RW250.org - 9. COLONIAL & WARTIME DAILY LIFE

9. COLONIAL & WARTIME DAILY LIFE

CELESTE SHERRY: SPINNER OF WOOL . . . AND MORE

Learn the domestic art of fiber spinning. Dressed as a middle-class woman of the late 1700s and using a spin-ning wheel and drop spindles, Celeste describes and demonstrates the historical development of wool & flax spinning. A Q&A segment is included. If time permits, attendees may try their hand at spinning wool on a drop spindle.

Audience: All ages Duration: 1 to 1½ hours, or ongoing for the length of the event

Presenter: Celeste Sherry Fee: $250/$300, depend-ing on size of display requested

Contact: cmsherry@optonline.net

Availability: Flexible Site Requirements: Indoor room or outside shaded area; chairs; 1-2 tables for display area.

HANDS-ON SPINNING WORKSHOP

Led by living historian Celeste Sherry, participants will make a drop spindle and learn how to spin wool into yarn. Participants will go home with their wooden drop spindle, printed instructions, and a small supply of wool fiber.

Audience: 3rd grade+ (with parent or caregiver for elementary school children). Program also offered for adults. Duration: 2 hours

Presenter: Celeste Sherry Fee: $400, plus $8.00/ per person for drop spindle kit materials

Contact: cmsherry@optonline.net

Availability: Flexible Site Requirements: Indoor room; chairs, 3-4 tables for display and work area.

Celeste Sherry demonstrates the spinning wheel at Philipse Manor Hall.

18TH-CENTURY CHILDREN’S TOYS & GAMES

This hands-on demonstration of 18th-century children’s leisure time activities includes period-correct reproductions of toys and games and a discussion of a child’s place in the household and colonial society. Children and adults are encouraged to try out and play with all toys and games—including whirly-gigs, ball & cup, hoop & stick, game of goose, nine pins, bilbo catchers, stilts, nine-men’s-Morris, and more. Questions are wel-come, and encouraged, during the demonstration.

Audience: 8+ Duration: 1 hour (+ for Q&A)

Presenter: Tom Hunt Fee: $ 500

Contact: watersideforge@aol.com Availability: Weekdays and weekends

Site Requirements: Indoor or outdoor space, approximately 12 ft. x 12 ft. All tables, materials, and supplies provided by the presenter.

18TH-CENTURY HOME MEDICINE

In this hands-on demonstration of colonial era home medicines Tom Hunt shares remedies and their period documentation. Activities include making dyspepsia pills, basic first aid (18th-century style), interpreting and explaining period medical beliefs and medical instructions. Questions are welcome and encouraged.

Audience: 10+ Duration: 1 hour (+ for Q&A)

Presenter: Tom Hunt Fee: $ 500 Contact: watersideforge@aol.com

Availability: Weekdays and weekends

Site Requirements: Indoor or outdoor space, approx-imately 8 ft. x 8 ft. All tables, materials, and supplies provided by the presenter.

18TH-CENTURY BROOM MAKING

This program is a full 18th-century broom making demonstration, combined with a discussion of broom history, stories, and legends. Questions are welcome, and encouraged, during the demonstration.

Audience: 10+ Duration: 1 hour (+ for Q&A)

Presenter: Tom Hunt Fee: $ 500

Contact: watersideforge@aol.com

Availability: Weekdays and weekends

Site Requirements: Indoor or outdoor space, approx-imately 10 ft. x 10 ft. All tables, materials, and supplies provided by the presenter.

18TH-CENTURY FLAX TO LINEN CLOTH PROCESSING

This hands-on 18th century demonstration of the flax to linen process includes techniques and skills, with period correct reproduction equipment and a discussion of flax and linen cloth history. Questions are welcome and encouraged.

Audience: 10+ Duration: 1 hour (+ for Q&A)

Presenter: Tom Hunt Fee: $ 500

Contact: watersideforge@aol.com

Availability: Weekdays and weekends

Site Requirements: Indoor or outdoor space, approx-imately 8 ft. x 8 ft. All tables, materials, and supplies provided by the presenter.

Tom Hunt demonstrates 18th-century blacksmithing.

18TH-CENTURY BLACKSMITHING

Full on-site 18th-century traveling blacksmith shop and demonstration. Tom Hunt, in authentic blacksmith work-clothes, shows and discusses basic iron forging techniques, skills, blacksmith history, period necessities (tools, horseshoes, etc.), apprenticeships, expectations, social position, and stories of local history regarding blacksmith involvement. Questions encouraged!

Ages: 10 – Adult Duration: 1 hour, longer if necessary (+ for Q&A)

Presenter: Tom Hunt Fee: $500

Contact: watersideforge@aol.com

Availability: weekdays and weekends

Site Requirements: Outdoor space, approx. 12 ft. x 12 ft., with vehicle access. All tables, materials, and supplies provided by Waterside Forge.

18TH-CENTURY FOOD PRESERVATION

This hands-on demonstration of 18th-century food preservation techniques.

What was life like in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, before food was so easily and readily available? How did people store food if there were no refrigerators? This demonstration will answer these questions of how people prepared food for the winter in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. From pickling, to drying, to salting, and smoking, we discuss and demonstrate many of the techniques used in early American food preservation. Food on display include salt pork, salted dried fish, dried beef, apple cider and apple cider vinegar, dried beans, corn, and peppers. Children can cut and salt cabbage for sauerkraut, slice apples for drying. Questions are welcome, and encouraged, during the demonstration.

Audience: 8+ Duration: 1 hour (+ for Q&A)

Presenter: Tom Hunt Fee: $ 500

Contact: watersideforge@aol.com

Availability: Weekdays and weekends Site Requirements: Indoor or outdoor space, approximately 12 ft. x 12 ft. All tables, materials, and supplies provided by the presenter.

18TH CENTURY JOYNER

Wearing authentic hand-sewn 18th century workmen’s clothing, joyner (a specialized carpenter who joins wood) Erik Paul, uses hand tools and a portable, 18th century Moravian workbench to demonstrate how wood was felled, shaped, and prepared for the interior of basic 18th century houses and furnishings. Learn the three ways wood is joined: corners (dove tail), sock-et (mortise & amp; tenon), and side to side (shiplap). This program includes tool demos, samples of common woods, display of completed projects, and first-person stories of the skill and grit it took to build homes here in the Hudson Valley in the 18th century.

Audience: Ages: 6+ Duration: 15-minute presentation, repeated throughout the event

Presenter: Erik Paul Fee: $350

Contact: epaul014@gmail.com

Availability: any time of year

Site Requirements: Flat outdoor space, approx. 8 ft. x10 ft., shade tree preferred

Erik Paul demonstrates 18th-century woodworking.

PHYSICIANS, SURGEONS AND APOTHECARIES IN THE 18TH CENTURY

Follow Mrs. Crickett as she leads you through 18th century medical, surgical and apothecary experiences, training, education, services, business, and political dealings. She brings 18th century surgical tools, prepared medicines, and bandages to set up a rudimentary field hospital typical for Washington’s Continental army. The army camped in Westchester County multiple times during the nearly eight years of war. Questions welcome!

Audience: All ages Duration: 1 hour

Presenter: Maria Grillo Fee: $500

Contact: scholargal@hotmail.com

Site Requirements: Indoor or outdoor space with seating or standing area for audience.

WOMEN’S STRENGTH AT HOME

How did women keep the home and farm running when their men were at war? Did the children have chores? With all the sacrifice and deprivation, was there time for fun? Living history interpreter Cynthia Abbott Kauffman, as Patriot Ann Fisher Miller in period dress, discusses the family changes during wartime. Demonstrates kitchen implements, home grown medicines and teas; and shares history about clothing, food preparation, how wool was processed and what it was really like to care for family and run a home during wartime in Westchester.

Audience: All ages Duration: 1 hour + Q&A, or can be ongoing for duration of event

Presenter: Cynthia Abbott Kauffman Fee: 1 hr+/$300; full day (3 hrs or more)/$400

Contact: cynthia@DOLL1776.com

Site Requirements: a table for presentation items, seated audience preferred.

DAILY ACTIVITIES OF WOMEN & CHILDREN

Experience the lives and duties of women during the Revolutionary War. Hands-on demonstrations include butter making, cooking, candle making using beeswax and paraffin, children’s games and the clothing women wore. The presenters come in period costume.

Audience: All ages Duration: 1 hour + Q&A

Presenter: Cindy Wolf and Sarah Eaton

Fee: $150 for 1-hour, $300 for 4-hours, $450 weekend. (Plus cost of food)

Contact: vampyrelc@gmail.com

Site Requirements: Indoor or outdoor set up, 8 ft. x 18 ft. area, cooking demos require open fire pit. Menu options and the choice of demonstrations reviewed for each venue.

NANCY RUSHTON VAN TASSEL: SPINNING WEAVING & DYEING

An experienced weaver and spinner, Nancy demonstrates, in period-appropriate attire, spinning on a spinning wheel and drop spindle. Explanations about the history of spinning and weaving and the use of plant and insect dyes throughout history, the different types of fibers, their cultivation and uses, the importance of textiles, and the spinning and weaving equipment are included.

Audience: All ages Duration: flexible

Presenter: Nancy Rushton Van Tassel Fee: Ms. Van Tassel does not charge.

Contact: nancyannvantassel@gmail.com

Site Requirements: Indoor or outdoor space with seating or standing area for audience.

Nancy Rushton Van Tassel demonstrating spinning.

18th CENTURY WEAVING

An 18th century costumed interpreter will present a demonstration of the weaving process, discussing all the steps involved in making yarn into cloth. Topics covered will include the different fibers common in the 18 th century; setting up the loom; how patterns are created; how different colors were achieved; what was done with the cloth when finished, including information on 18th century clothing. Questions are welcome and encouraged!

Audience: Any number Duration: Entire event. I just weave and talk.

Presenter: Kathy Pure Wright Fee: $300

Contact: purelyfiber@bestweb.net

Site Requirements: Indoor or Outdoor space, approximately 8’x8’. All equipment and supplies provided by presenter.

Kathy Pure Wright demonstrating weaving technique.