Early American settlers enjoyed fortifying their drinks. Stone fences mix hard cider and rum, shrubs mix wine with switchel, rattleskulls mix rum with beer, and the coo woo even fortifies brandy with rum. Rum, whiskey, and other spirits were staple goods produced to help farmers ship bulky products like corn and sugar to distant markets. …
Category Archives: Ideas
American Historical Mythology
If you hang around Fort Mifflin very long you will, no doubt, be regaled with stories of the supernatural and the pseudoscience that supports its existence. These are all good fun but let’s be clear, SOME people actually believe these things and even though the scientifically minded dismiss THESE beliefs, they are quick to then …
The Scourge of Slavery (#5) — John Casor is Declared Slave for Life in America
John Casor was originally an indentured servant. When he became a slave, it was through a contract of indenture, which obligated him to work for its holder for the period it set after which he was to set free. Many of the early colonist in British North America came as indentured servants. This was how …
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Mathew Hopkins — Witchfinder General under King James
In James I’s England, the witch became a powerful symbol of those hated forces that opposed the king. During the English Civil War, the “Witchfinder General,” Matthew Hopkins, was responsible for the hanging more than 300 women between 1644 and 1646. James I, linked religious subversion with political subversion, usurpation, and the attack on monarchical …
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“Gulliver’s Travels” is first published on October 28th, 1726
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 …
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Beer Tax
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 …
Historical Tidbits — Federalist Papers
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, 1787 – The first of 85 Federalist Papers would be published. These essays, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, presented the argument for abandoning …
Historical Tidbits — Federalist Papers
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, 1787 – The first of 85 Federalist Papers would be published. These essays, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, presented the argument for abandoning …
Historical Tidbits — Charles Mason Buried in an Unmarked Grave
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. Charles Mason buried at Christ Church in PhiladelphiaOctober 26, 1786 On October 26, 1786, English astronomer Charles Mason, who along with Jeremiah Dixon surveyed a line in 1763 which …
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Erie Canal opens October 26, 1825
Canals played a major part in commerce in the history of the early United States as they opened the western territories to settlement and trade. But our story WILL begin in the years leading up to the Revolution with efforts of George Washington to promote travel to western Virginia. During his lifetime Washington devoted much …
Michael Carver -- Historical Interpreter/Reenactor 