Celebrating the 4th of July in 2020

The way this year has been,  I didn't know what to expect from my Independence Day Holiday celebrations,  especially considering that pretty much every summer reenactment in Michigan has been cancelled.  I usually spend our Nation's birthday wearing period clothing at Greenfield Village and,  in more recent years,  at Mill Race Village,  nestled amongst historic buildings while throngs of Americans stroll about,  smiling,  looking & feeling patriotic.  I've been celebrating in this manner for over a decade.

Our first steps inside Greenfield Village
since last December!
A Charlotte Bauer picture

With all the horrid events that have occurred since January,  why would I expect much of anything for our nation's birthday celebration?
However,  much to my unexpected happiness and surprise,  the 4th of July  turned out to be quite a fine day indeed!  Greenfield Village finally opened its gates on July 2 - just in time! - so on July 4,  I was able to visit for the first time since last December...and I did it with a little help from my colonial friends  (as well as my son Robbie).  We made quite a splash,  I must say!
So today's posting is a pictorial synopsis of our 2020 Independence Day celebration.
Think of it - a new posting with new pictures at a sort of makeshift reenactment!

I hope you'll come along with me on this journey to the past - back to the 1770s.
And I hope it will instill a bit of patriotism in you.

Before we take off in the way-back machine,  I will set the scenario:
First off,  it was hotter than blazes - in the 90s.  Humid, too.
Second:  the Village opened up with a few rules until the pandemic is considered over with,  including wearing of face masks in certain areas,  such as inside any buildings,  and even near certain buildings where presenters are.  But walking through the Village streets is mask free for those who choose that route,  which is what we did.
Third:  social distancing of 6 feet from people outside your group.  We were a group of eight friends/family,  so we stuck together and social distanced from everyone else.
So now let's head back to Greenfield Village!
Way in the back of the Village sits some actual colonial structures,  mostly positioned near each other.  And that's where we'll begin.
Jen Julet,  a member of the Friends of Greenfield Village Facebook page,  took a picture-perfect picture,  one that shows three of the 18th century structures aligned in such a way to depict a scene straight out of America’s past.  Perhaps you are in colonial New Hampshire or Massachusetts or even Connecticut.  This would not be an unfamiliar sight to you.

Jen Julet's photo:
Everything about it just immerses the viewer into 

our colonial past,  at least it certainly does for me,  

for we see on the left the 1750 Daggett House,  the 

Farris Windmill from 1633 in the middle,  and the 

early 18th century Plympton House on the right.

No modernisms in sight!

Imagine yourself back there,  around the year 1770,  walking along the dirt pathway,  or perhaps it may be a brick walkway if you were closer to town,  needing your corn ground into meal at this windmill...
I so very much want to be in such a scene.
So guess what I did?

We did a replication of the picture,  but only this time, 
I was  there...in the 1770s.
And since we were here in the early part of the day,  
we caught the morning shadows rather than 
the late afternoon sun.

Another Friends of Greenfield Village member,  Bob Jacobs,  was on hand and graciously took a few pictures not only with my camera,  but...

...he also took one with his.

What's very cool is that the former owner of the house I am standing at,  Thomas Plympton,  played a role in the very beginning of the Revolutionary War.  It was he who received the news of the Red Coats marching on Concord early on the morning of April 19,  1775 while he lived in this very house,  located in Sudbury,  Massachusetts.
You see,  Samuel Prescott was one of three riders to head to Concord on that fateful night of April 18,  1775,  the other two being Paul Revere and William Dawes.  In fact,  of the three riders,  Prescott was the only one to make it to Concord,  for Redcoat scouts prevented Revere & Dawes from completing their desired course.  While in Concord Samuel triggered his brother,  Abel Prescott,  who then rode to Sudbury.
Abel went to this home of  Thomas Plympton,  the leading Whig in Sudbury,  and the town's alarm bell began to ring about 3:30 or 4:00 o'clock in the morning.  Warning guns were fired to summon militia companies...within thirty-five minutes the entire town of Sudbury had been awakened.

And here I am at that very house.

 It is always the hope of a reenactor to be placed in the past,  where all you see is the era depicted.  I hope I succeeded.

But there was more than just me at the Village on this Independence Day.

Members of Citizens of the American Colonies 
reenacting group were on hand to help celebrate.
And in the background are the same three structures 
from the previous pictures.

We soon moved over to my favorite historic structure,  the Daggett House:

Another group shot.
I've often dreamed of having an exact replica of this 
18th century home built,  should I ever get the money.   
Wouldn't that be something?

Masks needed to be worn to go in this area of the kitchen garden,  
and everyone complied,  so I shouted  "Everybody turn around!"  
and I was able to get a no-mask picture!

Roy and his flax.
I hope to grow some in my yard next year.
Of course,  when I do,  I will need to go through the 
entire flax-to-linen process,  which could be a 
very interesting venture.

Hollyhocks - I plan to grow this as well.
Can you pick out Lynn among the petals?

I added Love Lies Bleeding to my ever-growing list of period-plants for the 18th century garden I plan to have at my own house next year.

My son and his fiance...
Ah,  to be young and in love...
"‘Sweet lady,  your virtues have so 
strangely taken up my thoughts, 
that therein they encrease and 
multiply in abundant felicity."
I think he had her at  "sweet lady."

Our next stop:  Cotswold Cottage,  from around 1620 England.

The Cotswold Cottage was brought to Greenfield Village stone by 
stone and was rebuilt by September 1930.

The neighbors love to chat over the stone fence:
I have searched and searched on the internet but cannot find any 
historical information on who had lived inside this house over the 
centuries.  I did find who worked in the forge,  which was not 
originally part of this house.

Jackie!  Stand right there!
Let me take your picture!

It boggles my mind to think that the buildings in this 
cotswold collection were originally built 
in the early 17th century - 
the same time the Pilgrims left for America.

And then it was off to the Giddings House,  built around 1750 and presented in the 1760s-1770s.

The home of John and Mehetable Giddings,  originally located in 
Exeter, New Hampshire,  was,  according to the Exeter Probate 
Records of 1824,  referred to as the  "mansion house."  

One can see just by the exterior alone that it represents a more 
well-to-do residence of 18th century colonial America,  suitable 
for a man of means such as our Mr. Giddings.  

This beautiful structure was situated on property that also included a warehouse and mercantile shop,  both of which Giddings operated,  and over-looked a wharf on the Squamscott River.

Time for another group shot.

I've always loved this room inside Giddings House.
Question:  was this room known as - -
 the hall,  best room,  the Sunday parlor,  or drawing room?

Ha!  Trick question - - it has been referred to as all four in various 
times!  Names of rooms changed over time,  such as bedchamber 
to bedroom and hall to parlor to living room.  And since this 
house was utilized greatly from the 18th century through the 19th 
century,  all titles are acceptable depending on the era.

My son and his bride-to-be over near the home of Noah Webster.  

Parental involvement in courtship was expected because marriage was not merely an emotional relationship between individuals but also a property arrangement among families.  A young man was expected to bring land or some other form of property to a marriage while a young woman was expected to bring a dowry worth about half as much.

Being that my son and his betrothed are both very much of age,  neither expected land or a dowry.

Two silhouettes on the shade....

As parental influence over courtship declined,  a new romantic ideal of love arose.  In the years just before the Revolution,  a flood of advice books,  philosophical treaties,  and works of fiction helped to popularize revolutionary new ideas about courtship and marriage.  Readers learned that love was superior to property as a basis for marriage and that marriage should be based on mutual sympathy,  affection,  and friendship.  Rather than choosing spouses on economic grounds,  young people were told to select their marriage partner on the more secure basis of love and compatibility.

Robbie and Heather chat with Heather's cousin Susan.

By the late eighteenth century,  love letters,  particularly those written by men,  had grown more expansive and less formal.  Instead of addressing their beloved in highly formalized terms,  lovers began to use such terms of endearment as  ‘dearest’  or  ‘my beloved.’  In their love letters,  couples described feelings of affection that were deeply romantic.

This 1780 log cabin,  originally on the western frontier 

of Pennsylvania,  was the birthplace of William 

Holmes McGuffey.  Though it does not show up on
any list,  it is in the top 5 of the oldest log cabins
in the United States.

"The future is travelling west with people like you.  Here is the 

rising world.  If I were a young man preparing to begin the 
world,  I know of no country where I should rather live.  
Someday you will live to see this whole country a rolling 
farmland,  bright with houses and barns and churches..."
From the book by Jean Fritz called  "The Cabin Faced West,"

Jumping up a century or so,  we are now in the 1880s at the Firestone Farm.
Personally,  when I am dressed in a certain era's clothing,  I try not to cross times,  but since Greenfield Village opened so late in the season,  I wanted to say hi to a few of my presenter friends.

Such as-----

Tom,  who I found mowing with a scythe.

Sharpening the blade with a whetstone.

Tom and I were actually talking farm talk here,  mainly about the 
scythes and how good they are in comparison to modern tools.

But Tom wasn't the only farmer working - - - -

Let's head back to the kitchen garden...

...where we find Jim Johnson and Nicole working hard in 
the blistering 90+ degree sun.

The little lambs in the barn.

Larissa was also working at Firestone on the 4th.
She and I present as historic farmers from both the Victorian era 
as well as from the 18th century,  so this picture,  in a way,  
shows a sort of blended image  (lol).

It was in 1983 that the house, barn, and furnishings of Firestone Farm  (along with a sizable endowment for maintenance)  was given to Greenfield Village as a way of keeping the accomplishments and memory of the Firestone family alive.

Not only do they keep the memory of the Firestones alive,  
but farm life of the 1880s as well.
Larissa has been working at Firestone Farm  for twenty years - 
she also works at the Daggett Farm as well - so her historic agricultural  
information not only comes from books and research,  but from 
experience as well.  Pretty much as much experience as one from 
the actual time being represented.
That's quite an accomplishment.

Off she went to finish her farm chores,
and off we went to our homes in the 21st century.

Though I did miss being able to go into a few of my favorite buildings,  I thoroughly enjoyed walking amongst them,  seeing the farmers working the fields and gardens,  seeing a number of presenter friends who I've known for years,  hearing the train whistle,  seeing and hearing the horses clip clop by with different styles of carriages not normally seen.
And the food we had for lunch in A Taste of History was awesome!
That being said,  the staff are doing what they can to give us that Greenfield Village experience,  considering all that is going on.
Pretty successfully,  I might add.
They're open.  That's what counts.
And I will be frequenting often this summer.
Thank you to everyone who made it happen.
Onward and upward - -

Then we had some pretty cool fireworks around the neighborhood this evening.  Of course,  I hung two of my historic flags off the front of my house in honor of all of my heroes from our founding generation:  Revere,  Washington,  Adams,  Franklin,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Warren...to add to the celebration.

My house is a very very very fine house - -
my patriotism is showing!

Heavenly shades of night are falling,  it's twilight time

The flash of fireworks behind me brightened up this picture of my
two historic American flags,  the Grand Union Flag from 1775,  
which was the flag flown on July 4,  1776,  and the  flag of  "13 
stars,  white in a blue field,  representing a new constellation," 
otherwise known as the Betsy Ross flag  (seen here on the right), 
was first sewn only a short time earlier,  either in late May or early
June in  '76,  and was adopted as the national flag
on June 14,  1777.

As I stood on my front sidewalk,  seeing the rocket's red glare and bombs bursting in air all around me gave me the idea of taking the following photographs:

It was a last minute decision to take these pictures -
I was so happy they turned out!

From Abigail Adams,  on July 21,  1776: 
"The Bells rang the privateers fired the forts and
Batteries,  the cannon were discharged the platoons
followed and every face appeared joyfull."

From the London Chronicle,  August 1776: 
"...everywhere  (the Declaration)  was received with
loud huzzas,  and the utmost demonstrations of joy."

Well!
So that's it for another year.
All things considered,  I/we did a pretty good job celebrating the Glorious Fourth.
Here's to hoping for more reenacting celebrations in the not too distant future past.

Until next time,  Ken,  the hopeful proud American Patriot will see you in time.

Two more fun pictures I took, though not on the 4th:

I created a little colonial scenario on my desk at home.

My grandson,  the Patriot!

More postings you may enjoy:

The Revolutionary Greenfield Village
Many visitors to this open-air museum don't realize that inside these hallowed walls of history there are three specific homesteads which are situated near each other,  and the long past inhabitants of  each of these historic 18th century houses played a role to some varying degree in the Revolutionary War.
Click the link to read about them.

With Liberty and Justice For All: The Fight for Independence at the Henry Ford Museum
An amazing collection of original Revolutionary War artifacts on display for all the world to see,  telling the story of America's fight for Independence.  An original Stamp Act notification.  A letter written by Benedict Arnold.  George Washington's camp bed,  a coffee pot made by Paul Revere,  a writing desk that once belonged to Thomas Jefferson...yeah...this is some great stuff here!

Unsung Patriots: The Printing of the Declaration of Independence
There is so much more to this most important American document,  from the idea to composing to printing - who is going to print this? - to delivery...oh yeah,  there is a lot more history to our Declaration than I ever realized!

Declaring Independence:  The Spirits of  '76
Something very special happened almost 250 years ago,  but is that story being promoted?
Come on a time-travel visit to colonial America during that hot summer of 1776 and learn,  first hand,  of the accounts on how we were making a new and independent nation.

Colonial Michigan:  Mackinac,  Detroit,  and Monroe
One rarely thinks of Michigan when they think of colonial North America.  And yet,  here we are - a territory-become-state with cities that played roles in the French & Indian War and the American Revolution.  In fact,  many people did not know that Daniel Boone was in Detroit.  Did you?

Travel and Taverns
The long air-conditioned  (or heated)  car ride.  Motels without a pool!  Can we stop at McDonalds? I'm hungry!
Ahhhh....modern travelers never had it so good.
I've always had a fascination of travel back in the day,  and I decided to find out as much as I could about them.
I wasn't disappointed - - - I dug through my books,  went to a historic research library,  'surfed the net'  (does anyone say that anymore?),  and asked docents who work at historic taverns questions,  looking for the tiniest bits of information to help me to understand what it was like to travel and stay at a tavern in the colonial times.
This post is the culmination of all of that research.
Our country's founding relied greatly on the tavern.

Cooking on the Hearth
No stoves or fast food restaurants.  Everything made from scratch.
What was it like for our colonial ancestors to prepare,  cook,  and eat their meals,  and what kinds of food were available to them?  How did they keep their foodstuffs from spoiling and rotting?
If you have questions such as this,  I believe you will enjoy this post.

In the Good Old Colony Days
A concise pictorial to everyday life in America's colonies.  And I do mean  "pictorial,"  for there are over 80 photos included,  covering nearly every aspect of colonial life.
I try to touch on most major topics of the period with links to read more detailed accounts.
This just may be my very favorite of all my postings.  If it isn't,  it's in the top 2!

Living By Candle Light: The Light at its Brightest
Could you survive living in the era before electric lights or even before the 19th century style oil lamps?
Do you know how many candles you would need for a year?
Do you know what it was like to make candles right from scratch,  or what it was like to visit your local chandler?
That's what this posting is about!

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