I've been spending the last few days enjoying the changing seasons here in the Appalachians - from the first buds of spring fighting against the final frost to the now green mountains and valleys brightening the landscape. It's been amazing to be able to observe the seasons changing here; while we still get the occasional high in the 50s the warmer temperatures are starting to win out and we're seeing more highs in the upper 60s and low 70s. It's the perfect weather to be outdoors, and that's what I've been doing.
Which is also why I still haven't gotten some pictures posted. (Sorry!)
This past weekend we went to TN to visit some friends of ours and we had a blast. We visited the Rocky Mount Living History Museum in Piney Flats (near Johnson City) and had fun on the tour. I actually got some ideas for our future homestead by examining the house. My favourite room by far was the weaving cabin, but then being a craftswoman I would find something like that very hard to resist! We purchased a quilt made by the women who work at the site from the gift shop; it's in the fan pattern and the colours are pink, blue, and mauve calicos on a white background. It's a traditional Appalachian quilt, and we were excited to get it.
But perhaps the best part of our time there was the fact that we were allowed to visit the archives where they not only keep documents but donated clothing, quilts, textiles, paintings, and other items. We were allowed back after my friend Tish and I demonstrated our knowledge of motifs; in a crazy quilt from 1888, I recognised a traditional old English good-luck charm for brides embroidered on one of the pieces - a silver horseshoe wound with blue forget-me-nots. Not only that, but Tish recognised some of the "local" motifs, and when we asked about further info on the quilt and showed the lady at the museum that day some of what we had noticed, she was only too happy to call the curator. We were allowed to go back in the archives for 30 minutes (unsupervised!) and take a look at some of the more valuable pieces in their collection, which thrilled us to no end!
I had done volunteer work in when we lived in SC at the McCelvey Center, and was familiar with cataloguing items and the routine that went with it - as well as the smell. Rooms full of old artefacts have a distinct smell - a blend of mustiness and old perfume - and this one was no different. Some (but not all) of the goodies we encountered were:
- original serialized Dickens novels; the form they appeared in before being put into book format. I was hoping that they would have the original serialized versions of The Pickwick Papers (my favourite Dickens novel) but alas they didn't. They did have Barnaby Rudge, Nicholas Nickelby, A Tale of Two Cities, and The Old Curiosity Shop though.
- Harper's Magazine from 1856 - 1859
- a complete Confederate officer's frock coat in excellent condition (gold braid on the sleeves intact albeit dulled with age, as well as intact trim on the collar), with only a couple spots where the wool had been either been eaten by moths or worn. The buttons were all intact. It looked like a couple might have come off an old West Point uniform coat (not surprising); the coat was still a rich dark grey.
- 2 day dresses from the late 1850s, possibly as late as the start of the Civil War (going by the particular cut of the sleeves and method of decoration).
- one white velvet opera cape, 1890s
- 2 women's dresses from the late 1870s/early 1880s - now the thing about these is that they come in two parts. You have the skirt portion and then the jacket, which would go over the blouse. The jackets still had their boning (as was the fashion), and the trains were in excellent shape. To give you an idea:
- a variety of quilts and quilt fragments from the late 18th century through the mid-19th
- woven coverlets from the 18th and 19th centuries; I took particular note that there was a difference not only in colour but in pattern between the ones in TN and the ones I had documented previously in SC. Namely, the ones in SC favoured a deep blue (almost black)/white or brown/white colour scheme, but the ones in TN seemed to have a red/blue/white scheme. Interestingly enough, this is the same kind of colour scheme you find in examples of coverlets from PA, making me think this might be an Appalachian preference. You can see some good examples of coverlets here:
The National Museum of the American Coverlet
- various books (dictionaries, lots of medical manuals, treatises on plants, animals, religion, etc.) from the early 1800s onwards
- instruments: a handmade banjo (5 strings), a violin, a lap harp, and a couple old dulcimers
- a selection of sabers from the Civil War period as well as a couple dress swords
- a selection of muskets, early rifles, and WWI era Enfields
- furniture, mainly from the 1800s; one very impressive piece was a couch covered in canvas on which had been stitched a variety of flowers in crewelwork, however while this was popular in the 18th century the couch is of a style more from the 1840s. Most of the stitching was intact and the colours only a little dulled from age.
- various charms, trinkets, and talismans.
- a collection of snuffboxes, old watches and fobs, cosmetic containers from the late 19th century, and other small personal effects, including two hairpins connected by a delicate chain.
There were many more items there but we didn't have time to "visit" them all; we felt lucky to have been able to have 30 minutes to be able to take what we could in!
The costumed interpreters were wonderful, and very informative; I enjoyed getting the Appalachian perspective on 18th century life. For those of you who are familiar with Colonial Williamsburg and similar sites though, it is quite a switch!
Even though it's starting to become summer here, I'm already looking ahead to winter! I've started work on a new scarf with pockets in the front (right on the end), and I'm going to be working on making some knitted things for the baby to wear. It's going to be due when fall arrives, and winter falls quickly on fall's heels here! Unlike alot of folks, I'm not giving any attention to the due date - only 5% of babies arrive on their own on their due date (without being induced). I figure that the child will get here when it gets here; neither my husband nor myself were born on our due dates. If my child arrives on or before its' due date though, I will be very surprised!