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. October 28, 1751 Liberty Bell Commissioned The Liberty Bell started out simply as the bell commissioned by the colonial legislature of Pennsylvania to hang in the steeple of the …
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Gulliver’s Travels, or Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships is Jonathan Swift’s best known work, and a classic of English literature but the Irish writer and clergyman didn’t write his “traveler’s tale” as a children’s book. Swift …
Continue reading ““Gulliver’s Travels” is first published on October 28th, 1726″
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. October 28, 1776 Battle of White Plains. Pursued by General Howe and his Hessian allies, George Washington retreated from New York following his defeats in Brooklyn and Manhattan. When …
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On October 28, 1644 – Concerned citizens of New Amsterdam (New York City) protested a new tax on Beer. They pleaded that, “…this will probably have to be paid by the poor, who are unable to procure beer for the sick and wounded….” Beer Taxes were a constant complaint of Dutch New Yorkers. It and …
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. October 27, 1795 – PINCKNEY’S TREATY established the border between Spanish Florida and the United States, an issue that had been in dispute at the time of the Treaty …
When people think of Philadelphia, images of Independence Hall, the drafting of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, come to mind. Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania and for most of the 18th Century the third largest city in the British Empire. At the time of the American Revolution, it was clearly the …
Continue reading “Philadelphia is founded on October 27, 1682”
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. October 26, 1774 – The First Continental Congress convenes at Carpenters Hall in Philadelphia to discuss how to best respond to a series of taxes and governmental usurpations enacted …
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A common question poised to those of us who reenact the 18th Century — “Is it true that they never bathed?” It’s unfair to assume that just because hygiene standards were different in the 18th Century, people didn’t care about cleanliness. People DID bathe in the 18th Century. There is a widespread assumption that before …
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. On October 22, 1797, French balloonist André Garnerin, made the first safe descent with a silk parachute from a balloon André-Jacques Garnerin was ballooning pioneer of great regard and …
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Benjamin Banneker was born free in 1731 in Baltimore County, Maryland. He was gifted in the sciences and became a naturalist and almanac-maker. Banneker lived near the Ellicott family gristmills, and Andrew Ellicott’s cousin had encouraged Banneker’s talent for computing. These talents ultimately led to his being a critical part of the team that did …
Michael Carver -- Historical Interpreter/Reenactor 