Ohio Fort Meigs War of 1812 June 2008

An original map of the Ohio valley area before the war. This area would have been part of the Northwest Territory of 1787

The fort is criss crossed with many traverses, which are earthen mounds that have bunkers below them. They store supplies and help protect the men during bombardments.
Cannon aimed at Maumee River to stop invadersA scale model of what the site would have looked like in the day. Many soldiers developed diseases such as typhoid due to dirty and unsanitary conditions. The site today looks pretty with all its lush green grass, however, grass would not have been there during the war.

The monument to the war, the site and the fallen

Notice the forks, they are two tine.
Grape shots and small cannon fire that have been recovered from the site during archealogical digs.
A reenactor of the war. I spent some time talking to him about his clothing, weaponry, daily life. He has been working here for over a decade now and makes his own clothing, utensils, fire power. The picture below shows him at work in his barrack doing daily chores.

Hancock Shaker Village June 2008

Hancock Massachusetts

These are the Berkshire Mountains in western Massachusetts and eastern New York. This is what many of my ancestors woke up to every morning.

The Shaker Community

The Shakers were a religious community and movement that began somewhere in the late 178-

s I believe, by Mother Ann. She visited or came through the towns of Pittsfield and Hancock Massahcusetts where my Goodrich ancestors owned a great deal of land. I have the documents that state several of my Goodrichs deed over their land to the Shakers. It is an utopian community that is seeking to escape the daily life and seek commune with God. It is a very peaceful place and I have visited twice. The Shakers believe in keeping the genders separate, which will untimately lead to their own demise. I have the docs that state many of my Goodrichs, Bishops go in and also die within the community.

Wonderful story to tell about this. This house is one of my Goodrich ancester's. I think one of the son's of Elijah Goodrich who owned much of the land in Hancock Mass at the time. This is an original building and pump to the time. I know that the Goodrich family who owns this land in late 1780's becomes a Shaker and many of my Goodrich and Bishop members becomes Shakers as well. Because I was a Goodrich descendent the docent turned on the pump and machinery to demonstrate its workings. Absolutely incredible! What you don't see is that I went into a below level basement where the pump and belts were that generated water power to operate the above machinery and all of it was circa 1760 inventions.

Inside the school house where students, again separated by gender, took their lessons. Whole families would enter the community and then separate by gender.

Inside the housing unit. The large hallway separates the genders into dorms. The ladies were on the left and the men rooms on the right.

The rooms for the children. Notice the small wood burning stove in the center of the room. Even though the dorm building is built early 1800's, the Shakers tended away from large fire places because they wasted valuable wood resources and opted for the small burning stoves instead.

The Kitchen above. This is only of of nearly a dozen that I took of the kitchen. It is the bottom length of that housing dorm, complete with cellars to keep meats and breads cool, cooking hearths and cooking ovens. At any time over 100 members could be living in the dorms and the members would have to cook three meals a day for them. I was told that members had rotating chores that extended several months. So, for three months you would be cooking, then another three months, weaving, then cleaning, or gardening, etc. Everyone had a chore to do all day long.


The barn is perhaps, the most unique feature of the complex. It is circular and an incredible engineering feat. The animals would be centrally located and the carts and wagons on the peripherary.
Furniture making. The Shaker furniture was quite renowned then for its simplicity and yet handcrafted reliability.





This last picture is inside their little church, and again, both genders sit on opposite sides. Thankfully, there was an anthropologist in the early 1920's who saw the need to record the Shaker's church hymn's. As we sat in the church, the recording played over a sound system.


At one point there was a large cemetery I was told. However, at some point it was replaced with a single memorial stone. On my next visit I anticipate getting in to see the original records of burials. There is a burial book with the Pittsfield Library detailing all the deaths of the multiple Shaker communities.

Deerfield Village June 2008

Deerfield began settlement in 1665 with a group of men from Dedham Massachusetts. King Phillips War of 1676 decimated over 75% of all villages throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts, including Deerfield. Deerfield lay abondoned until 1682 when settlers began to settle again. The New England area is again entangled in Queen Anne's War and in 1704 an Indian party came in to raid Deerfield once again. Even though the settlement was within a stockaded area, many of the settlers were killed by the Native peoples. Native peoples captured many of the settlers to hold for ransom and several of those settlers, mostly women, chose not to return to English life after several years of living among the Indians. John Demos' book "The Unredeemed Captive" retells some of the stories. Many of the towns homes are still standing within the village and most are actively lived in by current residents. The Sheldon House was one of those homes attacked by the Indians and the door bearing the hatchet marks of the attack is still in the Deerfield Museum

The Corse family: Mr. Corse dies in 1690 in Deerfiled, he wife dies 1707 and several of their children die between these years.

This mans headstone states that he was among the first born in the village and that he was also one of those captured by the "savages"

The headstone above reads that he died in 1727 at the age of 70 something and that he had been captured by the "savages" meaning he had been one of the many captured during the 1704 raid

Many of the homes of the period still stand. We were able to get a private tour of the inside which had about a dozen rooms.

This is my Yale roomie Mary. She had just graduated from Rutgers University with her Masters Degree. The day we went to Deerfield it was also my birthday!

Old Sturbridge Village June 2008

Old Sturbridge Village

Massachusetts

I love these types of living history villages and museums. They really give you a sense of how life was during a particular time period and section of the country. This is one of the better villages I have been to. Very large that required the entire day to visit. If my memory is correct, many of the buildings along with the layout of the land are original. Especially the sawmill and pond. Below is a view of the sawmill

Sawmill Behind the building is the river that serves as both an energy source (waterwheel) and method of transport for the logs to the mill by floating them up the river. The archealogist I met at Abe Lincoln's New Salem went into to great detail on the importance of the sawmill to a town. It was usually the first building that is erected, so that homes could be build quickly

Printing Press and Printer.

Tavern and StageCoach station.

Most towns have one of these. The taverns are a place where news, politics and gossip is shared; traveleres come and go. This particular tavern is quite big compared to others I have been to. It had both a ladies and gentlemens area, along with sleeping rooms that could be rented.

The Stage Coach.

The Cordwainer (Shoemaker)

Inside the very orginal school house.

The school house

Inside the Potter's building. The kiln is outside which is the picture below

Below are two pictures of the upstair rooms of the Parson's home. This is very typical of most homes of the time period. The attic will hold many items that are broken, not being used and in general, just stuff. Folks at this time did not throw anything away.

Notice the spinning wheel, there is a cradle, stools. Below are beds but also the space is used to dry out herbs and veggies. All space is used for multiple puposes to maximize efficiency.

Below is the Church and the church graveyard. Some towns had the graveyard next to the church, like this one, and other towns designated an acre or so for the purpose of town cemetery.

One of the homes had a collection of the guns and tools used during the time period. These powder horns all had names of the owners inscribed on them. I also noticed on my visit to Ticonderoga, that many of the powderhorns were very ornately carved, either by the owner or a craftsman.

Below are the team of oxen. Oxen would not only be used for farming, but rented out to area folks to perform other labor intensive duties, like hauling logs to the mill, bringing product to market, removing stumps or boulders etc. A wealthy farmer could own up to half a dozen oxen teams for the purpose of renting them out.


A cotton separating machine, but not a cotton gin

A blacksmith and his shop