Wendy Quest: July 2018

Western Travel - Heritage Farmstead Museum (Part Eighteen) - Plano, Texas - #TravelTuesday

Welcome to my weekly column #TravelTuesday featuring places I've discovered during my research trips or just wandering around in historical areas. I hope you enjoy my discoveries.

Last week we visited the Curing Shed outside the Farrell-Wilson House. Today we'll continue our walk outside.

Here's a view of the yard behind the main house. Across the way you can see the Young House (more on that in another post). To the left sits the large pole barn. According to the website, the wood on the barn comes from bois d'arc trees from the Red River area. It originally held animals, tools/machinery, and a hammer mill for grinding. A concrete floor was added and now it's used for party/group rentals.

A side view of the barn and the animal pen attached to the back. The wagon and shovel are modern but the wood pile is old-fashioned.

Close-up of the barn's side. The lamp is modern. I took this photo to show the construction of the posts (on the left side) and how they were fitted together. This might be reproduction as opposed to original.

This little cart was stored back in the wagon/carriage house. Barely room for 2 on the narrow seat. It would have been hooked up to a horse harness.

Learn more by checking out the official site - www.heritagefarmstead.org/

boy's Heritage Farmstead Museum Physical Address: 1900 West 15th Street, Plano, Texas 75075 Phone Number: 972-881-0140 Hours: Tuesday-Sunday: 10am-4:30pm. Closed Mondays and major holidays. Admission: $3.00 per person (ages 3 and up) + $4 for tour of house

Reference: https://www.heritagefarmstead.org/farrell-wilson-house-outbuildings/

Historical Tidbit Thursdays - The History of Weaponry - Ancient Weapons - #TidbitThursday

Howdy!

Welcome to Historical Tidbit Thursdays. Once again, I plan to gallop away from our usual Texas History research to explore the history of weapons and armor. Should be interesting. Hope you enjoy!

For the next few weeks, we'll follow the timeline presented in the book, "A History of Weaponry" by John O'Bryan. Aside from some adult language, this book is a great reference to the most commonly used weapons and tools in each of the time periods presented and it also includes the related and similar weapons. For this blog series, I'll only point out some of the ones that interest me and my own works.

This week we'll look at some of the tools in the Ancient Period (4000-500 BCE) used by those in the Middle East regions - Egyptians, Assyrians, Mesopotamians, Hittites, Sumerians, etc.

Dagger - one of the earliest weapons was the short blade dagger that could be easily concealed and required little skill to wield; since it was made of copper it had to be sharpened often but it was also easier and quicker to make.

Sickle - a curved sword; invented by the Sumerians and were used against the Egyptians (who later adopted it as the Khopesh; it was about 50-60 cm; this tool was also used for threshing wheat and is still used today as such as tool

Socketed Axe - dated around 3000 BC; used by the Sumerians; stone axes existed previously but this design was special as the axe head had a socket into which the wooden handle would be fitted (thus allowing a user to replace it if damaged or broken).

Egyptian Mace - Dating to about 3000 BC, this device was made of bronze and could crush skulls

Source:
A History of Weaponry by John O'Bryan; ISBN#978-1-4521-1054-7

Photo Credit: Sickle - https://www.lowes.com/pd/True-Temper-Sickle/50408250
Photo Credit: Socketed Axe - https://artefactual.co.uk/2015/08/21/a-new-bronze-age-axe/olympus-digital-camera-130/
Photo Credit: Egyptian Mace - https://collection.maas.museum/object/258592

Western Word of the Week - Throwing In - #WesternWordoftheWeek #WesternWednesday

Howdy!

Welcome to our Weekly Western Word of the Day...or, as I affectionately call it, Western Wednesdays!

Throwing In - entering a partnership with another person or group

Source:
Cowboy Lingo by Ramon F. Adams; ISBN#0-618-08349-9

Western Travel - Heritage Farmstead Museum (Part Seventeen) - Plano, Texas - #TravelTuesday

Welcome to my weekly column #TravelTuesday featuring places I've discovered during my research trips or just wandering around in historical areas. I hope you enjoy my discoveries.

Last week detoured outside the Farrell-Wilson House onto the back porch. Today we'll peek inside the curing shed.

The Curing Shed was a vital part of the farm as it was where the family would cure (or preserve) the meat that was butchered so that it would store well and feed the family when food wasn't readily available (like during the winter months).

The butchered meat would usually be preserved in salt. Here was a large salt vat where the meat would be covered, stuffed into a canvas bad and then hung up to dry. Some farms used the smoking method to preserve and dry their meats or a combination of both.

In this photograph, we can see how the bagged meat would hang from the rafters to cure.

In this photograph, you can see the making of sausages - the metal hand-cranked meat grinder and then the wrapped meat rolls.

Photographs of the various tools that were found in the shed or stored in this shed.

Learn more by checking out the official site - www.heritagefarmstead.org/

boy's Heritage Farmstead Museum Physical Address: 1900 West 15th Street, Plano, Texas 75075 Phone Number: 972-881-0140 Hours: Tuesday-Sunday: 10am-4:30pm. Closed Mondays and major holidays. Admission: $3.00 per person (ages 3 and up) + $4 for tour of house

Photo Credit of Curing Shed - https://www.heritagefarmstead.org

Historical Tidbit Thursdays - Return to Roanoke: Search for the Seven (part two) - #TidbitThursday

The Dare Stone was pure quartz which had developed a reddish hue outside from the soil. Inside it was white.

Interestingly, this rock was not native to the coastal area it was found in. Theories abound, but perhaps it had been a ballast stone (used as weight) from a ship. Ballast stones were often swapped in and out of ships so it could have come from another location in the world.

Jamestown's secretary, William Strachey, learned from a local Powhatan that the previous colonists had been slaughtered except for 7 survivors (1 woman, 4 men, and 2 boys) and had been taken to a copper mine in Ritanoc to be used as slaves and they wouldn't be able to get them back. The Virginia Company, upon learning this, declared they had all been slaughtered (causing people to feel just toward eliminating the native tribes).

Natives only mined copper that appeared in its native form. They traded this valuable mineral with other tribes and Euro-Americans.

Source:
History Channel Special - Return to Roanoke: Search for the Seven (https://www.history.com/specials/return-to-roanoke-search-for-the-seven)

Photo Credit: Dare Stone - https://www.brenau.edu/darestones/
Photo Credit: Native Copper - https://Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FNative_copper&psig=AOvVaw1prH6vHSFEU5bAX12PJizb&ust=1530298256249437

Western Word of the Week - Drift Fences - #WesternWordoftheWeek #WesternWednesday

Howdy!

Welcome to our Weekly Western Word of the Day...or, as I affectionately call it, Western Wednesdays!

Drift Fences - fences built near outlying boundaries of the ranch or range.

Source:
Cowboy Lingo by Ramon F. Adams; ISBN#0-618-08349-9

Western Travel - Heritage Farmstead Museum (Part Sixteen) - Plano, Texas - #TravelTuesday

Welcome to my weekly column #TravelTuesday featuring places I've discovered during my research trips or just wandering around in historical areas. I hope you enjoy my discoveries.

Last week we viewed some old-fashioned irons and a washing machine. Today we're going to continue our tour outside the Farrell-Wilson House.

On the back porch of the house, a large battery-powered generator was installed to keep the electricity in the house running during outages. As you can see, it required a lot of batteries to run. (Compare it to the modern-day battery attached to it now.)

Last week we saw the old-fashioned "washing machine" (two buckets) which would have required manual scrubbing using a washboard. Compare that to the newer version of the "washing machine" - a barrel that was electrically agitated.

A water pump and several types of buckets/tubs.

A small water tower.

Learn more by checking out the official site - www.heritagefarmstead.org/

boy's Heritage Farmstead Museum Physical Address: 1900 West 15th Street, Plano, Texas 75075 Phone Number: 972-881-0140 Hours: Tuesday-Sunday: 10am-4:30pm. Closed Mondays and major holidays. Admission: $3.00 per person (ages 3 and up) + $4 for tour of house

Historical Tidbit Thursdays - Return to Roanoke: Search for the Seven - #TidbitThursday

Howdy!

Welcome to Historical Tidbit Thursdays. Once again, I'll be drifting off the usual Texas History research and exploring a fascinating piece of history - the Roanoke colony of Virginia. I hope you enjoy this peek into a mystery that so far is still largely unsolved.

The History Channel has several special programs spotlighting new finds in the Roanoke Colony mystery. This particular special had some interesting tidbits that other programs hadn't touched upon.

In 1607, The Virginia Company sent 3 ships to North America with the goal to colonize Virginia. They landed 120 miles from the Dare stone and founded Jamestown. The company also wanted to search for Roanoke survivors to gain their knowledge of the land and any metals they had found.

In the first year of Jamestown's founding, half of the colonists did not survive.

Captain John Smith, one of the members who landed, helped with the search for the lost colony (that had existed 20 years earlier). It had appeared their fort was disassembled and moved but there's no indication to where it had moved. John Smith was captured in an attack by the Powhatan Indians.

Friendly natives offered to guide the searchers down the river toward the lost colonists but would not touch the "foreign" land. John Smith had marked the lost colonists on a map called the Zuniga Map (above).

John Smith documented a lot of these events in his journals, but he greatly exaggerated his adventures making them not very reliable.

Next week we'll learn more about some of the artifacts that have been found and some of the people who'd lived here.

Source:
History Channel Special - Return to Roanoke: Search for the Seven (https://www.history.com/specials/return-to-roanoke-search-for-the-seven)

Photo Credits: Zuniga Map - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zuniga_map.jpg
Photo Credit: John Smith - http://www.history.com%2Ftopics%2Fjohn-smith&psig=AOvVaw3UMaMB57jA-FV3_IQTM_Ul&ust=1530297375655128

Western Word of the Week - Line Camps - #WesternWordoftheWeek #WesternWednesday

Howdy!

Welcome to our Weekly Western Word of the Day...or, as I affectionately call it, Western Wednesdays!

Line camps - outpost cabins stationed along the "line" (boundary of a ranch or spread) where a cowboy or team could rest while they were "riding the line".

Also known as the "shack", "hooden", "Jones's place", "boar's nest"

Source:
Cowboy Lingo by Ramon F. Adams; ISBN#0-618-08349-9

Historical Tidbit Thursdays - Roanoke: A Mystery Carved In Stone - #TidbitThursday

In 1587, 117 men, women and child landed on what would become Roanoke Island. Their original goal was to land in the Chesapeake Bay area. This area became what is known as the Roanoke Colony, the first permanent English colony or settlement in North America.

John White would be governor of this new colony. His daughter, Eleanor Dare, was pregnant during the journey to Roanoke. Her daughter, Virginia, was born August 18, 1587, the first English-born child in North America. Eleanor's husband, Ananias, had been a bricklayer (and stone cutter) in London.

The group voted for Governor John White to return to England for additional supplies, despite his misgivings of such a journey. When he arrived, England was at war with Spain and he was unable to return for 3 years. When he did return, all of the colonists were gone. There weren't any signs of a massacre or struggle. Where did the people go?

In 1937, a twenty-two pound inscribed stone was found 50 miles inland on the bank of the Chowan River in North Carolina. It had Old English lettering chiseled into it.

Over time, other inscribed stones have surfaced but many have been proven as fakes.

"Dare Stones" were those found with Eleanor Dare's initials or name chiseled into it. "E.W.D" stood for "Eleanor White Dare". The Brenau University has some "Dare Stones" that have been studied. The colonists had iron chisels capable for carving into stones.

Native American settlement near riverbank, about 50 yards from site where a Dare Stone was found. Had the colonists lived in this settlement?

A lot of archaeological digging is going on around the river and some pieces of English pottery have been found.

Source:
History Channel Special - Roanoke: A Mystery Carved in Stone

Western Word of the Week - Bronc Stall - #WesternWordoftheWeek #WesternWednesday

Howdy!

Welcome to our Weekly Western Word of the Day...or, as I affectionately call it, Western Wednesdays!

Bronc Stall - a small, narrow enclosure for a wild horse (bronc) to calm down or a place to work on gentling his spirit

Source:
Cowboy Lingo by Ramon F. Adams; ISBN#0-618-08349-9

Western Travel - Heritage Farmstead Museum (Part Fourteen) - Plano, Texas - #TravelTuesday

Welcome to my weekly column #TravelTuesday featuring places I've discovered during my research trips or just wandering around in historical areas. I hope you enjoy my discoveries.

Last week we stopped in the downstairs Dining Room of the Farrell-Wilson House. Today we're going into the Bathroom.

This photograph from the Heritage Farmstead museum depicts the indoor bathrooms (installed in 1905) - something reserved for the wealthy at this time. What a showplace this must have been with indoor plumbing then later electricity. Look at that pretty peacock blue and green wallpaper! Notice the flushing mechanism on the toilet isn't quite modern (the handle is in an awkward place at seat-level).

A close-up of the porcelain bathtub and a few knickknacks along the window ledge.

On the opposite side of the bathroom, a tall changing box was set up (with a few period-style clothing pieces hanging from the top). A small round table and plush chair sits against the back wall for makeup application. A more modern curling iron (with plug) sits on the table top. Good view of the black and white floor tiles.

Learn more by checking out the official site - www.heritagefarmstead.org/

boy's Heritage Farmstead Museum Physical Address: 1900 West 15th Street, Plano, Texas 75075 Phone Number: 972-881-0140 Hours: Tuesday-Sunday: 10am-4:30pm. Closed Mondays and major holidays. Admission: $3.00 per person (ages 3 and up) + $4 for tour of house

Photo Credit of Staged Bathroom - https://www.heritagefarmstead.org

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