Want to Buy Beer from the Colonial Brewmeister? Help us build a Tavern and Brewery. Perhaps it the pandemic or years of working a job that while I am good at it, I really don’t love but next year, we are taking the plunge and building a new business. In 2026 America will celebrate its …
Category Archives: Ideas
Why was a British Musket called a “Brown Bess”?
At the beginning of the 18th Century when the nickname immerged, soldiers came from the lower orders of society. “Bess” was the nickname for a common woman, much like the name “Sheila” has been used in Australia. For example in 1683 Henry Purcell composed a popular song that came to be known as “Bess of …
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REPOSTED — TAKE BACK the FLAG!
Okay, this is not my article but I am ready to start taking back our national symbols. For the last four years our flags, our monuments, and our patriotic expression have been taken over by the far Right Wing. Now lets let them know that WE THE PEOPLE — ALL the people of this nation …
Turkey? Why Turkey?
For many a Thanksgiving meal is centered on turkey. Turkeys are indigenous only to parts of North America and Europeans only first came into contact with turkeys roughly 500 years ago. So how did turkeys (the bird) end up being named so similarly to Turkey (the country)? As far as we can tell, the first European …
A “Modern” Thanksgiving Story
Again, I will apologize to those who read this blog for historical content, this is a personal story from my history and while I have been told that I am “old” this is not a story of Colonial American history. This is just a memory I want to share. I’m not sure why but this …
A Proclamation by the President
“Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor—and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a …
“New Normal”
Well I just got an email from Benjamin Banneker House that they are cancelling an event in June of 2021. Yes, that’s right NEXT SUMMER. Given the current condition of the country and the pandemic, they have decided that it is “neither practical nor prudent” and they are right. We have a long slog ahead …
Thanksgiving – 1770’s Style
In 1789, President George Washington issued a proclamation designating November 26 of that year as a national day of thanksgiving to recognize the role of providence in creating the new United States and the new federal Constitution. Thanksgiving as a celebration of surviving the first year of the Plymouth Colony had been celebrated in Massachusetts …
Ah yes, the omnipresent conspiracy theories of the GOP…
In late 1621, about four or five dozen Pilgrims — settlers in the New World from England — and roughly 90 Native Americans celebrated the settlers’ first successful harvest in North America but Thanksgiving wasn’t celebrated EVERY year. The first official national day of thanks was November 26, 1789, created by proclamation by President George …
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Historical Tidbits
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. November 22, 1718 – William Teach (AKA Blackbeard) was captured and executed by the Royal Navy off the coast of North Carolina. His mythical buried treasure has not been …
