The Adventures of a Novice Historian

It's official! As of today, I'm a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Asheville!!! 

 As you all may know, the world has been engulfed in a global pandemic. For this reason the blog has been put on hold. Travel is out of the question, it's just not safe out go anywhere, but when that changes the blog will return.  Stay safe out there!  Jenna

  This morning Veronica, her father Kelly, and I went to the Easter service at Norwich cathedral. This was my first time attending an Anglican church service, as well as a service in a cathedral.   While I am not a Christian, I can appreciate the history behind the pomp and circumstance of this kind of church service. Despite my own Religious/Spiritual beliefs, I did enjoy parts of the service. I enjoyed the music greatly. How could you not enjoy Handel's [1] Hallelujah Chorus from The Messiah in a 12th century cathedral? I didn't, however, sing along to the words. It just didn't feel right to sing words that I don't believe, so I just hummed along to the music.    Because of my not being a Christian, I decided to go into this experience from an anthropological and historical perspective. I didn't want to automatically go into this from a place of judgement about anything I might hear.  I wanted to keep an open mind.  And I think I did....

In class yesterday, we covered Moorlands, Uplands, and Heaths.   When we think of moors and heaths, we conjure an image straight out of a Victorian Gothic novel. Scenes of barren and wind swept landscapes, but the truth is, they only look that way because of human interference. According to my professor, the landscape naturally wants to be wooded. Humans prevent  that by letting their livestock gaze  on the land.  Today, Mousehold Heath looks like this. Starting in the 19th century, parts of the land went through the process of enclosure. Now 182 acres are owned and managed by the City of Norwich.  I'd known for about a week that I wanted to go out and be in nature to celebrate Ostara (the Spring Equinox). So when  my professor told us about Mousehold Heath, on the edge of town,  at the end of our seminar, I knew I had to check it out.  I'm so glad I did because it was amazing! As a woman who has spent the last 20 years living ...

Google images The original plan for Saturday was to visit Stonehenge and Bath on a school excursion, similar to the Canterbury/Dover trip, but last Tuesday the trip was canceled. When I asked why, I was told the tour leader was sick. To salvage our much needed break, I looked for other things we could do. Things that were far enough away to make us feeling like it was an adventure, but close enough where we could do it in a day. We ended up choosing the SeaLife aquarium in Great Yarmouth. SeaLife Aquarium The aquarium was a great deal of fun. We learned a tremendous amount about the animals on exhibit. Sadly, the Penguins were not in residence, but we did get a free ticket to go back and see them when they return. I felt that was a nice gesture on the part of the aquarium. I think we will definitely do our best to take advantage of that.  Exhibit A I'm an extremely melodramatic person, so there were plenty of opportunities for Veronica and I, ...

This morning Veronica and I went to Norwich castle to see their new Viking exhibit. I was eager see it when we left UEA, but I came home extremely disappointed. Because of the experience I acquired while working at the Vance Birthplace last summer, I’m well aware that museum exhibits are written for an eighth-grade reading level, so I was excepting that from the information boards. What I was not expecting was that the whole exhibit would be aimed at elementary school age children. If your nine then this exhibit is amazing! The York Helmet Aside from the numerous artifacts on display, they had interactive stations that allowed you to row a long boat, spell words with runes, tie a knot in a piece of rope, or play a Norse board game called, “HNEFATAFL.” They even had a section where you could build Viking long boats out of Legos. They also had videos that you could watch that told you about the spread of the Norse language into Britain as the Vikings settled in the region, or...

Over the weekend,Veronica and I went on an exciting adventure to Cambridge. This was our first big trip, and boy did we learn a lot about the do's and don'ts about travel; from the planning stages to the actually going. For example, we booked a lovely Air b&b in the village of Willingham. Little did we know that it was 12 miles outside of Cambridge and a taxi ride would cost us 35 pounds, or that the bus from Willingham into Cambridge only runs every hour and a half to 2 hours. OR that the guided bus into Cambridge is in the neighboring village of Longstanton which is a 45 minute to an hour walk away. Live and learn! Despite these set backs, we enjoyed our trip. The Air B&B that we stayed in from Friday to Monday was called, "Willingham House." We were in the lodge, but the main house is part of Cambridge Melchior College which offers a a wide range of cultural exchange programs. Our room in the lodge was very nice: it was simple, nothing fancy, but I...

While this blog started out as an assignment for my internship course I've decided to continue it for my adventures in England next semester! Stay tuned to see what adventures await me! Jenna

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...