Saturday, July 8thIndependence National Historical Parkby the Commodore Barry Statuein Philadelphia 11:00 – 4:00(Multiple presentations) The Regimental Brewmeister will try his hand at a 1st person impression – David Rittenhouse. In the world of Living History there are three distinct impressions people tend to assume when presenting people from the past. When we act as …
Monthly Archives: June 2023
The Problem of True North vs Compass North
Private ownership of land in the British colonies of North America, provided self-sufficiency for many and extravagant wealth for a few. The idea of land as property came from England and accurate descriptions of property and its boundaries are essential. For this reason, surveyors were essential not just in the newly acquired lands of North …
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Excise is defined as a “hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid.”
There remains a stubborn perception that somehow Noah Webster wrote the first American dictionary. This is actually not true. There were many dictionaries written in the 18th Century and the premier edition was written by Samuel Johnson. In June 1746, Samuel Johnson signed the contract with a group of booksellers in London to write A …
David Rittenhouse was a Surveyor and Maker of Surveying Tools
Rittenhouse moved to Philadelphia in 1770, where he set up shop on the corner of Seventh and Mulberry (now Arch) streets and later became the city surveyor of Philadelphia. Rittenhouse was contracted as a surveyor for Great Britain in 1763. His first public service was a boundary survey for William Penn in 1763-64 to settle …
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Like Newton, Rittenhouse Ran the Mint
On February 24, 1775, Rittenhouse delivered a lecture on the history of astronomy to the American Philosophical Society, in which he linked the structure of nature to the rights of man, liberty and self-government. Rittenhouse also used the occasion to decry slavery. So impressed were those in attendance that the American Philosophical Society commissioned the …
The Great Orrery
An orrery is a mechanical model of the Solar System that illustrates or predicts the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons. The first orrery that was a planetarium of the modern era was produced in 1704, and one was presented to Charles Boyle (who penned the Ideal Gas Law), the 4th Earl …
And then he fainted just before the whole spectacle began
In June 3, 1769, after months of planning, the skies that had been cloudy for several days cleared over East Norriton, Pennsylvania. David Rittenhouse waited nervously for the moment when Venus would briefly become visible as it passed across the sun. This transit was an extremely rare event and according to computations by Edmund Halley, …
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Okay, I have bad news: Beer makes humans more attractive to mosquitoes.
In my presentation as Regimental Brewmeister, I frequently extol the benefits of beer over the local water. While drinking beer will protect you from Typhus and Cholera, there is a slightly greater chance that you will contract Yellow Fever if you drink beer. Turns out that the alcohol you’re drinking, and that you are excreting …
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Historical Tidbits — Indemnity Act
When reenacting or acting as a historical interpreter, its good to have a few historical dates and stories to share. This series will publish a few. June 29, 1767 The Indemnity Act –reduced taxes on the British East India Company when they imported tea into England. This allowed them to re-export the tea to the colonies more …
Historical Tidbits — Customs Act
When reenacting or acting as a historical interpreter, its good to have a few historical dates and stories to share. This series will publish a few. June 29, 1767 The Commissioners of Customs Act — created a new Customs Board for the North American colonies, to be headquartered in Boston with five customs commissioners. The …
Michael Carver -- Historical Interpreter/Reenactor 