The Adventures of a Novice Historian

Prior to going back to school in 2014 I was kind of lost, I did not know what I wanted to do with my life. I developed a love for history, when I was about twelve. It began when I watched a National Geographic documentary about Egyptian history, and it just snowballed from there. When I was 13, my mother pulled me out of public school and began to home-school me which is when my passion was allowed to flourish. Every time I went somewhere historic with my family, I had to know everything I could before our visit and when people came to see us I had to play tour guide. At the time it never occurred to me that I could apply both my passion for history and my need to tell people what I knew together.  When I started at UNCA, I could not have imagined I would have had an opportunity to put those two things together. So, when I began my internship at Vance over the summer, I didn't know what to expect. Which is understandable given that I had never done anything like it before.  ...

This weeks post is a little different from my usual post. This week in class Dr. Pearson asked us to sit down with our internship supervisors and discuss the following three questions and reflect on them. 1. What was the most contentious interaction/issue you have had at this site with regard to diversity and inclusion?  For this question, Lauren said that the biggest interactions she has had with people, since starting at Vance, have been through the sites Social Media accounts. People have often had a preconceived notion of what the site is and get upset when it doesn't match their ideas. She gave me three examples of the most recent interactions she's had. The first being from a man who didn't agree with a post on Facebook about the reasons for the start of the Civil War. He had a stereotypical reaction of it not being about Slavery and more about Northern aggression. He also felt that being inclusive was not a good thing. The second was from a woman who thought...

This weekend at Vance was their annual Militia Muster. The Militia Muster is a living history and reenactment event that simulates what life would have been like during an 18th century encampment. According to reenactor Cody Fox, "a Militia Muster was a gathering of small community minute men who were required by law to gather six times a year to practice their skills and get up to date on Militia law. Two time a year they would get together with other militias to form a regiment then once a year they would gather with all the militias in the region to form a brigade." These bigger, once a year, events would include the minute men's families, Similar to the old clan gatherings in Scotland. Things that would go on during these muster events were the forming of the Militia company and reading of the Militia law. Mustering, Inspection of the men and their weapons, payment for service, and drills and fire practice.  For my part of the event, on Saturday, I was stationed ...

For the past couple weeks at Vance, Lauren and I have embarked on epic project. INVENTORY!!! It has been our job to go through the cabinets, dressers, desks, and trunks in the main cabin. We are making a list of what items in the collection will be staying in the house, what will be moved to off site storage, what will be offered to other sites in the state, and lastly, what will be deaccessioned* from the collection. The days that we have worked on this have been so much fun for me. I feel like a giddy school girl who gets to go through peoples things without worrying about getting caught! It's thrilling! Getting to discover amazing objects from the past. While exploring the dresser in the guest bedroom I found photographs from the Victorian era, a pair of spectacles from Marshall Field & Co. Chicago, a beautiful lace christening bonnet, and much more. Last week, I went through the drawer in the desk in the sitting room and found a treasure trove of artifacts. I discov...

Young Woman Cleaning the Floor; Willem Joseph Laquy (1778) Tuesday at Vance was a relatively slow day for me. I spent the day working on homework and greeting any guests that came in. Upon getting there, I was informed that a representative from Friends of the Vance birthplace was coming to rearrange our gift shop and that I should be aware that she wasn't the nicest of people. I didn't get to meet her though, she came after I'd left for the day. Thursday on the other hand was a flurry of activity because it was Cleaning Day!!! The boss of Kimberly's boss was coming on Friday to do an inspection of the site, so upon arriving I was put to work. My  first task was to dust and sweep the main cabin. Dusting was not pleasant, it sent me into a sneezing fit. But it was fascinating to watch all the little spiders scurry across the kitchen floor as I removed their webs. I also hadn't realized just how big the first floor of that house was until I had to sweep it with ...

Photo Credit: Lauren May This was an exciting week at Vance! Leading tours and PUPPIES!!! On Thursday, I lead my first guided tour site!!! My first tour was the 11 o'clock tour which is the first of the day and I took out Lauren and a young family of three who have just moved to the area. The couple had an adorable daughter of about five. She was very interested in the artifacts in the house, so I played to that. I got down on her level, and directed that section of the tour at her. I was very nervous leading the tour, but Lauren said in our chat afterwords that I had done well. Because of nerves there were a few things I left out, like the Buncombe Turnpike, but Lauren said that not a big deal and that with every tour I would remember the information I had forgotten in the last one. She was right. She also thought that nervousness could have been because she was there watching, so she let me take the next one out by myself, and again she was right. The second tour went ev...

Photo Credit: https://www.vimbly.com/ This week was my first week back at Vance after being on vacation. Wednesday, like most Wednesdays, was a slow day. All I did was water the garden and pick up green walnuts for Kimberly and Lauren to use during the Folk Festival. It was so dead that Lauren sent me home 30 minutes early. Thursday on the other hand was busy. We had a group of 22 kindergartners, from the Verner Center for Early Learning, visit the site. They began their day with us by going on a tour of the main house, tool shed, loom house, and slave cabin. After the tour, they were taken to the class room for the History Mysteries lesson. This is were the kids get to handle some of the artifacts. During a normal lesson the kids are divided in to groups and each group is given an artifact, but the adults with them went "off script", as Lauren called it, and started passing the artifacts between groups. Following the lesson, they broke for a 30 minute lunch. After lunc...

Because Lauren is going to Boston tomorrow and I'm going to Charleston with my family on the 9th, I worked an extra day at Vance this week. And after three straight days of nothing but torrential rain, the sun finally came out! Today was planting day, YAY! When I went in this morning I did not know that I would be planting, so I was really not dressed for it. I wore my dark blue day dress and my Mary-Janes. I did not let that stop me though. So with determination, I took off my shoes, tied up my hair and got to work! Because I was unprepared for planting I didn't have my gardening gloves, cutters, or trowel with me, which meant I had to improvise. Lauren found me an old pair of artifact gloves, and I found a ladle and a knife in the kitchen. With these tools in hand and the bigger tools in the tool shed next to the garden I had everything I needed to work. The first thing I did was assess what plants Kimberly had been able to buy at Reems Creek Nursery earlier in the we...

Today was slow at Vance. It's been raining all day, so there have been no guests. I've spent most of my time working on the written aspect of my kitchen garden project. Yesterday on the other hand was a difficult day with lots of drama.  Yesterday was supposed to be planting day and Bob Bemis who works at Halifax came to help me, but it went in a completely different direction. My shift at Vance was 10 - 4pm so that we could get in the garden as soon as I got there, but when I arrived Bob was not there and I was told he would not arrive until noon. By the time he showed up it had been raining steadily for 45 minutes with no sign of stopping for the foreseeable future. Bob did not care that it was pouring outside and made me work in the rain. Once we got to the garden he charged in and took over. In his attempt to finish cleaning out the site he yanked out the Bee balm I had asked Dennis to leave in place when he was clearing out the weeds last week, and not once did h...

Yesterday my father and I drove down to Gastonia to visit The Schiele Museum of Natural History & Planetarium. My purpose in driving to two hours to Gastonia was to see their 18th century backcountry farm exhibit. My hope was that they would have a kitchen garden and I would be able to confirm that the plants I chose for my garden at Vance were indeed accurate. My efforts were rewarded as all of the herbs I was looking for were in the museums garden. The herbs I want to plant are as follows: Parsley, Chives, Rosemary, Dill, Mint, Sorrel, Yarrow, Sage, Lavender, Chamomile, Bee balm, Thyme. I chose these they common in kitchen gardens because they are both culinary and medicinal. The versatility of these plants was very important in the backcountry in the 18th century as doctors were scares, so people had to create their own medicine. I was very pleased with the backcountry farm, but I was disappointed to learn that the museum does not have interpreters in the farm yard o...

Today was a slow day at Vance. No one wanted a guided tour, so Lauren and I spent our time going through the History Mystery trunks. Then later in the afternoon we restocked the books in the gift shop and marked down the books that were now on sale. I got to use the price gun which was fun! In other news, Lauren said today is National Intern day. So she posted a photo of me from yesterday which was taken outside the main house and introduced me to the world via their social media accounts. This is what she posted: Photo credit: Lauren May "Happy National Intern Day! Meet Jenna, our Summer/Fall intern! A student at UNC-Asheville with a love of all things UK, Jenna hopes to become an interpreter at a historic site across the pond. For now, she is learning the ins and outs of an NC historic site by leading tours, assisting in collections care, and learning about education programs. For her main project, Jenna will be using her green thumb to replant our interpretive herb gar...

I wrote my first social media post for the Vance birthplace's Facebook page this week which Lauren will use in September. "For a farmer like David Vance Jr, livestock was an important commodity. By raising animals like pigs, sheep, and cattle, Vance was providing, not only food for his family, but also goods that could be sold in Asheville. Cattle could produce meat, hides for tanning, and dairy products like milk and cheese. Sheep could produce wool for clothing, and meat. And pigs provided fat for cooking and bacon which could be smoked and cured for the winter. In fact, upon his death in 1843, David Vance Jr. left his wife 2,000 pounds of bacon." I chose livestock because it was important during this period of time in Western North Carolina. The Buncombe Turnpike which was a drover's road, going from Greenville, VA to Greenville, SC, moved livestock like pigs and cattle from one market to the next. This road ran right through the Reems Creek valley. Locate...

I began my research for my internship project this week. After talking with Kim and Lauren, I have chosen to makeover the little fenced area next to the tool shed. We all agreed that the area would make a fantastic kitchen garden. To start, I will plant herbs that would have been used in cooking and for medicinal purposes. I ordered five books on herbs and gardening in the 18th and 19th century from Ramsey Library which have arrived at various points during the week. The Backcountry Housewife: A Study of Eighteenth Century Foods, vol. 1 by Kay Moss and Kathryn Hoffman (1985) The Gardener's Calendar by Robert Squibb (1787) A Backcountry Herbal by Kay Moss (1993) The Herball or General Historie of Plants, vol. 1 and 2 by John Gerard (1597)       I have also found several very interesting websites about herbs, and Colonial Williamsburg's kitchen gardens. On the 28th of this month I will be visiting the 18th century backcountry farm at The Schiele Museum of Natural Hi...

Photo credit: Dennis Owenby   Yesterday was the first day of my internship at the Vance birthplace in Weaverville, NC. I worked one day this week and was very nervous. I've never done anything like this before, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but everyone was very kind to me and that put me at ease. There are three full time staff members, Kimberly Floyd who is the site manager, Lauren May who is the assistant site manager, and Dennis Owenby who maintains the ground and does light interpreter duties. I have also been told that there is a part time employee named Timothy. I'm sure I will meet him at some point.       I spent my time following Lauren around. I learned how the office works, how the cash register in the gift shop works, and how to greet people as they enter the visitor's center. In the morning I went on a small guided tour with a woman and her three small children. In the afternoon we had a summer day camp visit. There were 43 children ranging in ...