion that existed in America the same waythey did in Europe,” says Gilbert Vincent, atrustee of Hyde Hall Inc., a private founda-tion that runs the home. “But Clarke wasconfident of setting up a dynasty similar towhat had been done in Europe and also inNew York with the Livingstons and thevan Rensselaers.”

The mansion’s square moldings, blankpanels and austerity reflect the precise sim-plicity of neoclassicism, a style popular inlate 18th-century Europe. Inspired by clas-sic Greek temples discovered in southernItaly and popularized by English architectSir John Soane, this style was “very much ofthe moment,” Vincent says.

Even more so, the home represents afleeting moment in American historywhen Old World aristocracy collided andcoexisted with New World individualism.

In his book, Architecture, Men, Womenand Money in America (Random House,1985), Roger Kennedy, former director ofthe Smithsonian Institute, describesHyde Hall as “a great house, architec-turally, and a social document of the first importance.”

Master of the ManorClarke probably felt royal because he

was. His great-grandmother, Anne

Hyde, was a cousin of Queen Mary IIand Queen Anne of England, and hisgreat-grandfather, also named GeorgeClarke, was royal governor of the NewYork Colony from 1736 to 1743—anappointment that allowed the elderClarke to amass 120,000 acres.

Clarke, who inherited his grandfa-ther’s fortune, along with other Britishproperties, could have lived anywhere,from a sugar plantation in Jamaica to amedieval estate in the English countryside.

He came to New York as a 21-year-old to survey his properties in theHudson and Mohawk valleys, and during his visit, sought American citi-zenship to protect his inheritance frombeing sequestered. He soon went backto England, but returned to the UnitedStates in 1806 after his marriage failed.

It didn’t take long for him to realize thenew republic’s profitability.

“Both his English and West Indies landhad reached their peak, and the incomewas declining there,” Vincent says. “Of allof his properties, the land here had themost potential for growth.”

His British heritage made him the tar-get of numerous challenges to his right toclaim land in post-RevolutionaryAmerica. Clarke was sued for his inheri-tance many times, but successfullydefended his position, most notably in theU.S. Supreme Court case of Jackson v.Clarke in 1818.

“In the end, he retained almost all ofhis property, though it rankled him a greatdeal,” Vincent says.

Clarke was a shrewd businessman, astrict landlord, an active patron of localarts and somewhat of a wanderer until he

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met Ann Cooper, the wife of his landagent, Richard Cooper. Raised alongOtsego Lake at Swanswick, a home thatstill stands three miles from Hyde Hall,Ann had married Richard Cooper, whosefamily settled Cooperstown and whosebrother was famed American authorJames Fenimore Cooper. After Richard’sdeath in 1813, she married Clarke, and thecouple decided to settle near Swanswick.

From naming the mountain that heexcavated to build its foundation—Mt.Wellington, after the Duke of Ellington,his Eton classmate—to the inclusion ofhis name on Hooker’s drawings, “Clarkewas actively involved in the design of the

house and envisioned it as a seat for subsequent generations,” Vincent says.

The Stone CottageClarke started building Hyde Hall in

1817, beginning with the Stone Cottage,which functioned as the family quarters.Early plans called for a modest structurewith a sitting room, bedrooms and adairy and a buttery, but as constructionprogressed, so did Clarke’s vision. “Oncehe started building the house, it gotmore personalized and grander,”Vincent says. An open porch in the orig-inal drawing was enclosed as a dining

room, and two connected librariesreplaced a sitting room.

Completed in 1819, the small house,often called “the cottage,” resembled asmaller version of a Jamaica plantationhouse. Its wraparound veranda “lookeddown a knoll on Otsego Lake as if itwere looking down Montego Bay,”Kennedy writes.

Though his plans for the rest of thehouse had yet to evolve, Clarke laid thefoundation for what would later becomethe Great House during the first con-struction phase—further indication thathe planned Hyde Hall’s dramatic viewsfrom the beginning, Vincent says.

Each library was stocked withmahogany bookshelves built by Albanycraftsmen to satisfy Clarke’s love of liter-ature. The couple each had a first-floorbedroom suite—his with an office andhers with a sitting room—while the chil-dren slept in bedrooms upstairs. The fur-nishings, from imported marble mantlesto high-end cut-wool carpets, curtainsand linens, captured the couple’s luxuri-ous taste.

It wasn’t until a wooden staff quartersburned that Clarke began his extensiveadditions to Hyde Hall. Though the familyinitially had only a butler and a maid, intime the staff grew to more than a dozen

servants. Between 1820 and 1824, Clarkebuilt a long, sturdier limestone wing on theproperty’s west end to provide living areasfor staff, extra bedrooms for guests and anextensive kitchen complex with multiplepantries and a scullery.

The Great House In 1828, Clarke embarked on construc-

tion of Hyde Hall’s crown jewel, the GreatHouse. Meant not only as a place for enter-taining but also as a symbol of his wealth,he placed it on the eastern side of the prop-erty for the view as well as for it to be seen,according to Vincent. Clarke had the

25American Spirit • September/October 2007

Page 22–23: With its 20-foot coved ceiling and micaceous plaster border and friezes, Hyde Hall’s drawing room dazzled guests. Its brass chandeliers, mercury mirrors, plantation shutters, saber-leg chairs and gilt furniture are original to the 1833 room. This spread, top center: From its stately limestone pillarsto its cast-iron balcony rails, the austere façade of the Great House, finished in 1834, beckons visitors from the road. Left to right: The dining room displaysportraits of early generations of Clarkes, along with sofas, tables and chairs made by renowned cabinetmaker John Meads. A mantle in the Stone Cottage’s

outer library, circa 1818, is flanked with matching fire brasses. A spiral staircase in the Great House leads to the billiard room, which doubled as a bedroom andhas a step-through window onto the portico. Hyde Hall is filled with unique touches from marble mantles to brass fixtures to a wine cellar with storage cubbies.

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original road rerouted so it would run pastthe house instead of leading straight to it, afeature typical of English country estates.

Unlike most mansions in the earlyrepublic, this one had no gardens dottingits lawn, only clumps of trees and the dis-tant view of the bay, valley and hills beyond.

“The garden was further east, below theview from the house, so it wouldn’t disturbthe picturesque landscape,” Vincent says.

No records explain why Clarke waitedso long to build the Great House, but itwas likely due to finances. Since 1817, theHyde Hall properties had been under con-tinual construction, with more than 30buildings erected, including a dairy barn, aboathouse and a sawmill.

“Even though he was a wealthy man,it stretched his resources to build a houselike that,” Vincent says.

Income from his West Indies sugarplantations, British coal mines and NewYork tenant farms, which produced wheat,grains and sheep, provided the means forthese projects, as well as investments in theErie Canal, an iron foundry in theAdirondacks and other burgeoning NewYork industries.

Building the Great House at the peakof his wealth, Clarke spared no expensefor the finest details and design. Guestsentered the mansion through an entrancewith a spiral staircase leading to a billiardroom, a cast-iron stove where they couldwarm themselves and an elevated furnacechamber where damp clothes and shoeswere dried. Suspended ceilings 20 feethigh with ornamental plaster and floorswith the finest Venetian carpet awed visitors. Beyond that, the design was austere—with few curved moldings, arch-ways or decorative panels—fittingClarke’s taste for the simple, straightfor-ward neoclassical style.

Silk curtains of gold in the drawingroom and red in the dining room hungfrom rectangular tripartite windows.Walls consisted of a mixture of plasterand highly micaceous sand fromRockaway, Long Island, which tinted thesurface to resemble white marble. Theeffect caused the walls to shimmer atnight, especially in the drawing roomwhere it accentuated the cut glass of thechandeliers, mirrors and candelabras.

The drawing room, with its whitemarble mantle, green plantation shuttersand white ornate woodwork and valances,was “conceived as a female space,” Vincentsays. The dining room, later painted red inthe 1880s, was intended be a “masculinespace,” with its black marble mantle,mahogany furniture and gilt and bronzechandeliers.

The Clarke family held frequent dinnerparties there with multiple courses and avariety of entertainment for guests of higheconomic and political influence.

“Someone who owned 120,000 acreswas in a small strata of people at the time,and the house reflects that,” Vincent says.

A courtyard in the center tied the wingstogether, bringing in sunlight and fresh airand providing family and staff with privacy

from the smoke and the noise of frequentparties. Corridors with hatchways alongthe back of the Great House allowed ser-vants to stoke the fireplaces and furnacewithout being seen.

Latest Conveniences One of the characteristics that distin-

guishes Hyde Hall is its modernism,Vincent says. Clarke implemented the lat-est heating, plumbing and lighting innovations. A cistern on a hill behind thehouse provided running water for sinksequipped with faucets and a flush toiletfrom England. Primitive water boilers,consisting of cauldrons and enclosed tanks,connected to the stove to purify and heatwater. Some servants were baffled by the

Clockwise from top: Built between 1817 and 1819, the Stone Cottage housed the Clarke family. Clarkespent as much on books as he did on furnishings, as is evident by the built-in mahogany bookshelves in

the inner and outer library. A Victorian-era iron bed occupies a children’s nursery on the second floor. A sketch on George Clarke’s office desk shows his grandson, Hyde.


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modern conveniences, especially a stoveequipped with cooking ranges.

“Clarke later added an open fireplaceand a brick oven because the locals didn’tknow how to use the newfangled ranges,”Vincent says.

Clarke installed a sublevel furnace inthe Great House with terra-cotta pipesthat ran underneath the floors to sevenfireplaces and the entryway stove, all ofwhich had vents to pull the hot air through.Cast-iron chimney boxes behind the fire-places also drew in warmth from the furnace and vents and kept the heat circu-lating. Clarke’s use of cast-iron parts was“on the cutting edge of what modern con-struction was at the time,” Vincent says.

When purchasing chandeliers for theGreat House, Clarke had the fixtures,which contained Argand-type lamps andcandleholders, altered to burn an alcoholmix instead of oil so they would producebright-burning gas vapors.

Clarke likely had more grand plans forHyde Hall, but those were cut short in 1835when he suffered a spell while sitting onthe veranda, overlooking the lake he loved,and died in his office shortly afterwards.His untimely death left several elements inthe Great House unfinished, includingplasterwork on some of the ceilings.

His properties in England and the WestIndies were divided among sons from hisfirst marriage, while his one son with Ann,George Clark, only 13 at the time, inheritedHyde Hall and its properties, along withthe rest of his father’s vast acreage.

The younger George didn’t take chargeof the estate until he turned 21, but he soonadded to his properties, earning him thereputation of being possessed by “landmania.” With much of his propertydevoted to growing hops, a key ingredientin making beer, he became one of the topproducers in the country, but by 1887,dwindling land values and shifts in the beerindustry, coupled with his purported stub-bornness, led to his bankruptcy.

Restoration and RevivalHyde Hall was almost lost forever

until George’s son, George “Hyde”Clarke, who abandoned his law career tohelp his father run the estate, saved it with

the help of his wife, Mary Gale CarterClarke, who used her inheritance fromher prominent Cooperstown family torepurchase it, along with 3,000 acres offormer Clarke farms. Their determina-tion to restore the manor to its formerglory by refurbishing neglected parts andplanning new building projects led to itsrevival in the late 1880s.

The Great House even regained itsregality with galas that rivaled what guestsin previous generations had seen. “The

women of the house would open thedrawing room shutters, put boards acrossthem and fill them with as many candles asthey could find to light the room,” saysLinda Van Cleef, a Hyde Hall interpreter.“It must have been beautiful, with all thebrass, mirrors and reflective surfaces insidemagnifying the light.”

In 1908, Mary Clarke, a DAR memberand close friend of American Girl Scoutsfounder and frequent Hyde Hall visitorJuliette Gordon Lowe, started a boys’school there to educate her two youngestsons and earn extra income. After her hus-band’s death in 1914, she helped her eldestson, also named George Hyde Clarke,manage the estate and later sold it to him.

George, who left a railroading career torun the house after his father’s death, hadseven children with his first wife, but theyall left Hyde Hall when the coupledivorced. His second marriage produced ason, Thomas Clarke, who became HydeHall’s final heir.

After World War II, the family visitedHyde Hall less and less, and in 1963, soldthe dilapidated manor to the state, whichwanted it for a park. Their connection tothe home didn’t end there; they con-tributed the money to start its restoration.

Today, the house is structurally soundagain, thanks to roof, plaster, woodwork,floor and drainage system repairs, and now“we are concentrating on the furnishingsand interpretation inside,” Vincent says.

The six generations that owned HydeHall didn’t make much change to it, andamazingly, the manor retains most of itsfurnishings and all of its original grainingand painting, along with a collection offamily portraits from the 1740s on. Billsand receipts record most of the specificpurchases made for the house, and many ofClarke’s instructions, from flowers to growin the garden to dinner menus, still survive.

“There’s a fair amount of informationof how life was lived there, and the researchis so voluminous it has never been totallygone through,” Vincent says.

For future generations, this means thestory of Hyde Hall may just be unfolding.

Emily McMackin is a contributing editor. TheJuly/August issue featured her story on old-fashioned Fourth of July fests.


A trip to Hyde Hall lets you stepback in time to a period whenagriculture dominated theeconomy, and aristocratic fami-

lies who profited from it built lavishcountry estates to symbolize their influ-ence and live and entertain in style. Atour takes you through all 50 rooms inthe manor, many of which are fully fur-nished with original pieces that reflectthe taste and aspirations of wealthyAmericans in the Empire State.

Much of the house looks as it didwhen it was new, with some cornersshowing the original wall color, finishesand carpets. It displays original contents,including family portraits, silver andporcelain services. Guests can picnic onthe lawn overlooking Otsego Lake orwander to the top of Mt. Wellington totake in the picturesque view. In the sum-mer, the Great House rooms come alivewith events that include history andarchitecture lectures, plays put on bylocal performers and concerts per-formed by musicians, who often useinstruments and sheet music original tothe house. A bedroom-turned-chapel inthe Stone Cottage hosts small weddings.Large weddings and receptions are heldon the south lawn.

The home is open from Maythrough October. For more details about its history and its inhabitants, visitwww.hydehall.org. To find out aboutupcoming events or operating hours orto schedule a tour, call (607) 547–5098or e-mail [email protected].

Visiting the Manor

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BestFootForwardBy Bill Hudgins

The Origins and Evolution of Early American Dance

“A Colonial Wedding in Kentucky.” Illustration after Howard Pyle.

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LONG BEFORE THE BEATLEStook America by storm, British musicimports—in the form of new dances andnew steps for existing dances—wereeagerly awaited by Colonists. Dance was amajor form of entertainment, courtship,and social and cultural interaction in earlyAmerica. Its importance and distinctive-ness in social life is hard to imagine today,despite the popularity of such mass mediafare as TV’s “Dancing With the Stars.”

These imports included the minuetand other formal, highly stylized dancesthat developed in the royal courts—whatwe might equate with ballroom dancingtoday—as well as less structured dances,such as English country dance, the ances-tor of today’s contra dancing and squaredancing. Dancing was a popular recre-ation at a time when many forms ofamusement were homemade, says MarcyWright, performing arts dancer atColonial Williamsburg.

Members of all classes danced, fromthe gentry to the servants. Africans cap-tured as slaves brought their dances, manyof which had formed an integral part ofvillage and tribal life. With that worldshattered, the dances became a part of lifein slave quarters, providing a measure ofescape and recreation in their captivity.

Dancing is an organic art, and theintersection of classes and culturesencouraged borrowing from differentstyles and tweaking existing ones. Thedistance between the arbiters of taste inthe Old World and the more democraticNew World also encouraged experimen-tation, leading to inevitable divergencesin how dances were performed, such as inthe Virginia cutout jig.

Still, until the 19th century, America’sdancers depended largely on foreignsources for much of their dancing expert-ise. Immigrants brought their Old Worlddances with them and continued to dothem here; new immigrants and visitorsbrought updated steps and styles.

Night on the TownColonial Americans danced at home,

at village gatherings, in taverns and atfancy parties and balls. In Williamsburg,for instance, public entertainments wereheld when the Colonial Assembly met.

“Public entertainments were open toanyone who could afford the price of aticket, and they allowed for a mingling of

groups,” Wright says. “In Williamsburg, amiddling family might attend severalevening entertainments on a subscriptionticket during the time the GeneralAssembly was in session.”

Wright cites the example of BenjaminPowell, a builder who had done somework for the city and thus had connec-tions to the governing class. Like others inthe middling classes, he and his familyattended the events not just for enter-tainment but also to network.

The middling classes—professionals,shopkeepers, workers and artisans—whowanted to learn and improve their skillstook lessons as time and money allowed.They and their families wanted to cut a

Costumed interpreters at Colonial Williamsburg perform a dance in the ballroom of the Governor’s Palace.

Dancing is an organic art, and the intersection of

classes and cultures in Americaencouraged borrowing fromdifferent styles and tweaking

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good figure at these socially importantgatherings and took pains to look anddance their best.

The gentry were expected to acquiresome degree of social grace and partici-pate in formal events. This group had thetime, leisure and wealth to receive themost formalized instruction.

We usually think of dancers as couplesmoving independently of each other onthe dance floor. But this intimate, closedcouple reference in dance was almostinconceivable to early Americans, whosecustom was to dance as a group, Wrightsays. “It is only in the couple jigs that theindividual, impromptu form of dancingwe enjoy today was evidenced in the 18thcentury,” she says.

The minuet was the most formalColonial-era dance. Older Hollywoodfilms portrayed minuets in contra, oropposing, lines, but in reality, the minuetwas a danse a deux—a dance of couples. TheFrench tradition was to have only onecouple at a time dance, while the assemblywatched, says Richard Powers at StanfordUniversity, a choreographer and expert inAmerican social dance.

Having originated in the court ofLouis XIV, the graceful minuet was a pre-cursor of ballet. It contained a set of pre-scribed movements of the limbs, fivebasic foot positions still used in ballet andballroom dancing today and a rhythmictraveling pattern.

The minuet radiated hierarchy; in theFrench court, rank determined the orderin which couples moved through the pat-terns. In the more democratic Colonies, aranking official or citizen would likelylead off each dance. At private balls, theorder would be worked out in advanceand positions assigned.

The Colonial era placed great empha-sis on protocol and deference, and dancesreflected this obsession, Wright says.“The organizers of a dance had rulesabout how to hold the event—about themaster of ceremonies, the lighting, themusic and musicians, the food, properdress, who danced with whom and inwhat order,” she says. “The rules were dif-ferent all over. These were rules for thehall where a dance would be held—deportment, manners, protocol and conduct.”

Colonial Williamsburg interpreters demonstrate different styles of early American dance. Colonists adapted Europeanforms of dance, and slaves merged African tribal dances with the dances they saw their masters perform.

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Swing Your PartnerTo our eyes, English country dancing

looks nearly as stylized as the minuet.Although dubbed “country,” these dancescould be sophisticated and complex. Theyare the kinds of dances seen in films ofJane Austen novels such as Pride andPrejudice. Dancers glide in stepped patternsand travel through figures, sometimeshand in hand, to music that can rangefrom elegant and stately to lively and vig-orous. In this kind of dance, all the coupleswill have a chance to dance with eachother if the music lasts long enough.

Most dances were written to be per-formed to particular tunes. Country dancebooks sold briskly: the earliest known col-lection, The English Country Dancing Master,was first published in 1651 by JohnPlayford. New editions appeared regularlyduring the next 130 years, according todance historian Alan Winston.

Unlike courtly dances, country danceswere performed by groups of several cou-ples arranged in circles, squares or a longwise formation, Wright says. In fact,the most familiar descendant of countrydance is what we now call square dancing,

which first became popular in the Coloniesin the 1770s. It derived from a Frenchdance called the cotillion, which enjoyed ahuge vogue in Europe starting in the mid-dle of the 18th century.

Dancing was not restricted just to thewhite society. Servants, especially Africanslaves, had their own dances and infusedthem with elements from the dances thatthey saw their masters perform.

African tribes incorporated dance intotheir daily lives and rituals. Slaves seized inAfrica were forced to dance for exerciseaboard ship. They had opportunities toobserve sailors performing dances such astraditional British stepped routines (suchas “Lord of the Dance”) to jig or hornpipemusic. Combined with native steps, thesehybrid jigs were first observed in the slavequarters and later adopted by the whites.

Slaves also picked up what they saw inthe plantation houses and brought it backto their quarters. Often, they parodied thewhites, giving rise eventually to newdances. For instance, the cakewalk with itsstrutting movements and broad gestures isthought to have arisen as a send-up of thestylized, controlled minuet.

The Next Big ThingIn addition to the many dance collec-

tions and manuals, Americans filled theirdiaries, journals, letters and newspaperswith accounts of fêtes and balls, Wrightsays. Newspapers and magazines publisheddances and reported on public entertain-ments, and some novelists included detailshistorians find crucial.

Dance-crazed Americans got madwhen denied their right to be footloose,Powers says. “In our collection of originaldance artifacts, we have a parchment fromRehoboth, and an order from the sheriffunder the authority of the King of Englandcalling for the arrest of several Americansfor dancing on New Year’s Day without apermit. Their names are listed, and justabout every one of them within a year hadbecome a minuteman or was involved inthe American Revolution.”

Although Americans began creatingmore dances after the Revolution,European styles dominated into the 19thcentury, Powers says. “One reason for theconservatism was that many Europeansregarded Americans as socially backwardand even boorish. So to prove themwrong, Americans went to great lengthsto behave, speak and conduct themselvesproperly. That extended to learningEuropean forms of dance, rather thancreating a native repertoire. This conser-vative tendency would reverse at the endof the 19th century, when Americansgrew less embarrassed about their differ-ences from European culture andincreasingly proud of their uniqueness.”

Through the 19th century, countrydancing and dances such as minuetsincreasingly competed for space withcouple dances such as waltz and polka.Once deemed scandalous, these newdances achieved respectability and sweptthe dance halls. Couples dances becameeven more of a rage at the beginning ofthe 20th century, making the older formsseem quaint and, well, square. Theseolder dances seemed doomed until arevival of interest in folk music and folk-ways in the 1960s breathed new life intothem, giving their fans a reason to gussyup and put their best foot forward.

Bill Hudgins is a contributing editor whoaspires to master the tango.

A country dance on the American frontier in the 1820s. Drawing by C.W. Jefferys.

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most New England towns, there weretwo public buildings—a church and atavern. The latter became “the place ofinformal gatherings, in which currentpolitics would be a subject,” says RichardKollen, historian for the LexingtonHistorical Society, which operates theColonial-era Buckman Tavern inLexington, Mass.

These meeting places were used bybusinesspeople, who often sealed dealsover drinks, and by the Colonial govern-ment, which employed circuit-ridingjudges to hold court in taverns in townsthat had no courthouse. But local tavernswere most notably used as headquartersfor Revolutionary plotting.

“No other activity of the time, perhapsnot even the conceiving and implement-ing of freedom itself, was as important tothe colonists as the consumption of

alcoholic beverages,” writes Eric Burns inThe Spirits of America: A Social History ofAlcohol (Temple University Press, 2004).“Booze was food, medicine and compan-ionship in the early days of America ... Itwas how the tongue got loose and themind receptive, how the body unlimbered

and the future grew bright. It was a boostfor one’s courage, a shield against loneli-ness, a light in the midnight hours whenthe stars were hidden and the moon oth-erwise occupied. Even the Pilgrims,thought to be so ascetic, so unwilling toyield to temptations of either the flesh or

In

Drinkto ThatThe Role of

TAVERNSin the American

RevolutionBY NANCY MANN JACKSON

The Buckman Tavern in Lexington, Mass.,was a place where colonists gathered to talkpolitics—and sow the seeds of Revolution.

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palate, packed a plentiful supply of ‘hotwaters,’ probably gin and brandy, into thecargo hold of the Mayflower.”

Because wine, beer and liquor were nottaxed before the Revolutionary War, thereare no records of how much was sold orconsumed during the Colonial years. But“that Americans drank more than everbefore is certain,” Burns says. “Alcoholicbeverages were a part of virtually all privateand public activities, including weddings,cornerstone layings, trials, funerals andschoolroom classes. The early Americancolonists drank from dusk to dawn; therewas a booze break built into the work dayeach morning and afternoon. And whyshouldn’t there be? The strong taste ofalcoholic beverages suggested that theywere strong medicine—good for you aswell as good tasting.”

During the 1790s, the earliest esti-mate available, “an average Americanover 15 years old drank just under six gal-lons of absolute alcohol each year,” writeMark Edward Lender and James KirbyMartin in Drinking in America: A History(Free Press, 1987). Whether it was forsocial, health or other reasons, there wasa lot of drinking going on—and under-standably, drinking houses were amongthe most venerated establishments inColonial society.

“Taverns were the centers of commu-nity life and activity,” says Amy NorthropAdamo, director of the Fraunces TavernMuseum in New York and a DARmember. “Business was conducted inthem, news was exchanged in them,

courts, congresses and private clubs metin them. While rural taverns often hadsimple food and offered the most basicof lodgings to travelers, urban tavernsbecame centers of commerce, cultureand fine cuisine.”

“The tavern was the heart of thecommunity, and it beat with the town’srhythm,” adds Gregg Smith, author of

Beer in America: The Early Years: 1587–1840(Siris Books, 1998). “It was a place forsocial gathering, and before a town hallwas built, the tavern was the seat of gov-ernment. Court was held there by thecircuit riders. The militia gathered at thetavern, and why not? You could get thetroops to show up for training if theycould look forward to a post-training

keg.” At times, religious services wereheld in the tavern until the communitycould erect a chapel. The Colonial tavernalso served as a gathering place for mer-chants to trade.

“But more than anything else, the tav-ern was the main vehicle for distributingnews; people could learn what was hap-pening in the next town and the nextcolony,” Smith says. “As a result, it wasalso the perfect nursery for a growingawareness of politics and, later, the revo-lutionary movement.”

Revolutionary Meeting PlacesWhile the Patriots’ grievances against

the British were certainly justified, thefiery revolutionary rhetoric was onlymade more potent by the booze.

“Taverns were public gathering placeswhere ideas could be freely exchanged,”Adamo says. “Free speech could be practiced within their walls, includingdiscussion of government laws andactions that were disagreeable to thepopulace. These were the places that rev-olutionaries like the Sons of Liberty met,developed their plans and drummed uppopular support for their sentiments.The Revolution was born in ColonialAmerican taverns.”

Indeed, Samuel Adams and JohnHancock “fanned the flames of inde-pendence at the Black Horse Inn inWinchester, Mass.,” Burns writes.Captain John Parker made BuckmanTavern on Lexington Green the head-quarters for the minutemen. John

Left: George Clinton, New York’s first American governor, hosted a dinner party for General George Washington in this room of Fraunces Tavern to celebrate the British evacuationfrom New York on November 25, 1783. Right: Fraunces Tavern’s Long Room is the site of General George Washington’s famous farewell to his officers at the end of the Revolution

on December 4, 1783.

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Adams met George Washington for the first time at the City Tavern inPhiladelphia. Thomas Jefferson beganwriting the Declaration of Independenceat that city’s Indian Queen Tavern. Andhundreds of other colonists assembled atpublic houses across the Colonies to“express their grievances and decide ontheir actions and form more tightly thebonds of their resolve,” Burns writes.

In fact, a number of taverns “becameassociated with the political ideals of thegroups that met there,” Adamo says. “TheSons of Liberty [which met at FrauncesTavern during the pre-Revolutionaryyears] obviously would choose to meet intaverns run by sympathetic tavern keep-ers. … When Samuel Fraunces opened histavern in 1762, it was called the ‘Queen’sHead,’ [but] by the 1770s, it was simplyknown as Sam Fraunces House or

Fraunces Tavern—and it was a meetingplace for the Sons of Liberty.”

Plenty of other taverns were knownfor their political leanings. For instance,the Golden Ball in Weston, Mass., was aLoyalist tavern, and the Green Dragon inBoston was a well-known Patriot tavern,according to Kollen.

Women in the TavernsLike the new government that was

designed in them, taverns were “for themost part a men’s club,” Burns says.

However, Colonial women were welcome on some occasions.

“Many of the better sort of taverns hadballrooms, and, of course, women wouldattend the dances held in them,” Adamosays. “Tavern-keepers also offered othersorts of ‘genteel entertainments’ suitablefor ladies, such as plays, a circus and a‘magic lantern’ show and even art exhibi-tions. Samuel Fraunces advertised dis-plays of his shellwork and waxworkfigures.”

At Lexington’s Buckman Tavern, “onSundays during the noon church break,women might spend time in the tavern ina room separate from the taproom,”Kollen says.

While upper- and middle-classwomen “did their best to avoid taverns asplaces to stay [overnight], they wouldoccasionally accompany their husbands to


Clockwise from above: The two buildings known today asGadsby’s Tavern Museum were constructed in 1785 and1792 by entrepreneur and tavern-keeper John Wise. The

tavern’s ballroom was the site of many historic occasions, including George Washington’s birthday

celebrations, Thomas Jefferson’s inaugural banquet andthe finest dancing assemblies of Alexandria, Va. The

buildings were a center for political, economic andsocial life in Alexandria. The public taproom was the

community center of the 18th century, where colonistswent to eat, drink and catch up on the news of the day.

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a tavern for dinner,” says Sharon Salinger,professor of history at the University ofCalifornia, Irvine, and author of Tavernsand Drinking in Early America (JohnsHopkins University Press, 2002).

But even if few women patronizedtaverns during Colonial days, many couldbe found behind the bar.

“There were many documentedfemale tavern-keepers,” Adamo says.“Quite often [these were] widows whoeither carried on their husbands’ busi-nesses or needed to earn a living and didso by opening their homes as taverns.Tavern-keeping was one of the fewacceptable occupations for women.”

Tavern MoralityIt seems surprising that drinking

houses would be so accepted and playsuch a vital role in the life of Colonialcommunities without any opposition.Because taverns were largely embraced associal gathering places, however, the

imbibing that happened inside was oftenoverlooked until it became a problem.“Some ambiguity did exist in terms of thetavern and drink, but mainly surroundingissues of overdrinking,” Salinger says.

“Drink is itself a good creature of God,and to be received with thankfulness, butthe abuse of drink is from Satan,” wroteIncrease Mather in a well-known Puritansermon quoted by Andrew Barr in Drink:A Social History of America (Carroll andGraf, 1999). “The wine is from God, butthe Drunkard is from the Devil.”

“As the 18th century progressed andthe Puritan influence waned, tavernsfound more favor,” Kollen says. “That isnot to say that taverns were forbidden inthe 17th century. But some people weremore ambivalent since moderation wasnot always observed. Into the 18th century, taverns were so accepted and so political that a number of tavern-keepers became representatives to theMassachusetts legislature.”

TODAY’S TAVERNSFor a glimpse into the heart of earlyAmerican communities, visit one ofthese authentic Colonial-era taverns,which are still open to the public. Thesedays, women are always welcome.

Buckman Tavern1 Bedford St., Lexington, MA 02173Phone: (781) 862–1703www.lexingtonhistory.org

City Tavern Restaurant138 South 2nd St. at Walnut St.Philadelphia, PA 19106Phone: (215) 413–1443www.citytavern.com

Fraunces Tavern Museum andRestaurant54 Pearl St., New York, NY 10004Phone: (212) 425–1776www.frauncestavernmuseum.org

Gadsby’s Tavern Museum134 N. Royal St., Alexandria, VA 22314Phone: (703) 838–4242http://oha.alexandriava.gov/gadsby

The Golden Ball TavernP.O. Box 223, Weston, MA 02493Phone: (781) 894–1751www.goldenballtavern.org

Indian King Tavern Museum233 Kings Highway East Haddonfield, NJ 08033Phone: (856) 429–6792www.levins.com/tavern.html

The Merchant and Drovers TavernMuseum Association1632 St. Georges Ave. Rahway, NJ 07065Phone: (732) 381–0441www.merchantsanddrovers.org

The Phelps Tavern Museum and Homestead800 Hopmeadow St. Simsbury, CT 06070Phone: (860) 658–2500 www.simsburyhistory.org

An illustration shows Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, Patrick Henry and Francis Lightfoot Lee meeting at Raleigh Tavern, Williamsburg, Va., in 1773, to establish the Committee of Correspondence.

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While overdrinking may have beenlooked down on in some circles, tavernswere never considered establishments ofill repute. “Of course, as in any othertimes, there were dens of vice and evil,but, in general, this was the exception,”Smith says.

“Keep in mind that the quality of thetaverns varied widely, just as the qualityof restaurants varies today,” Adamo adds.“They ranged from the grimy waterfrontgrog shops to the genteel establishmentssuch as Fraunces Tavern in New Yorkand City Tavern in Philadelphia. Anindividual could be judged by the type oftavern he frequented.”

As a rule, Colonial-era taverns werenot viewed with moral disapproval;“just the opposite,” Burns says. “So vitala part of Colonial life was the con-sumption of alcoholic beverages thatthere was cachet attached to doing pub-lic business in a tavern.”

For example, consider the importantbusiness conducted in taverns through-out the Colonies, from plotting a noblerevolution to forming a new govern-ment. “George Washington choseFraunces Tavern as the place to sayfarewell to his officers at the end of thewar,” Adamo says. “The New YorkProvincial Congress met here. The NewYork Chamber of Commerce met here.The first New York Stock Exchange waslocated at the corner of Wall and Water

Streets, in the Tontine Coffee House, atavern. Think of Colonial taverns morealong the lines of our modern conven-tion centers or large hotels; part of their function was to cater to the needs of business.”

While Colonial-era taverns were certainly the backdrop for conductingimportant business, they were also thesites of social get-togethers and enter-tainment, the best places for news-gath-ering and relaxing watering holes for

neighbors to come together and enjoyvisiting with each other.

Taverns were the Colonies’ answer totoday’s theaters, ball fields, courthousesand shopping centers. “Looked upon witha type of community pride,” Smith says,taverns were the gathering spots whereneighborhoods—and a new republic—were built.

Nancy Mann Jackson’s story on online familytrees was featured in the July/August 2007 issue.


Most colonists believed water was unsafe to drink; alcoholic beverages, on the other hand, were widely accepted as notonly safe but medicinal as well. So what did they drink? Many of the same items available today—and everyone had hisfavorite.

“Everyone drank beer, including the children; it was with them from cradle to grave,” says Gregg Smith, author of Beer inAmerica: The Early Years. “At that time the rivers and streams in Europe were becoming increasingly fouled. Beer, however, wasboiled, killing most of the microbes, and that was combined with a low pH; no known pathogens survive in the low pH con-tained in beer.”

Colonial beers included ale and porter, a dark beer, but colonists also favored hard cider, “which, with New England’sabundant orchards, almost became the most popular of American drinks,” Smith says. “Later, whiskey [became popular]because of the Colonies’ abundance of corn, which was easier to store as a distilled beverage than in bulk as dried product.”

The most popular mixed drink of the time was flip. According to Smith, there were many local variations of flip, but ingeneral, it included beer, rum, sugar, cream and beaten eggs. A red-hot poker was thrust into the mixture to caramelize it.

One of the most popular wines was Madeira, which was John Adams’ and Benjamin Franklin’s drink of choice. GeorgeWashington preferred porter and wine, Smith says. According to Eric Burns, author of The Spirits of America, bothWashington and Thomas Jefferson encouraged Americans to drink wine or beer rather than hard liquor.

The Fathers’ Favorites

This painting, “George Washington’s Farewell Interview with the Generals of his Army on Retiring from hisCommand,” is attributed to Christopher Lawrence, United States, 1876–1879, and is part of the collection ofFraunces Tavern Museum, Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York. Gift of LaVerne Crawford, 1985.

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Set oven to 1700. Blend 21st-century cooks with 18th-centuryrecipes. Add a modern kitchen for flavor. Let simmer.

Colonial BreakfastHow to Cook a

By Gin Phillips

Photography by Sheri O’Neal


Background from the cover ofThe Williamsburg Art of Cookery or Accomplish’d Gentlewoman’s Companion, an adaption of a 1742 cookbook, reprinted in 1939.

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TO UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCEand (literal) weight of a Colonial break-fast, first consider the manual labor thatfollowed one. The morning meal fueled aday of housework or fieldwork, maybetravel or running errands—and a bowl ofcereal or a piece of fruit couldn’t have pro-vided nearly enough mileage. Mealsbecame progressively smaller as the daywent on, and snacking wasn’t common. Sobreakfast was taken very seriously.

It was a heavy meal, high in fat andprotein and low in fiber. According to TheWilliamsburg Cookbook (1971), tidewaterVirginians kept with English customs of a“hearty” breakfast “between nine and ten o’clock of venison, game or poultry,and ham.”

But how would such a breakfast trans-late to today? What would it be like tocook a Colonial breakfast in a modernkitchen with no open fires or kitchenhelpers? No muscle memory of how tostretch a bladder? Where would you getlard or musk? How would you know theins and outs of ambergreese or mushroomcatsup? And would you be able to eat anyof the end results?

American Spirit recruited eight volunteercooks from the Sarah Polk Chapter,Nashville, Tenn., put them in a spaciouskitchen accented with stainless steel andassigned them four Colonial recipes. A pairof DAR members worked on each recipe,most taken from The Williamsburg Art ofCookery or Accomplish’d Gentlewoman’sCompanion, an adaptation of a 1742 cook-book, reprinted in 1939. None of therecipes mentioned temperature (whichwould likely have been harder to pindown over an open flame) or cookingtime. At 8:30 on a Saturday morning, thewomen gathered, ingredients in hand, tosee what they could produce for aColonial breakfast. Here are the results.

MAKING HUMPTY DUMPTYAs everyone arrived, two by two, one

recipe had clearly been the source of mostof the anticipation. Everyone was waitingfor the cooks in charge of the giant egg or,officially, “An Egg as Big as Twenty.” Therecipe involved separating 20 eggs, pour-ing the yolks in a cow bladder and boilingit. The bladder could then be removed,leaving one large yolk. That cooked yolkwould then be put into another bladder,which would be filled with the egg whites,tied and boiled.

The obvious question was whether youcould even find bladders in 2007. No onein the kitchen thought the chances werepromising. But Colleen Spears and SusanFlippin walked in holding a clear plasticbucket with pinkish-gray shapes swishingin gray water.

“Those are bladders?” someone asked.“These are bladders,” Colleen

confirmed.

“Where’d you get them?”“I can’t tell you that.”“No, really, where’d you get them?”“I can’t give away my sources, or there

might be a run on the bladder market.”Meat processing plants carry bladders,

although they don’t normally hand themout to passers-by. The two women haddiscovered other bits of history as well:The second part of the recipe, adding fla-vorings to the egg, involved ambergreese,which is now illegal in the United States.Colleen and Susan had called ColonialWilliamsburg, and experts there gavethem a fairly explicit definition.

“It’s formed when the whale regurgi-tates, and it floats on the water in a ball,and you collect it,” Colleen said.

They opted for the substitution ofrosewater and sugar instead.

Before discovering their bladder supplier, they used balloons as substitutes.Using a funnel, they poured the yolks intoone balloon and tied it off. The yolks didn’t force the balloon to expand, but thewomen fit as many as possible into oneand boiled it fairly successfully. But theyrealized that even if they forced the gianthard-boiled yolk into another balloon, itwould leave no room for the whites sincethe balloon wouldn’t expand. Aside fromthe logistical problem, balloons hadanother downside: “a rubbery taste,”according to Susan.

Next, they tried plastic sandwich bags,which cooked the eggs adequately but leftthem bag-shaped instead of egg-shaped.Bladders, on the other hand, made a per-fect egg shape.

On the morning of the cooking exper-iment, with all 20 eggs separated, thewomen filled the first bladder with yolksfairly smoothly, with Colleen holding thebladder open while Susan poured. A noteabout bladders: They are highly stretch-able, and Colleen could easily fit her fistinto one, burrowing down until her wristdisappeared, pushing from every angle.“Massage the bladder,” they would repeat,mantra-like.

The tying of the bladders caused themost difficulty. The recipe didn’t specifyhow to fasten the bladder, so they usedtwine, anchoring the string with a needlefirst. All seemed promising until, after

“A traveling Britisher named Henry Wansey leaves a description of breakfast at the ExecutiveMansion in Philadelphia: Mrs. Washington, inperson, made the coffee and tea. On the table were

plates of sliced tongue, dry toast, bread and butter, but no broiled fish as is the general custom.”

— From The First Ladies Cookbook, 1969

T

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only a couple of minutes, they checked the covered pot and found all the eggs hadleaked out. So they broke another 20 eggs,tried to tie the bladder more tightly—noneedle poking this time—and secured thebladder right side up by tying the ends ofthe twine to the handles of the pot. Theycooked the yolk for 25 minutes, and whenthe bladder was cut off, the large ball ofyolk was perfectly egg-shaped—a smallplanet the consistency of scrambled eggs.(Bladders are tough, requiring puncturingwith a knife before sawing with the blade.)

Catastrophe nearly struck when theytried to tie off the second bladder with theuncooked whites and the cooked yolkinside. The whites kept spilling over theside, and by the time a third person cameto tie the bladder while Susan and Colleenheld it together, most of the whites hadoverflowed. They opted to pour back afew of the whites—noting that they nowhad an egg for maybe 19 or 18—but onceagain the whites cooked out of the bladderalmost immediately in boiling water. Thetwine couldn’t be tied tight enough tohold the eggs, though the method seemedto work as long as someone held the endsof the string to keep the bladder vertical.Maybe, the women guessed, eggs weresmaller in Colonial days, and simply usinga dozen Grade A eggs today would comecloser to approximating the right volume.

“The bladder was easier to work withthan the balloon,” Colleen said. “Youcouldn’t stretch the balloon to holdenough, but with the bladder we had thevolume problem solved. Then the closureproblem took us down.” (Prep time: Atleast 45 minutes, assuming you’ll needmore than one try. Cook time: The yolksboiled for 25 minutes, and the whiteswould likely boil for 15.)

A SHAD STORYTrina Schmidt and Patsy Brown had

practiced their shad the night before theofficial breakfast. The broiled shad dish,which was to be stuffed with forcemeat,contained two main surprises right offthe bat: The cooks had salmon instead ofshad, and forcemeat for fish does notinvolve meat.

Quickly realizing no grocery stores soldshad, Trina had begun researching the

An Egg as Big as Twenty

Part the Yolks from the Whites of twenty Eggs, strain the Yolksby themselves, and the Whites by themselves, boil the Yolks in aBladder, in the Form either of an Egg or Ball; when they are boiledhard, put the Ball of Yolks into another Bladder, and the Whitesround about it, and bind it up oval or round, and boil it. These Eggsare used in grand salads.

If you please you may add to the Yolks of the Eggs,Ambergreese, Musk, grated Biscuits, candy’d Pistachoes and Sugar;and to the Whites, Musk, Almond-paste, beaten Ginger, and theJuice of Oranges, and serve them up with Butter, Almond-milk, Sugar, andJuice of Orange.

— The Williamsburg Art of Cookery or Accomplish’d Gentlewoman’s Companion

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background of the fish. The NativeAmericans fished for shad and taughttheir methods to colonists, who ate thefish and used it for fertilizer. She learnedthat George Washington was a commer-cial shad fisherman and reported a catchof more than 7,700 fish, but in the cen-turies since, the shad population hasgreatly declined. Trina found a Web site ofshad fishermen and contacted them, butno one e-mailed her back.

“It’s not an easy fish to find becausenow it’s used for bait for the most part,”Trina said. “Trying to get a hold of a pieceof shad big enough to stuff is next toimpossible.”

Then there was the downside to thefish itself. In terms of quality, shad had a

reputation for being a poor man’s salmon,similar to mullet and carp.

“Even if I had found a piece of shad, ithas 769 bones in it and requires 22 cuts oneach side to debone,” Trina said.

She had, however, found canned shadfor sale on the Internet. She bought twocans, but when they arrived, the rust onthe outside made her nervous about serv-ing the fish. So she fed one can to her dog,a precaution she didn’t mention until sev-eral of the other cooks present had alreadytried the canned shad. “My dog’s still aliveand didn’t even get sick, so it’s fine,” sheexplained.

She and Patsy opted for an appetizingpiece of real salmon and went through therecipe with the salmon fillet, heating woodchips in a Dutch oven to give the fish ataste of fire and smoke.

As for the stuffing, they found thatforcemeat “can be pretty much anything,”Trina said. For fish recipes, forcemeatusually involved only breadcrumbs, herbsand butter, although with other dishesthe stuffing might include pork or beef.They used an 1840s breadcrumb-basedrecipe; Trina practiced the night beforethe breakfast with a box of Stove TopStuffing.

The recipe also called for mushroomcatsup, which, in the 1700s, required aweek’s worth of effort with mushroomsdrying in salt, then sitting covered whilethey stewed in the sun. Trina opted for aless-bacteria-friendly method, using


Baked Shad

The Shad is a very indifferent Fish unless it be largeand fat; when you get a good one, prepare it nicely, putsome Force-meet inside, and lay it at full length in a panwith a Pint of Water, a Gill of red Wine, one of mush-room Catsup, a little pepper, Vinegar, Salt, a few cloves ofGarlic, and fix Cloves: stew it gently till the Gravy is suffi-ciently reduced; there should always be a fish-slice withHoles to lay the Fish on, for the Convenience of dishingwithout breaking it; when the Fish it taken up, flip it care-fully into the Dish; thicken the Gravy with Butter and brown flour, and pour over it.

— The Williamsburg Art of Cookery or Accomplish’d Gentlewoman’s Companion

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pre-dried mushrooms and adding a touchof water before pureeing them in a foodprocessor. (Prep time: 20 minutes; Cooktime: 20 minutes at 400 degrees in aDutch oven.)

CARB (AND LARD) LOADINGThe bread recipes—sweet potato

biscuits and breakfast puffs—required theleast research and most common ingredi-ents. For the biscuits, lard was the onlyingredient not typically found in anykitchen cabinet.

Even lard only took one trip for RachelNorris: “I just went to Kroger,” she said.“It was right next to the Crisco.”

She and Carol Johnson used butter-milk where the recipe called for sour milk,but otherwise the recipe translated easily.The biscuits turned out well, dense ratherthan fluffy, but tasty with a dollop of but-ter. (Prep time: 20 minutes; Cook time:20 minutes on 400 degrees.)

While it was interesting to watchCatherine West and Lee Hunt bake thepuffs, the results were not as appetizing.

With no soda or baking powder, the

puffs rise solely because of the heat andgrease. Catherine got a sense for therecipe ahead of time by comparing it to afamily recipe.

“I pulled out one of my great aunt’spopover recipes that’s very similar, with noleavening or anything,” she said. “It’salmost the same thing as Yorkshire pudding.”

With minimal time for mixing thedough and heating the lard, the puffs weresoon ready to go in the oven. They bakedlight and airy, overflowing the muffin cups.The end result tasted bland, but presentedwell. (Prep time: 5 to 10 minutes; Cooktime: 20 minutes at 400 degrees.)

THE TASTE TESTThe popovers weren’t bad and the egg

was worth sampling, but the sweet potatobiscuits and the salmon won the bestreviews. All the cooks agreed the salmonwould be better without the mushroom-and wine-based sauce; for a sweeter andless dense taste, more sweet potatoesadded to the biscuits could be a plus.

Gin Phillips, a freelance writer inBirmingham, Ala., explored Conner Prairie’s livinghistory museum for the July/August 2007 issue.


Heat greased iron or other heavy MuffinPans in the Oven until very hot. Fill two-thirdsfull with a Batter made as follows: Sift one cup ofFlour with one-fourth Teaspoon of Salt. Mixtogether two well-beaten Eggs, seven-eighths ofa cup of milk and one tablespoonful of meltedbutter. Stir slowly into flour but do not overmix.Bake in a hot Oven for about twenty Minutesand dry them in a moderate Oven for about fifteen. Serve at once.

— The Williamsburg Art of Cookery or Accomplish’dGentlewoman’s Companion

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Sift together two Cups of Flour, one-halfTeaspoon of Soda, and one Teaspoon of Salt. Work infour level Tablespoons of Lard. Mix one Cup ofmashed sweet Potatoes with one-half Cup of sourMilk and mix to a soft Dough. Roll thin, cut and bakein a hot Oven.

— Old recipe from Disputanta, Virginia. Adapted byMarket Square Tavern Kitchen, 1937.

Breakfast Puffs

DAR members from the Sarah Polk Chapter,Nashville, Tenn., donned their aprons for a busy

morning of authentic Colonial cooking.Standing: Trina Schmidt, Rachel Norris,

Carol Johnson, Colleen Spears, Susan Flippin,Lee Hunt. Kneeling: Patsy Brown,

Catherine West

ASP_0907_p38-43 8/8/07 12:35 PM Page 43

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ASP_0907_p44 8/8/07 1:12 PM Page 44


hen John Smith stepped ashore on Jamestown Island in May1607, he saw the James River flowing wide and clear, brimmingwith fish and oysters. He saw a wooded shoreline shelteringwhite-tailed deer and wild turkey. It was a land of pristinebeauty and natural resources, promising unlimited potential—and unknown perils including wary Indians.

In spite of the danger he faced, the intrepid explorer is often quoted as saying “heavenand earth never agreed better to frame a more perfect place for man’s habitation.”

Smith, not yet 30 but already a seasoned soldier and adventurer, lost no time exploring the new world. Within less than a year, he was aboard a 30-foot shallop, asmall open boat fitted with sails and a crew of 14, exploring and charting the reaches ofthe James River and Chesapeake Bay. His maps showed the first accurate charting ofthe Bay area and the Native American villages there.

RETRACING SMITH’S STEPS In December President George Bush authorized the establishment of the Captain

John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Water Trail that retraces almost 3,000 milesof Smith’s exploration along the Chesapeake Bay and many of its tributaries. The trail,part of the National Trails System, is a fitting salute to the 400th anniversary of thecountry’s first permanent English settlement at Jamestown. It’s also the country’s firstnational historic water trail.

In 2005, Virginia, preparing for 400th anniversary festivities across the common-wealth in 2007, preceded the national trail with its own shorter water trail and autotour, “John Smith’s Adventures on the James River.”

The Virginia trail and the national trail share a common beginning. Patrick Noonan,chairman emeritus of The Conservation Fund, is credited with the idea of both trails,according to Gary Waugh, public relations manager with the Virginia Department ofConservation and Recreation.

BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELLPHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN H. SHEALLY II

WOn JohnSmith’sTrail

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Virginia created a trail along thePotomac River five years ago and used thatas a model for the John Smith AdventureTrail. The newest leg of the trail, “John’sSmith’s Adventures on the Pamanuk Flu,”covers the Mattaponi, Pamunkey andYork rivers.

Other agencies cooperated withWaugh’s department on the developmentand funding of the trail, including theVirginia Department of HistoricResources, the Virginia Council onIndians and Jamestown 2007. TheConservation Fund, the NationalGeographic Society, the Chesapeake BayFoundation and the James RiverAssociation also supported the project.

“Virginia has a wealth of natural andhistoric sites along the river,” Waugh says.

“We hope the national trail will look at usas a prototype, incorporating the Virginiatrail into the national trail as it develops.”

The John Smith Adventure Trail con-sists of 40 sites along a 100-mile waterroute and a land route that circles the JamesRiver along scenic roads, including the pic-turesque Colonial Parkway. The drivingtour is divided into three loops, each corre-sponding to approximately one day on thewater tour. The water route can be enjoyedby kayak, canoe or small powerboat.

Trail followers travel from theJamestown Settlement and HistoricJamestowne, the major venues of theJamestown 400 commemoration, tolesser-known sites, many highlighting theNative Americans whose lives dependedupon the river.

This is the James as Smith saw it, andthere is a history lesson at every turn.

“People can explore the lesser-knownhistory in a fun way at their own pace,”

Waugh says. “But it’s also a look at thenatural side of history—allowing visitorsto appreciate the natural resources asSmith saw them 400 years ago, and what400 years of man’s interaction has doneto those resources.”

SETTLEMENT STORIESThe southern segment of the tour,

the Oyster Loop, encompasses theJamestown area, the bustling NewportNews waterfront on the north side of thelower James and the quieter landscape onthe river ’s south shore, which looksalmost like it did in the early 1600s.

Setting out from the Jamestown set-tlement, Smith sailed on to the lowerJames at one of its broadest points, fivemiles across in a body of water that

resembled a bay more than a river. Justeast of the settlement lies a point of landcalled Archer’s Hope, the colonists’ firstchoice for their new home—and now visi-ble from the Colonial Parkway.

“The soile was good and fruitful, withexcellent good Timber … We did seemany Squirrels, Conies, Black Birds withcrimson wings, and divers other Fowles …We found store of Turkie nests and manyEgges,” wrote George Percy, a settler.

But the James was too shallow therefor the settlers’ ships, so they sailed toJamestown instead.

Several restored plantations and muse-ums along the Oyster Loop tell the story ofthe early settlement. Chippokes Plantationwas named for a chief who befriended thecolonists. One of the oldest working farmsin the country, it dates to 1619. Now a statepark, it boasts a variety of gardens filledwith heritage plants, a restored manor, afarm and a forestry museum.

Page 45: John Smith explored the James River fromJamestown to the Pony Pasture Rapids in

Richmond, Va., where rocks made it non-navigable.This page, clockwise from top: An oyster-shellpaved path leads to Smith’s Fort, built by theJamestown Colony’s first settlers under the

leadership of Smith for protection from Indian andSpanish attacks. • A collection of cannon balls

and worn musket items and nails are on display atFlowerdew Hundred, a 1619 plantation along theJohn Smith Trail. • This handmade pillow can befound in the brick home at Smith’s Fort Plantation

in Surry, Va. • Peg fencing accents the JohnSmith Trail at Jamestown.

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Lying nearby is Hog Island, thepeninsula where, in 1608, coloniststurned their swine loose to graze. Theybuilt a blockhouse to guard their herd,but Indians eventually killed the guardsand pigs, adding to the plight of thestarving settlers.

The area is now a wildlife manage-ment area and a prime location to spotbald eagles.

In a moment of humor in his “GenerallHistorie of Virginia,” Smith writes of thefutility of using frying pans (since hiscrew had no nets on board) to catchsome of the fish so abundant in theJames that it seemed like they could bescooped up.

The Watermen’s Museum, just offthe Colonial Parkway in Yorktown, captures the unique history of areawatermen who flourished on the riversuntil the 1900s when the fish becamefewer, and oysters were decimated by disease and over-harvesting. Themuseum is a short drive southeast fromWerewocomoco, the recently discoveredsite believed to be the principal village ofthe great chief Powhatan and the areawhere Smith may have been held captive

and, as legend has it, saved from death by Pocahontas.

A NATURAL OASISTo help protect Jamestown and create a

retreat from the constant threats of theIndians and the Spanish, Smith began in1609 to build a fort directly across theriver from the settlement. But he wascalled back to Jamestown to deal with ratsinfesting the corn supply and neverreturned to finish the fort. Now only theearthworks—2 feet high and not easily dis-cernible but regarded as the oldest struc-ture of English origin in the state—are lefton the wooded bluff, along with a sense ofuneasy peace that Smith may have felt ashe worked there.

A charming circa 1750 gabled brickhouse has been restored next to a piece ofproperty that was once a dowry gift to John Rolfe upon his marriage toPowhatan’s daughter, Pocahontas.

The middle segment of the Adventuretour, the aptly named Cypress Loop, startsnear Smith’s Fort. Stands of cypress dotthe shoreline of the James offering rest toherons, eagles, cormorants and otherwaterfowl. Kayakers and fishermen soak

in the tranquility of the ChickahominyRiver, once the home of the PaspaheghIndians. Monarch butterflies flutteramong the 6-foot tall ferns and QueenAnne’s lace, while an occasional blacksnake darts through the lush undergrowthand buttercups.

Although the Paspahegh were amongthe first Indians to trade with the colonists,Smith referred to them as a “churlish andtreacherous nation.” The strained relationsled to the English attacking the tribe in1610, killing dozens and destroying thePaspahegh dwellings and fields. The tribenever returned to the area.

Flowerdew Hundred is one of severalrestored plantations and parks on theCypress Loop that were developed onformer Indian towns. The museum atFlowerdew Hundred is a treasure of theAdventure Trail. Opened 25 years ago, ithouses an extensive research library andsome of the 200,000 artifacts uncoveredon the plantation, once a WeyanockIndian town. Here you’ll find a 1590English breastplate—army surplus from the Tower of London, according toKaren Shriver, curator of collections at Flowerdew.

{ }The John Smith Adventure Trail consists of 40 sites along a 100-mile water route and a land route that circles the James River along scenic roads ...

This is the James as Smith saw it, and there is a history lesson at every turn.

A circa 1750 restored brick home at Smith’s Fort Plantation in Surry, Va., sits next to property that was given to John Rolfe upon his marriage to Pocahontas.

ASP_0907_p45-48 8/8/07 1:10 PM Page 47


“The British wouldn’t waste goodarmor on the Colonies,” Shriver says.

Also on display is a rare brass medal-lion presented by Maurice, Prince ofOrange in the Netherlands, to his soldiersin the early 1600s. Like John Smith, SirGeorge Yeardley, the plantation’s originalowner, had fought with the Dutch in theirrevolt against Spain. The medallion,found on the plantation, is one of onlyfour known in the world, with two ofthose in the British Museum.

ADVENTURE–WORTHY WATERS The Oxbow Loop, the trail’s north-

ernmost third, winds its way among theJames’ “oxbows” or bends where thewaters turn from brackish to fresh. Justwest of downtown Richmond, as theCoastal Plain meets the Piedmont, theriver crashes on the rocks at Pony PastureRapids—the same rocks and rapids thatstopped Smith and his men from explor-ing any further west.

Today the 105-foot drop in the riverthat deterred Smith provides excellentwhite-water canoeing and kayaking.

The Oxbow Loop brings visitors intoRichmond’s historic canals and riverfront.The Valentine Richmond HistoryCenter, the Virginia Historical Societyand the Library of Virginia offer every-thing you might want to know about thecommonwealth’s history.

But it’s in the loop’s natural attrac-tions—the Presquile National WildlifeRefuge where bald eagles soar from thetreetops and wild turkeys flourish, the tidallagoons of the Dutch Gap ConservationArea, and the rock cliffs and breadbasketmarshes of Point of Rocks—that modern-day tourists catch a glimpse of the world asSmith might have seen it.

Tayloe Murphy, former Virginia secre-tary of natural resources, hopes Virginia’sJames and York trails can serve as modelsfor the development of a bay-wide watertrail. “The Chesapeake Bay is a nationaltreasure, and there is no better way to dis-cover the real Chesapeake than from thewater—just as John Smith did.”

Phyllis Speidell’s article and John Sheally’s pho-tography on the Blennerhassett Mansion in WestVirginia was featured in the January/February2007 issue of American Spirit.

The sun sets on the JamesRiver along the John Smith

Trail near Jamestown.

A view from the deck ofGodspeed shows the Susan

Constant and Discovery.Replicas of these three shipsare docked at Jamestown.

Many artifactshave been

recovered fromWerowocomoco,

ChiefPowhatan’s

village.

Egrets were partof the wildlife

that John Smithwould have

seen during hisexpedition.

Carpenters use hand tools and17th-century construction

techniques to build a replica of thesettlement’s original church in the

re-created Jamestown fort.

fCan’t get to Virginia? Check out the adventures of Captain JohnSmith by following the virtual trail online at www.JohnSmithTrail.orghosted by the Virginia Tourism Corporation.

Find maps of the John Smith Trail and more information at www.virginia.org.

{Follow the Trail}

ASP_0907_p45-48 8/8/07 1:10 PM Page 48

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