Sunday, May 10, 2015

Chester County Choral Society and 150th

The Sunday after Hopewell I attended the Chester County Choral Society's Civil War 150th Anniversary of Retrospective concert. The event featured Beck's Philadelphia Brigade Band.

















The band and Choral alternated and only played together for one piece. They played Northern and Southern pieces.

I really enjoyed the concert; they did play a few modern pieces. It was strange to hear Follow the Drinking Gourd sung in traditional choral style. There was also a piece with the Gettysburg Address set to music.


They ended with a strong rendition of the Battle Hymn of the Republic with band accompanying. I heard about this concert by chance and I'm glad I did. 


After the Storm 1865: Hopewell Furnace

So the 150th cycle is basically over. I commemorated the event at Hopewell Furnace and the After the Storm: 1865 event.

A wonderful woman, Jessica Craig, organizes this event every year. It is held at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site outside Elverson, Pa. I look forward to this event. Even when I was in Texas, I traveled to this event. It is so much fun and everyone does their best to maintain first person. Although overnight housing is available for the event, I decided to only day trip on Saturday due to pre-moving chaos.

Because of the immersion style of this event I was only able to get limited photos; however,  Jessica served as the official event photographer and took many wonderful photos from the event. You can find them and those taken by others on Jessica's Facebook page here and here.

My back story was as a Unionist Texan who had left Texas at the beginning of the war due to my and my husband's Unionist leanings. With the end of the war my husband returned to Texas to see to our property and removed to the country, stopping in Hopewell to visit friends. Jessica assigns goals to participants to encourage interaction. My goal was to discuss living in Texas and to convince others to relocate to Texas.

I reached the site about 9:30 and found the village just finishing up breakfast. The cooks were clearing up and the men preparing firewood.










The day was full of activities. Mrs. Kessler, Mr. & Mrs. Groff and I visited on the porch of the iron master's house for a bit on the porch.


While visiting, Mrs Kessler invited me to a lunch she organized at the boarding house, set up by her maid of all work, Maggie. The food was delicious! Apple sauce, goulash of sorts, sweets...yum...








During the lunch and after the men left, the ladies gossiped. This was really a lot of fun. We stayed in first person and it was period gossip. It was really a great experience and I applaud the ladies for their commitment to first person. We discussed Mrs. Groff's likeness to an unseemly photo her husband was in possession of. We questioned how the contraband woman who was in the village this time last year has returned and as the proprietress of an ice cream shop in Philadelphia. Not sure how well she will do as she had a flavor called Squeal and Moo...bacon flavored ice cream? We shall see. 

After lunch we had a chance to try our hand at archery. I epically failed :)


There were several kids at the event this year, from little babies to 'tweens. They ran around all day and wore themselves out.


Many of the structures were draped in bunting and pictures of Lincoln were in windows. Later in the afternoon we attended a memorial service for Abraham Lincoln. Even though we were in May, the service followed the order of Lincoln's actual funeral.



Since few if any of us knew the tunes of the hymns, they were read rather than sang. Before the service, Mrs. Kessler passed out memorial cards.


When the service was over, we took a group photo. The photographer is J.R. Pfeiffer from Gettysburg.


He had taken appointments for individual photos but I didn't make one in time. But...after the group photo he was taking walk ups as the sun allowed. I was lucky enough to get in. I don't yet have the image as I was not going to be there on Sunday to pick it up but here is a modern view of the pose.


I wanted to imitate the fashion plate the photo came from.


Guess I didn't remember quite how the fashion plate was posed :) But the photo turned out so well!! I will post the image when I receive it.

Dinner was served shortly after this and again was wonderful! Chicken curry, pork, peas, macaroni, yum again. After dinner we gathered around the campfire and played a game of Questions and Answers. Some very funny situations occurred.

Once it became to dark to read the cards I took my leave.

Another great Hopewell furnace. We made at least one newspaper. Really looking forward to next year!

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Corset Worshop

I have needed a new corset for some time. The corset was produced in one of Carolann Schmitt's workshops several years ago; the first of her workshops I attended. I have been waiting for a time I could attend again. On April 24-26 I finally got the opportunity. The workshop starts on Friday evening with historical information, measurements and cutting out of the pattern. Unfortunately I had to work all day and wasn't able to make it to Gettysburg until later in the evening. I did manage to get my measurements, pattern cut out, and partly sewn together.


Workshop picked up first thing Saturday morning. We put the first layer of pieces together to size it. Once sized we mark the new sewing lines and cut the corrected pieces for the next layer.


In between the sewing we were able to examine some of Carolann's originals. More pictures of the originals can be found on my Flicker album.





 
 

As a side note, Carolann is putting on a workshop on making this mantle in June. Visit her website for registration information.

Once we got all the pieces cut we started construction of the corset.

Carolann fitted it for me and then laced it up.



And the finished product. Well...almost...I finished the bottom edging, tension hook, top hook and drawstring at home.


I really enjoy Carolann's classes. She is a great instructor, patient and very knowledgeable on the subjects. 




Symposium Sunday

Sunday was the last day of the Symposium. Sunday is only a half day but we had two presentations. The first was Arlington House: The Last Battle of the Civil War by Ron Beavers. Very interesting history on the house. Then we heard from Nicki Hughes and The Humors of the Day: What Made our Ancestors Laugh. Entertaining talk and very corny jokes. No photos from Sunday. After the conference, I took Lisa to Gettysburg and we explored the Visitor's Center, the battlefield and finished with an early dinner at the Dobbin House.

The Symposium is such a great resource for those interested in Civil War era material culture. It really should be on the must do list for serious scholars of the period.

Next year the Symposium will be held on March 10-13, 2016. Keep an eye out on the website for information on next year. Plan to attend!