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.  ...

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...

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...