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| I've looked around enough to know that you're the one I want to go through time with... |
If I could save time in a bottle, the first thing that I'd like to do,
is to save every day 'til eternity passes away
just to spend them with you...
But there never seems to be enough time to do the things you want to do
once you find them.
I've looked around enough to know that you're the one
I want to go
through time with.
~ Gotta love Jim Croce ~
. . .
May 25 was a Patty & Ken Day - it was a day to do what we wanted. And what we wanted was to...well...
May was a crazy month for us - there was a lot going on, leaving little time for us - and we really needed to take a day to ourselves (we actually need more than just one day, but we'll take whatever we can get and work on the rest!).
So, we began our day on that Memorial Day Saturday by heading out to our 18th century home away from 20th century home, the Waterloo Cabin located at the Waterloo Farm Museum to do some more planting and a bit of weeding.
If you recall, it was in early May when we spent a spring day at the Waterloo Cabin planting a kitchen garden. If not (or you are new to Passion For The Past), then click HERE
But for our Patty & Ken Day, we were up at the crack of dawn (my wife's idea), dressed in our 1774 clothing, and on the road shortly after. It's about a 90 minute drive from our Eastpointe house to the cabin.
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| Over-looking our kitchen garden out in Waterloo. We are sharing this garden patch with another person - one who lives in the area and is able to maintain it much easier than we can, due to distance. |
There is a street nearby, but so few vehicles were using it that the sounds of the country were nearly all we could hear: the birds, the bees, crickets, the sounds of the wind through the leaves on the trees, and other nature sounds. Patty says sometimes these creatures sound like a rattlesnake, while other times they have the sound heard in the Jurassic Park/Lost World movies. Perhaps it was a raptor in the nearby woods...methinks no...
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| Even with my back filled with pain, I still worked, shoveling, raking, and planting. I would do so much more if I didn't have to stop every-few-minutes to allow my throbbing spine in my lower back to ease up... Yes, I do see a physical therapist...and it is getting better---slowly. But I haven't got time for the pain, so I continue on as best I can. |
Upon seeing a few of these pictures posted on Facebook, one of my former students commented that, "Your pictures always seems so peaceful!"
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| My wife, Patty, planting pumpkins. Knowing its popularity during colonial times, I was insistent on planting them this year. We began the pumpkins from seed at our home and transplanted them out here. |
A pumpkin comes from the squash family. But the term is most commonly applied to the round, orange-colored squash varieties. The use of the word "pumpkin" is thought to have originated in New England in North America, derived from a word for melon, or a native word for round.
Native to North America (particularly Mexico), pumpkins are among the oldest known domesticated plants, with evidence of their cultivation dating to between 7000 BC and 5500 BC.
I really so very much hope our pumpkins grow and flourish so we can harvest them come October during Waterloo's Pioneer Day event.
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| Me planting pumpkins. I've had comments made about getting my period clothing dirty. Some are surprised that I would actually work while wearing such expensive clothing. But these clothes would not be all nice and neat and clean had I been living "back then." This is all a part of us experiencing our research. This is living history. |
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| Patty also planted beets as well. She's not afraid to get dirty either. In fact, none of us in the cabin crew have any dirt qualms while doing daily 18th century chores. |
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| A nice rock to set my sciatic behind upon. Isn't the Waterloo Cabin beautiful? And we call it "home" - !! |
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| Patty in the garden as seen from inside the log cabin. |
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| I used our 18th century watering jug. |
They've been using this type of watering jug for years at the Daggett House at Greenfield Village. I then saw one very similar to what I have here being used on one of the British-made farm documentaries - either Tudor Farm (the year 1500) or Tales From the Green Valley farm (1620). So, naturally, I felt the need to have one as well.
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| Say...with not a single other person about, who took this picture? Well, I am fairly well-versed in doing a few tricks with my Paint Shop Pro photo computer programs, so I put two planned pictures into a single cohesive image. |
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| Being out at Waterloo Cabin was a very peaceful time for Patty and I. As I mentioned, we did not see any other person our entire time out there. Believe me when I say we didn't want to leave. |
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Patty & I inside the cabin. This is another of my Paint Shop Pro photo merging program pictures. The socks behind us? Why, they're for school presentations. We left by noon, though I believe if we would have brought food along, we would have spent the entire day there. Hmmm...perhaps one day we will. |
I will be the first to admit I am not a farmer, though my wife does plant pretty amazing gardens every year. But, due to the fact that my ancestors on both paternal and maternal sides of my lineage were farmers going back centuries, I believe had I actually lived in the good old colony days, I most likely would have also been a farmer. I recall my own grandfather's massive gardens, planted by seed, and how he cared for them. And I recall taking walks with him, visiting his farm friends up there in the rural village of Lexington (Michigan). Perhaps that is why taking part in activities such as this and watching the plowing and harvesting and my own activities of this sort is so fulfilling to me. Even though I may not do it as a daily chore, farming runs through my veins, and for that I am proud.
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After spending the morning hours at Waterloo, hunger pangs began to strike. We did not bring any food with us, and since we didn't plan to spend the entire day there at the cabin - Patty was not planning to cook us a meal on the hearth (though that could've been pretty cool) - we decided to go find a restaurant in which to dine. Not a fast food joint, but a decent atmospheric sit-down place...so, with a sort of last minute decision, we figured we would dine at the Eagle Tavern at Greenfield Village. It was only about an hour drive - could we survive that long? lol
Hey---it's the Eagle Tavern...our very favorite restaurant - we could do it!
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| The Eagle Tavern was built around 1832. So what are we, two colonials, doing there? Well, in the same way that cabins have generally changed little from the 18th to the 19th century, the same with taverns. So we fit in just fine. |
The Eagle Tavern is an immersive experience: all staff seen in the public's eye are dressed to the year 1850, when Calvin C. Wood, a farmer, and his wife, Harriet, were the proprietors.
Since country taverns were operated by households, as the family of Calvin Wood did, tavern cooking was home cooking. And with Calvin's wife Harriet supervising the housekeeping and likely presiding over the public table as the tavern's hostess, with her children on hand, there would have been young men from neighboring farms or young unmarried women from the general area who would have supplied the cooking and keeping.
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| Me getting a little atmospherically artistic with my photography. |
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The Eagle Tavern makes their stew very close to the way my mom used to make it. So good! |
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| I saw my friend Knute standing at the bar in the barroom. He was dressed as a Civil War soldier, so, as a timeline, he was about 90 years in the future from us. |
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| It was kinda cool having Knute there dressed in the way he was, for this was the Saturday of Memorial Weekend, and you might recall this was the weekend for Civil War Remembrance that the Village sadly put the kibosh on. |
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| Still in the tavern, eyeing the gathering room (i.e. "Lady's Parlor") |
Of course I had to stop and visit the Daggett House, especially given the way we were dressed!
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| Standing in front of my favorite house inside Greenfield Village. Yeah...we could live there... |
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| After spending the morning at Waterloo, Patty saw the kitchen garden behind the Daggett House through the kitchen window. |
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| At our 21st century Eastpointe home, Patty uses whatever yard she can to grown flowers, cucumbers, beans, lavender... So between Waterloo, where she has a nice chunk of land, and seeing the Daggett garden, she was in her glory on this day. |
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| Patty loved the white roses growing in the back. |
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| Eyeing the white roses... |
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| Hope there are no bees in there! |
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| Chuck & I conversing. Probably about the making of the well-sweep last year. |
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| History where you least expect it. The tree we are standing next to is about 300 years old - just about as old as we are!!! |
I have always admired this tree, for I’ve seen it often. Like, in fact, each time I've ever visited Greenfield Village! But like most people, I never gave much thought to it other than it is a very old tree. Well, during a special “Arbor Day Witness Tree Walk in Greenfield Village” that I, sadly, could not attend, it was found that this oak tree is roughly around 300 years old!
Now how do they know that without chopping it down and counting its rings?
Well, as the folks that took the tour were taught (and Friend of Greenfield Village member, Bob Vincent, explained): “You can get a rough estimate of the age of a tree without cutting it down and counting the rings. The girth of a tree can be used to estimate its age, as roughly a tree will increase it’s girth by 2.5 cm (centimeters) in a year. So, simply measure around the trunk of the tree (the girth) at about 1meter from the ground. Make sure you measure to the nearest centimeter. Then divide the girth by 2.5 to give an age in years. A tree with a 50 cm girth will therefore be about 20 years old.
The rate of growth will differ according to what type of tree it is. Some types of trees, such as oak
and beech, will grow quite slowly, and so you should divide the girth measurement by 1.88. Pine
trees, however, are very fast growing, so you should divide the girth measurement by 3.13.
Other factors will affect the growth too, such as how close the tree is to other trees. If it’s on its own, it has the space to grow faster than trees in the woods. An average woodland tree will only increase its girth by about 1.25 cm per year.”
So, if this is truly the case, then this old oak tree can be claimed as a Witness Tree: “a tree that was present during a grand historical or cultural event of America. The trees got their name from being able to "witness" a historically significant event. Witness trees are centuries old and are known to be of great importance to the U.S. Nation's history.”
Did this tree “witness” a “grand historical or cultural event of America”?
Well…sort of…remember, with this tree being around the 300 year old mark, it is older than George Washington (b. 1732), and close to the same age as Ben Franklin (b. 1706)!
That is old!
But what did it actually witness?
How about the building of Greenfield Village?
How about being gazed upon by the eyes of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, President Hoover, Orville Wright, Shelley Winters, Walt Disney, Bert Lahr, Phyllis Diller, Mel Torme, Neil Armstrong, President Ford, Buzz Aldrin, Rosa Parks, Jay Leno, David McCullough (historic author), and numerous other great and famous Americans who either played a role in the building of this historic open air museum or were visitors here?
And before Greenfield Village?
It was around during the time of the Declaration of Independence, the Civil War, and perhaps Native tribes belonging mostly to the Algonquian-language family, especially the Council of Three Fires, the Potawatomi and related peoples (before European settlement in the area in the later part of the 18th century – just after the Revolutionary War).
Witness Tree indeed! Look around – you never know where you’ll find history.
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| I'm glad I looked around, for I saw my history right next to me! I am certainly glad we spent the day together in the 18th century! |
I always enjoy dressing in period clothing, going to period places, and doing period things. And it's even better when I can do it with friends. And it's even better yet when I can do it with my wife!
This was what we both needed, for there was no rushing around, having to do anything by a certain time; we were on our time.
Oh! What a wonderful day it was~
Speaking of time...until next time, see you in time.
If you have been a follower of this Passion For The Past blog, then you probably are aware that a few of us - Patty, Larissa, Jackie, Charlotte, and, more recently, Norm - have been experiencing 18th century pioneer life at the Waterloo frontier cabin for nearly four years - since 1770...er...2020. The following are the links to all of our cabin day experiences (so far):
If you are interested in our other cabin excursions, please click the links below:
To read about our 2020 autumn excursion at the cabin, click HERE
To read about our 2021 wintertime excursion at the cabin, click HERE
To read about our 2021 springtime excursion at the cabin, click HERETo read about our 2021 summertime excursion at the cabin, click HERE
To read about our 2021 summer harvesting of the flax at the cabin, click HERE
To read about our 2021 autumn excursion making candles at the cabin, click HERE
To read about our 2022 winter excursion at the cabin, please click HERE
To read about our 2022 spring excursion at the cabin, please click HERE
To read about our 2022 summer excursion at the cabin, please click HERE
To read about our 2022 autumn excursion at the cabin (Pioneer Day), please click HERE
To read about our 2023 winter excursion at the cabin - Candlemas, please click HERE
To read about our 2023 spring excursion at the cabin - Rogation Sunday, please click HERE
To read about our 2023 late spring - more planting at the cabin (& early farming history), click HERE
To read about the 2023 early summer weeding at the cabin (and a timeline event), please click HERE
To read about the 2023 autumn Pioneer Day event we participated in, please click HERE
To read about our 2023 Thanksgiving celebration in early November, please click HERE
To read about our 2024 Winter experience at the cabin, please click HERE
To read about our 2024 spring excursion at the cabin, please click HERE
~And that brings us up to today's cabin post.
If you are interested in a deeper study of many of the historic structures at Greenfield Village, please click HERE
Most of the clothing you see my wife & I wearing in these photos came from Samson Historical.
My shoes came from Townsends - to me, the best colonial shoes anywhere!
Thanks to Knute for taking a few of the Greenfield Village pictures.
~ ~ ~
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