AE-Vol. 2 Issue 8- Preview

A me rican Es s e nc e

American Essence

AUGUST 2022

FO R E V E RYO N E W H O LOV E S T H I S CO U N T RY

Fire It Up! Legendary pitmaster Pat Martin shares his best grilling tips

Martha Washington,

Lady of the House

AUGUST 2022

America’s first, first lady set a graceful precedent for the role

VOLUME 2 | ISSUE 8

Call of the Sea With the stars and sea as guides, Nainoa Thompson draws upon an ancient Polynesian tradition to explore the ocean—and push the limits of human possibility

Contents Features 10 | A Slice of Americana

From butter sculptures to giant cabbage weigh-offs, America’s state fairs are full of quirky fun.

12 | Keeping It Cool

Indulge your summer cravings with our picks for the best artisanal ice creams.

14 | King of Hearts

Writer Rachael Dymski reminisces about her childhood days touring Dover Castle with her grandfather, who taught her important life lessons.

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16 | Following the Starlit Path

On an ocean-faring canoe without a compass or map, Nainoa Thompson became the first person in centuries to master the ancient techniques of Polynesian wayfinding.

22 | Why I Love America

Janet Newcomb on cherishing the differences among the 50 states and celebrating the country’s founding principles.

24 | Stand-Up That Stands Out

Comedian and entrepreneur Keith Stubbs wants to prove that clean comedy can be a hit—and his Dry Bar Comedy platform does just that.

46 | Wonders of the Sky

Amateur astronomers bond through their shared love of the starry, starry night.

History 50 | The 411 on the 501

Why are jeans blue? What are those tiny rivets for? The story behind Levi Strauss’s invention of the all-American denim.

52 | Honing the Art of War

Tennessee pitmaster Pat Martin shares his tips for firing up the grill this summer.

Then only a colonel, George Washington’s military prowess during the French and Indian War primed him for success in the American Revolution 20 years later.

38 | A Taste of the Ocean

56 | First of the Firsts

28 | Fire It Up

From fried clam bellies to juicy lobster rolls, New England’s specialty seafood at a glance.

40 | The Sweetest Victory

Named one of America’s top pastry chefs, Ebow Dadzie proves that dedication and discipline are key ingredients in life’s winning recipe.

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Faced with unprecedented scrutiny, America’s first, first lady, Martha Washington, carried out her duties with extraordinary grace and fortitude.

60 | The Adventurous Duo

Lewis and Clark’s mission to map out the frontier is a heart-pounding legend of courage and adventure.

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110 | Nurturing the Future

Chosen as USA Today’s “Colorado Woman of the Year 2022,” sculptor Jane DeDecker shares her thoughts on how to foster creativity in children.

112 | Hopping to the Rescue

An attentive teacher teamed up with a pet bunny to coax a shy student out of her shell.

The Great Outdoors 120

114 | Marine Kaleidoscope

Arts & Letters 63 | The Foundation for the First

Amendment The 1735 trial of John Peter Zenger for seditious libel was an important step toward establishing a free press—the very root of American democracy.

66 | The Charismatic Elocutionist

Sen. Daniel Webster’s persuasive oratory made him one of the most influential statesmen of the 19th century.

68 | Education for All

Having served alongside black troops in the Civil War, Gen. Samuel Chapman Armstrong found his true calling in helping newly freed citizens prepare for fulfilling lives.

72 | King of Satire

Mark Twain honed his style and signature wit during his years as a reporter for a Nevada newspaper.

76 | Lost in History

The untold story of how the deadliest natural disaster in American history ravaged the once prosperous coastal city of Galveston, Texas.

80 | Big Guns

Driven by a fierce “never-give-up” attitude, a resourceful automobile manufacturer parlayed its skills into making machine guns for Allied forces during World War II. ISSU E 8 | AU G UST 2 0 2 2

84 | A Palace Resurrected

Inspired by designs from English Palladian mansions, North Carolina’s Tryon Palace was the finest government house in colonial America.

Between plump sea cucumbers and pumpkin-sized lion’s mane jellyfish, there is never a dull moment below the glimmering surface of Alaska’s crisp waters.

120 | Along Old Man River

Follow the course of the Mississippi River for an epic road trip steeped in history, culinary traditions, and music.

90 | Painting in the Mist

Captured with extraordinary precision, Frederic Edwin Church and Ferdinand Richardt’s paintings of Niagara Falls are magnificent tributes to the glory of God’s creation.

96 | The Grand House Tour

Former White House social secretary Linda Faulkner Johnston introduces us to her Georgian revival-style home, where 17th- to 19th-century drawings of flora and fauna are on full display.

104 | Book Recommender

Noteworthy non-fiction reads: a compelling account of a deadly maritime disaster on the Mississippi in 1865; and uncovering the story behind an iconic painting depicting the Battle of Gettysburg.

A Love of Learning 106 | All the World’s a Stage

A university Shakespeare performance program teaches students more than just acting skills.

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WRITTEN BY

Crystal Shi & Annie Wu

PHOTOGRAPHED BY

Tatsiana Moon

SUMMER

by the Scoop

Turkish Coffee Malai Ice Cream

Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip

Rose With CinnamonRoasted Almonds Malai Ice Cream

Graeter’s Ice Cream

Sea Salt Cream With Cookies McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams

Superfudge Crank and Boom Craft Ice Cream

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Artisan ice cream shops across the country are churning out creamy, creative concoctions—and shipping them to your front door. Cool down with our picks for the best mail-order pints

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Malai Ice Cream Brooklyn, N.Y.

South Asian spices feature prominently in the unique ice cream flavors from Malai, a Brooklynbased shop. It routinely comes up with new concoctions featuring seasonal fruits and ingredients, but among its regular roster are a fragrant, silky Rose With Cinnamon-Roasted Almonds; a refreshing Lemon Cardamom; and Turkish Coffee, bold with warm spices and sprinkled with fine coffee grounds. The ice cream texture is airy—almost like frozen soufflé—yet rich in its creaminess. Available at retailers in the tri-state area and online via Goldbelly, $89.95 for a 4-pint pack, Malai.co

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Graeter’s Ice Cream Cincinnati, Ohio

Biting into Graeter’s Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip ice cream will elicit a pang of childhood nostalgia: that rush of sugar and excitement as icecold berry sweetness takes over your tastebuds, offering relief from the unrelenting summer heat.

The small-batch brand, which has been run by the same family since 1870, uses the French pot process to make its ice cream. The pots constantly churn so that as the cream freezes at the sides, it gets incorporated back into the middle, preventing air from getting whipped into the mixture. The result is a denser texture. Available at local retailers and online, $79.95 for a 6-pint pack, Graeters.com

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McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams Santa Barbara, Calif.

A California institution since 1949, McConnell’s is now under its third generation of family ownership, and takes the terms “local” and “fromscratch” seriously: Each batch starts with raw milk and cream, sourced from Central Coast grass-grazed cows and processed at its own Santa Barbara dairy. The pure, milky-sweet flavor of that fresh cream especially shines in the Sea Salt Cream With Cookies, balanced with a dose of local sea salt and generously studded with chocolate-chunk cookie crumbles. Another don’tmiss flavor: the refreshingly tart, berry-ribboned Eureka Lemon and Marionberries. Available at local retailers and online, $12 per pint with a 4-pint order minimum, McConnells.com

Crank and Boom Craft Ice Cream Lexington, Ky.

If you could turn brownie batter into ice cream, you’d get Crank and Boom’s Superfudge. This chocolate-lover’s dream is dark, dense, and custardy, with a subtle roasty finish from coffee that’s been incorporated. It’s a signature flavor from the beloved community business, which began with a single ice cream machine in the back of a family Thai restaurant in 2011. Other creations lean into regional pride, like the decidedly boozy Bourbon and Honey, made with Buffalo Trace bourbon and local honey, and the bright, jammy-sweet Kentucky Blackberry and Buttermilk, the key ingredients sourced from two local farms. Available at local retailers and online via Goldbelly, starting at $99.95 for a 6-pint pack, CrankAndBoom.com

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Features | Adventures

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Adventures | Features

Guided by the Stars, on a Voyage to the Unknown

A student of the ancient Polynesian art of wayfinding, Nainoa Thompson demonstrates that trans-Pacific navigation with just the sky and sea as guides is possible— and can bring people together WRITTEN BY

Eric Lucas

N

ainoa Thompson did not set out to rewrite history. He just wanted to go for an adventure.

But he accomplished both.

Decades later, he’s now the most famous person in Hawaii and an icon to seafaring people around the world. Along the way, he learned a few things: Intense preparation surmounts risk. The riskiest action can be none at all. And sometimes, knowledge by itself, no matter how deep, is not sufficient.

But all that came later as he learned what’s known as “The Way of the Canoe.” First, he headed to sea on a Polynesian voyaging canoe adventure.

“All I knew was where I wanted to be—on the ocean,” Thompson said of his young self growing up just outside Waikiki on a dairy farm. His earliest memory is of himself as a 5-year-old milking cows. Then one day, a fishing expedition introduced him to the Pacific, just a mile away. His affinity for the ocean was immediate, and it determined the course of his life. “I didn’t know how I was going to get out on the

ocean for good, but I knew it was going to be somehow.”

Rediscovery As it turned out, Thompson’s first real ocean adventure, at the age of 22 in 1976, was not only an amazing odyssey; it caused a complete upheaval of Western attitudes about the Polynesian settlement of the Pacific. Sailing from Hawaii to Tahiti on a traditional oceangoing canoe, using only the sun, stars, wind, waves, and currents for navigation—an ancient art known as wayfinding—he and his mates demonstrated that Polynesians had skillfully and deliberately long ago crossed Earth’s biggest ocean to find new homelands. Their journeys concluded in Thompson’s native Hawaiian islands about 1,500 years ago.

Though oral histories and some rather obvious logical thinking indicated that Polynesian legends were in fact, well, fact, Western anthropologists long dismissed the idea. No compasses, no sextants, no printed maps?

The twin-hull catamaran design of the Hokule‘a stabilizes it for journeys on the world’s biggest ocean.

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LEFT Wayfinding navigators such as Nainoa Thompson keep constant watch over the horizon; the weather; the wind, sun, and stars.

BELOW Manning the tiller is a key role aboard the Hokule‘a—especially on rough seas.

BELOW RIGHT Sunrise over the ocean calls for “E Ala E,” the sacred Hawaiian chant that thanks the sun for returning to bring another day.

Impossible. Some derided it as primitive fantasy, arguing that only dumb luck and storm winds brought indigenous settlers to almost every island in the world’s biggest ocean. In the 1950s, New Zealand anthropology professor Andrew Sharp dismissed the idea of deliberate voyages as nonsense.

Then, in the early 1970s, a group led by native Hawaiian artist Herb Kane and radical young anthropologist Ben Finney decided to prove academic gospel wrong. A years-long search led them to the last great wayfinder on earth, Mau Piailug, on the small island of Satawal in Micronesia. They built a 61-foot Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe named Hokule‘a: “Star of Gladness.” They asked Piailug to teach them wayfinding, and to guide them

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2,750 miles to Tahiti.

That was 1976; Thompson was onboard as an apprentice navigator, and violent conflicts among the crew kept them from taking Hokule‘a back to Hawaii using wayfinding. Piailug returned to Micronesia, the canoe came home under modern navigation, and it looked like the end of the adventure.

Setting Off on One’s Own Thompson wasn’t ready to quit. Four years later, having studied Piailug’s techniques intently, he guided Hokule‘a to Tahiti and back as chief navigator— again using only the stars, winds, currents, and waves as guideposts, with Piailug as adviser but not leader. That was the first such voyage in 600 years, but it was no lark.

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Adventures | Features

First, Thompson had to convince Piailug to teach him wayfinding. Then came years of studying star maps and charts of ocean waves, currents, and prevailing winds—often drawn in sand on beaches at the Pacific’s verge. Years of learning to watch for birds and where they fly. How to measure a boat’s speed by counting bubbles in the water as they go past the hull. How to feel the direction of the ocean swell beneath the canoe, and separate it from surface waves—an art a master navigator could practice even while asleep below decks.

After learning all that came— enchantment.

“I’ll teach you how to go and come back, Mau told me, but I’ll never teach you the magic,” Thompson recalled.

“You have to find that yourself. And that’s what it has been ever since for me—the magic of the stars and

the canoes.”

In the years after that 1980 Tahitiand-back voyage, Thompson and his compatriots at Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS, founded by Kane and Finney) sailed Hokule‘a and her sister canoe Hikianalia to Rapa Nui (Easter Island); to Rarotonga; to New Zealand; to California.

During those thousands of miles of sailing, Thompson and his colleagues realized that Hawaiian voyaging is about more than proving wrong past generations of European academics. PVS voyages helped kindle the “Hawaiian Renaissance,” a resurgence of interest in traditional island culture, from food to language to chant and dance and spiritual practice. When Hokule‘a first sailed, Hawaiian was taught in the foreign language department at the University of Hawaii. Today, many students of

vvv “All I knew was where I wanted to be—on the ocean.”

—N A I N OA T H O M P S O N , H AWA I I A N N AV I G ATO R

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Master of Fire Barbecue legend Pat Martin knows his way around a fire—whether he’s charring okra on the grill or pit-smoking a whole hog. For the ultimate summer celebration, he shares expert advice for firing up the grill WRITTEN BY

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Crystal Shi

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Barbecue | Features

LEFT Martin’s famed pulled pork sandwich is made with meat pulled straight from the smoked whole hog, which is then topped with coleslaw and served between toasted potato buns slicked with a vinegar-based sauce.

ABOVE Since opening the first Martin’s Bar-B-Que in Nolensville, Tenn., in 2006—with zero restaurant experience—Martin has added nine other locations in Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Alabama.

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ot many recipes call for a pair of broken-in running shoes, 93 cinder blocks, and somewhere to sleep as part of their prep list.

Then again, not many recipes compare to Pat Martin’s 33-page manifesto on West Tennessee-style whole hog barbecue that describes each step from building the pit; to slow-smoking a 185-pound pig; to picking and piling the tender, confit-like meat onto a perfect pulled pork sandwich—a 30-hour labor of love.

For the Memphis-born, Nashville-based pitmaster and restaurateur, this regional specialty lies “at the core of [his] story.”

During his first year in college, Martin was blown away by the whole hog sandwich he had at Thomas & Webb Barbecue in Henderson, Tennessee. The meat was pulled straight off the pig by owner and pitmaster Harold Thomas. Martin became determined to learn the craft. He became a regular in the pit room, where Thomas became his first mentor.

By the time Martin opened his own place in Nolensville in 2006—years and several seasons of

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his life later—the region’s once-common whole-hog barbecue spots like Thomas & Webb had all but disappeared. He found himself the ardent keeper of a dying flame.

Today, that flame is burning bright at Martin’s ​​ Bar-B-Que Joint’s 10 locations across Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, and South Carolina. In March 2022, to document the tradition on paper, Martin published a cookbook, “Life of Fire: Mastering the Arts of Pit-Cooked Barbecue, the Grill, and the Smokehouse.” (The crowning achievement: that aforementioned manifesto.)

But he’s a passionate teacher on all forms of live-fire cooking, not just pit barbecue. After all, whether you’re going whole hog or enjoying a casual backyard grilling session, the heart of the method, Martin says, is the same: understanding and mastering fire.

With grilling season in full swing, we asked Martin about his favorite summertime recipes, his best tips for beginners (and the most common mistake to avoid), and the one old-school, team-effort dessert his family makes every summer without fail (Hint: It involves not fire but ice).

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Features | Barbecue

Q&A American Essence: It’s the height of summer and you’re throwing the ultimate backyard barbecue—short of cooking a whole hog. What’s on the menu?

Pat Martin: The garden dictates what we’re cooking at this time of year. We’re doing lots of grilling with all the incredible vegetables in season. We’re doing less barbecue, and more dishes from “Life of Fire” like open-pit chicken, open-pit ribs, grilled tomato sandwiches, and vegetable foil packs.

vvv “It’s almost as if this style of barbecue found me; I didn’t find it.”

—PAT M A RT I N , P I T M A S T E R A N D R ES TAU R AT E U R

American Essence: And to drink?

Mr. Martin: I’ll be drinking a good pét-nat [short for pétillant naturel, a type of sparkling wine] or Champagne alongside this menu.

American Essence: What are your must-have tools of the trade?

Mr. Martin: When you’re grilling, you need to be precise—almost surgical—in your actions. Two must-have tools: a very good pair of stainless steel, spring-loaded tongs (no more than 9 inches long), and a really heavy-duty spatula (my preference is Decker).

American Essence: What underrated ingredients deserve more love on the grill?

Mr. Martin: Okra! It’s one of my favorite vegetables, and I can trace my appreciation back to when I started charring them on a Smoky Joe grill outside my dorm room. Okra can take an absolute beating on the grill and come out better for it. Most folks go wrong by undercooking it. If you split the okra in half lengthwise before grilling, you’ll get a crispier result (which kids love!).

Eggplant is another favorite for the grill. Cut your eggplants into half-inch-thick “steaks,” salt them in the morning, and let them dry out on a rack while flipping them every hour or so to get rid of the excess moisture. Pat your slices dry, sprinkle with a good flaky salt, and lightly season with oil on a very clean grill over a medium-high fire.

The total cook time is around 10 minutes—4 to 5 minutes face down, then flip and cook the second side for about half that time, 2 to 3 minutes. You’re looking to get a nice dark brown char; don’t be afraid of a couple of little burn spots. Take them off the grill, plate them, drizzle with a great olive oil, and top with some chile flakes, more salt, chunks of feta, and chopped mint leaves.

American Essence: Tell us about the most memorable barbecue you’ve been to.

Mr. Martin: My father’s fish fry over Columbus Day weekend back in 1991. I made a whole hog for our family and friends, and it was the first time I cooked a hog by myself. It was great having a couple hundred folks validate me because of my food.

I knew then I wanted to do this for a living at some point in my life.

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Barbecue | Features

American Essence: You say that West Tennessee whole hog barbecue is at the core of your story.

What makes it so important to you?

Mr. Martin: The roots of my entire barbecue journey lie in West Tennessee-style whole hog barbecue. It’s almost as if this style of barbecue found me; I didn’t find it. I’m deeply passionate about not only preserving its history but also drawing attention and awareness to it. Our team is focused on keeping that tradition alive every day at all of our restaurants.

American Essence: What do people need to know about this style?

Mr. Martin: That it is a real part of the barbecue story of our country, and should not just be lumped in with the Carolinas—that’s really lazy. It’s very unique in terms of the size of the hog [185 pounds, compared to Carolina-style’s 150], the wood used [preferably hickory or red oak], the time it takes to cook it [24 hours at 200 to 250 F], and how it’s served to people [pulled straight from the pig, never chopped, without the skin]. To make a comparison, both Kansas City and Texas serve brisket, but they’re not lumped together just because brisket is a common denominator. They’re both distinct and recognized accordingly. Whole hog barbecue should also be recognized that way.

American Essence: You’re also fiercely proud of your family and Southern roots. Is there a summer family food tradition that’s especially meaningful to you?

Whole-hog barbecue requires a feeder fire to provide a steady supply of hot coals.

Martin’s method of choice is a burn barrel.

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Mr. Martin: Hand-cranked vanilla ice cream. It’s a tradition we repeat every summer. We still make it the old way, and it’s a team effort involving every member of the family. My mom, my daughter Daisy, and Aunt Cathy make the ice cream base, then bring it out to our carport, where my sons, uncles, and dad have set up our old 4-quart White Mountain hand-crank ice cream maker (which is harder and harder to find—if you see one, buy it!).

Once the bucket is tightly packed with ice, the fun begins with everyone taking turns cranking as the ice cream freezes. The payoff is so worth it.

American Essence: Back to the grill—what do you most love about cooking with fire?

Mr. Martin: What I love is that live-fire cooking is brutal and romantic at the same time. It’s hard to beat the taste of anything cooked over coals or a live fire. I’m excited by not only the flavor it provides, but the inherent risk that you could possibly screw up a dish since you don’t have a temperature gauge.

American Essence: On that note, what’s the biggest mistake people make when it comes to livefire cooking?

Mr. Martin: Definitely cooking over a fire that’s too hot. Use the hand test: Try and hold your hand 6 inches above the coals of the fire. If you can’t keep your hand there for longer than one or two seconds, the fire is too hot and you need to let it cool down some.

American Essence: Could you give beginners your best advice?

Mr. Martin: Don’t be afraid to screw it up. If (and when!) you mess up, order some pizza and make a self-promise that you’ll try again, and again, and again until you learn how to really read heat.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. •

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Features | Recipes

GRILLED

GREEN BEANS with Memphis Dry Rub vvv RECIPES BY

YOU KNOW HOW you go to the Chinese buf-

fet and they have those smoky, wok-fried green beans? My memories of munching on those things as a kid are what inspired this recipe.

A hot grill turns some boring green beans into something extremely savory and slightly smoky, with a lightly crispy skin. These beans make for a great side dish with any meat cooked with fire, but they’re delicious enough on their own for snacking, especially when sprinkled with some of my Memphis-Style Seasoning for an extra hint of sweetness and heat.

A lot of grilled green bean recipes will have you blanch the beans first. You can do this, sure, but who wants to go inside to blanch something when you’re cooking over a fire? Throwing them directly on a hot grill will cook and char them before they can dry out too much. You can make these beans ahead of time and refrigerate them until you’re ready to use them. (I like to cut them up, toss them with olive oil and lemon juice, and add them to salads.)

Makes 4 servings • 2 pounds green beans, trimmed • 2 teaspoons vegetable oil • 1 teaspoon fleur de sel or other flaky salt • 2 teaspoons Memphis-Style Seasoning (recipe follows) Prepare a hot grill (2 to 3 seconds using the hand test). Clean and oil the grill grates well.

In a large bowl, toss the green beans with the oil and salt until coated. Transfer to a grill basket (or a wire rack set on top of the grill), piling them

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Pat Martin

a few beans high so the ones on top will steam as the ones below char over the fire.

Toss the beans every couple of minutes, just until they’re tender and slightly charred, about 10 minutes total.

Return the beans to the bowl, add the Memphis-Style Seasoning and toss to coat. Serve immediately or refrigerate for later.

MEMPHIS-STYLE SEASONING Makes about 4 cups • 1/3 cup fine sea salt • 1 1/3 cups paprika • 1 1/3 cups chile powder • 1/4 cup ground cumin • 2 tablespoons onion powder • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon garlic powder • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper • 1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander • 1 teaspoon ground celery seeds • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground thyme • 3/4 teaspoon ground cloves • 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon • 1/2 teaspoon ground oregano • 1/2 teaspoon ground rosemary • 1 tablespoon dried thyme leaves • 2 tablespoons yellow mustard seeds • 3/4 teaspoon monosodium glutamate (MSG)

In a medium bowl, whisk together all the ingredients. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for up to 1 month.

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LEVI’S

501 LEGACY Now a staple in most Americans’ wardrobes, “blue jeans” were originally manufactured as workwear for cowboys and miners. A collaboration between a dry goods store owner (Levi Strauss) and a tailor (Jacob Davis) led to the creation of work pants reinforced with copper rivets to make them more durable.

WRITTEN BY

Pamela Beiler

Shrink to Fit The iconic “Shrink-to-Fit” tagline was born in 1981, when the company introduced button-fly 501s designed especially for women.

First Style

ABOVE Levi Strauss.

The pants featured one back pocket with a stitched design, a watch pocket, buttons for suspenders, and rivets in common stress areas, like the crotch of the garment.

Why Are They Blue?

Original Fabric

Indigo, the only natural, plant-based blue used for dyes, actually softens rough fabric with every washing, making it a popular choice for laborers wanting comfortable work clothes.

The original pants were made from 9-ounce XX blue denim, made in Manchester, New Hampshire, at the Amoskeag Mill.

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Logo

Buttons and Rivets

Since 1886, the logo on the jeans’ patch has depicted two horses tugging on a single pair of jeans, to demonstrate the indestructibility of the product.

Metal buttons held the fly closed and provided a place to fasten suspenders.

Copper rivets bolstered the strength of pocket corners and seams.

Where Did the Name 501 Come From?

Much of the history of 501s was lost in the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906, including why the company chose 501 as its manufacturing lot number in 1890, when the patent went into the public domain.

Back Pockets The original 501s had one back pocket, but now the jeans are made with two.

They feature a stitched, double-arched design— now trademarked—that was briefly traded for a painted-on version during World War II in order to conserve thread for the war effort.

Patents and Trademarks Strauss and Davis were awarded a patent for the copper rivets in 1873. The company has since registered myriad trademarks for other unique features on the pants.

Fun Facts Inseam

A 125-year-old pair of vintage Levi’s sold for nearly $100,000 in 2018.

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The term “jeans” was not adopted until the 1960s, when calling them “waist overalls” became a thing of the past.

In the Middle Ages, the European port of Genoa shipped a fabric called “gene fustian,” which eventually evolved into a fabric similar to the one used to make jeans today.

A single felled inseam was used for the stitching from the 1910s until the mid1980s. Afterward, the company started using a double felled inseam, which is still employed today.

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First Among First Ladies Martha Washington set the tone with sincerity and cordiality WRITTEN BY

S

treets, parks, towns, and cities are named for her husband, but Martha Washington’s grace and tenacity are also worthy of remembrance.

Not much is known about the country’s first “first lady,” even from her own correspondence.

She burned most of the letters between her and her husband, George, soon after he died. But the few remaining words he wrote to her, and the letters penned by other family members and friends, speak of Martha Dandridge Custis Washington as a devoted wife and mother, gracious hostess, and tireless manager of hearth and home.

Becoming a first lady has been referred to as the country’s second toughest job. Perhaps just as a pastor’s wife is inspected under a magnifying glass, a first lady endures the same fate—if not more intense scrutiny. And it is essentially a thankless 56

Deena Bouknight

and lonely job. Martha was the first to endure the unofficial position, but she fulfilled her duty and set the stage for the other wives who would follow.

A Traditional Upbringing The preparation for her historic role began as the first-born daughter of John and Frances Dandridge on June 2, 1731, on a plantation near Williamsburg, Virginia. While she was not educated in the manner that we are familiar with today, she did learn what was typical for a girl in an 18th-century family: social and domestic skills. She also enjoyed the pleasures of her time in learning about music, how to dance, and to embroider. And, unlike many young proper girls, she loved horses and riding— side saddle, of course.

Martha was a short, dark-haired woman of 18 when she married wealthy Virginia planter Daniel

An oil painting of George Washington and the first lady sitting at a table with their grandchildren standing to the left and right of the president.

ABOVE

RIGHT An engraved portrait of Mrs. Martha Dandridge Custis Washington, circa 1780.

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History | American Authors

The Boomtown Birth of Mark Twain Self-made writer Mark Twain drew inspiration from the the rough-and-ready West WRITTEN BY

T

wentieth-century American author William Faulkner called him “the father of American literature.” But few of his compatriots today know of his raucous literary upbringing in a silver-mining boomtown.

Unaccomplished and undecided as to his future, he first took up writing as a career in Nevada, and there he adopted a pen name and attracted a readership.

Today, Mark Twain is esteemed as one of our nation’s most revered writers and humorists.

Riches in Words Samuel Langhorne Clemens set foot in Virginia City to work at the newspaper Territorial Enterprise in September 1862, 15 months after he rode west on the Overland stage with his older brother Orion, the newly appointed secretary of 72

David Coulson

the Nevada Territory. The 26-year-old adventurer spent most of that time prospecting for gold and silver, enduring hard manual labor and wretched quarters, and “living on alkali water and whang leather.”

He showed up at the newspaper wearing a scruffy slouch hat, a faded blue flannel shirt, and threadbare trousers that hung on his boot tops. “A tangle of reddish-brown hair fell to his shoulders and a mass of tawny beard dropped half way to his waist,” according to his first biographer.

In this extremity, Clemens turned to journalism. As it happened, the Enterprise had published breezy burlesques he had submitted with the pseudonym “Josh”—presumably intended as more verb than noun—that convinced co-owner and editor Joseph Goodman to offer him a job.

“Twenty-five dollars a week,” Mark Twain would

Mark Twain, before he adopted his signature mustache, 1863.

ABOVE

ABOVE RIGHT An 1864 lithograph of the Territorial Enterprise Building.

FAR RIGHT Twain’s presumed desk in the Territorial Enterprise. It was rebuilt following the Great Fire of 1875.

AMERI CAN ESSE NCE

American Authors | History

either amusing or irritating them with writing as erratic as his moods, sometimes approaching brilliance, sometimes descending into banality.

Straight news was too mundane for the novice reporter. “Stirring news was what a paper needed,” and he considered himself “peculiarly endowed with the ability to furnish it.” He recognized such stories were easily concocted: Exaggeration could propel the most trivial event onto the front page. His first day on the job, he recalled a decade later in his rollicking memoir “Roughing It”: I found one wretched old hay-wagon dragging in from the country. But I made affluent use of it. I multiplied it by sixteen, brought it into town from sixteen different directions, made sixteen separate items of it, and got up such another sweat about hay as Virginia City had never seen in this world.

Presently, when things began to look dismal again, a desperado killed a man in a saloon and joy returned once more. I wrote up the murder with a hungry attention to details. write, “it looked like bloated luxury—a fortune—a sinful and lavish waste of money.”

It was on the cusp of flush times when devilish spending and feverish mining activity shaped the Comstock Lode culture. Swelling to a population of more than 15,000 in the rush of 1863, Virginia City was poised to become a sagebrush metropolis. Even so, the Missouri son was under no illusions: “We may want poetry,” but the landscape “looks something like a singed cat.”

The Territorial Enterprise had just moved into its new, three-story brick building on bustling C Street crowded with quartz wagons and freight teams. The oldest and most prominent newspaper in the territory, it was a thriving daily, employing a fistful of columnists and a covey of reporters whom Goodman handled with a loose rein, nurturing their creative talents and high spirits. The brash and slapdash Sam Clemens thrived under the casual regime.

Sledgehammer Humor and Stirring News His stint on the newspaper introduced him to journalists who would have great influence on his development as a writer. They were men who believed in robust, spirited journalism, who believed in giving full play to rough humor.

Clemens’s sledgehammer comic style evoked guffaws from the rambunctious miners that echoed off the mountains and coursed down the canyons of the mother lode. He grabbed their attention by ISSU E 8 | AU G UST 2 0 2 2

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History | American Authors

Around the newspaper, Clemens was known for a foul-smelling pipe that his colleagues dubbed “The Remains” and for a “sulphurous temper” that led them to call him “The Incorrigible.” Although he could be exasperating, the reporter and later city editor was liked and admired by his colleagues.

“Back in the old days Sam was the best company,” Goodman said, “the drollest entertainer and the most interesting fellow imaginable. His humor always cropped out.”

Taunting Hunk of Stone After about a month on the Territorial Enterprise, Clemens created the “Petrified Man” hoax to ridicule the flurry of dubious newspaper accounts of fossilized remains that had fired the public’s imagination. “The mania was becoming a little ridiculous. I felt called upon to destroy this growing evil.

I chose to kill the petrification mania with a delicate, a very delicate satire.”

With solemn absurdity, he recounted the discovery of a “stony mummy” in nearby Gravelly Ford, exemplified by his ingenious depiction of its pose.

“The body was in a sitting posture, and leaning against a huge mass of croppings; the attitude was pensive, the right thumb resting against the side of the nose, the left thumb partially supported the chin, the fore-finger pressing the inner corner of the right eye and drawing it back partly open.” An

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inquest conducted by Justice Sewell of Humboldt City concluded the “deceased came to his death from protracted exposure.”

This and his subsequent humbugs were intended to be humorous. Success demanded they carry immediate conviction but only temporary deception. The trick was to achieve superficial plausibility; Clemens did that in “The Petrified Man,” employing his most sober reportorial style.

The story was quickly picked up by other newspapers and spread east. It bred hostility from editors who could not forgive themselves for their slow-witted failure to read the satirical tale intelligently. Through the hoax, Clemens ridiculed the local politician Sewall and mocked a gullible public and press with a taunting hunk of stone winking and thumbing its nose at them.

“To find a petrified man, or break a stranger’s leg, or cave an imaginary mine, or discover some dead Indians in a Gold Hill tunnel, or massacre a family at Dutch Nick’s, were feats and calamities that we never hesitated about devising when the public needed matters of thrilling interest for breakfast,” Mark Twain wrote in 1868. “The seemingly tranquil ENTERPRISE office was a ghastly factory of slaughter, mutilation and general destruction in those days.”

Clemens gained a reputation in the Western press as half-cocked, ludicrous, smart-alecky, and

BELOW Revered for his wisdom and humor, Twain is one of America’s most beloved writers.

FAR RIGHT In business since 1876, the Bucket of Blood is one of the oldest bars in Virginia City, Nev.

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Overline | Section

maniacal. Some serious-minded editors dismissed him as a frivolous fool. Others gasped at his audacity but were eager to invigorate their columns with his provocative and uproarious words lifted from the Enterprise. Regrettably, most of the stories that gained him notoriety were lost in the Great Fire of 1875 that ignited Virginia City.

Two Whiskeys and Two Marks A decade after the nom de plume “Mark Twain” first appeared in the Territorial Enterprise on February 3, 1863, the author claimed he’d appropriated it from a Mississippi riverboat captain.

More convincing, Comstock Lode legend holds he acquired the pen name before it ever appeared in print, derived from his habit of striding into the Old Corner saloon and calling out “Mark Twain!” in his Southern drawl to the bartender. It was a term from his Mississippi steamboat pilot days signifying two fathoms—safe water. But in Virginia City, it meant set up two whiskeys for Sam Clemens and put down two marks against his account.

On major assignment late that fall, Mark Twain went to Carson City to cover the first Nevada Constitutional Convention ahead of anticipated statehood. Undoubtedly, it was satisfying for the former prospector to return to the capital, where a year earlier he had been regarded as “no more than an amusing indolent fellow.” The shabby clothes and scraggly beard of his mining days were gone. Now stylishly mustachioed and coiffured, he dressed for journalism in a frock coat and matching vest, starched shirt, and silk bow tie.

The dapper reporter could be affable and garrulous but was too reticent to be a grinning gladhander. Straight-faced in his photographs, he avowed, “There is nothing more damning to go down to posterity than a silly, foolish smile caught and fixed forever.” A literary critic and close friend of young Mark Twain affirmed he did not relinquish himself easily. “He glimmered at you from the narrow slits of fine blue-greenish eyes, and he was apt to smile in your face with a subtle but amiable perception, and yet with a sort of remote absence: you were all there for him, but he was not all there for you.”

Outgrown Britches By 1864, Mark Twain began to show signs of the doldrums, of craving a change of scene, of needing a new challenge. He was 29 when he left Virginia City in late May and immature for his age. Flat-out arrogant, he reprimanded the Enterprise owners in their own columns and gave public instruction in journalism to the editor of the Carson City Independent.

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vvv “Mark Twain, as a reporter, was earnest and enthusiastic in such work as suited him.”

—DA N D E Q U I L L E , T WA I N ’ S M E N TO R AT T H E T E R R I TO R I A L E N T E R P R I S E N E W S PA P E R

He had learned all he was likely to on the Comstock. Enterprise comrade and mentor Dan De Quille perhaps best took his professional measure: “Mark Twain, as a reporter, was earnest and enthusiastic in such work as suited him—really industrious—but when it came to ‘cast-iron’ items, he gave them ‘a lick and a promise.’”

The Territorial Enterprise granted him a free hand to cultivate imaginative writing. This freedom was in some respects harmful. At times, he wrote with too little restraint, which could result in coarseness or overzealousness.

The 21 months Mark Twain spent in Nevada journalism were an important catalyst to his growing confidence for self-expression and clearly contributed to his development as a writer. His stories, hoaxes, and parodies grew into a thoroughly American literary genre. Through his keen wit, vivid imagery, and carefree writing style fully realized in “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” he fashioned a satirical and hilarious life on the Western mining frontier. • 75

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Landscapes | Arts & Letters

The Majestic Beauty of

Niagara Falls

How 19th-century landscape painters Frederic Edwin Church and Ferdinand Richardt depicted the grandest waterfall in New York WRITTEN BY

I

“Niagara Falls, From the American Side”

by Frederic Edwin Church, 1867. Oil on canvas. Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh.

n the 19th century, realistically painted works of the Romantic period offered viewers in America, and across the Atlantic, the chance to glimpse the grandiosity of some of North America’s mightiest natural landmarks.

Master painters such as Frederic Edwin Church chose spectacular sites such as Niagara Falls to depict the essential divinity inherent in the natural world.

America found a significant part of its young identity in these majestic places and the paintings that they inspired. Romanticist artists devoted themselves to capturing nature’s grandeur through the theatrically dramatic use of light, color, composition, and minute detail. In this noble effort, artists like Church sought not only to paint beautiful landscapes, but also to imbue their works with the sublimity of the Creator: the source who breathes life into the natural wonders the artists chose to depict.

Frederic Edwin Church, an American painter of the Hudson River School, was the first to capture the awe-inspiring scale and power of Niagara Falls. His large, horizontal canvas titled “Niagara” was a blockbuster hit of its day and was exhibited as a solo show in New York after its completion in 1857.

Celebrated as the finest American painting of its time, this large canvas attracted over 100,000 visitors in its first two weeks on display. “Niagara” was later shipped across the Atlantic Ocean for a tour

Jeff Perkin

of Britain and was displayed at the Paris World Exposition in 1867. There, it served to well-represent America’s growing artistic prowess and the natural allure of North America’s wilderness.

The Artistic Genius of Frederic Edwin Church Church’s mastery is apparent in his thoughtfully designed compositions as well as in his exceptional attention to detail. Some visitors were said to bring binoculars in order to admire the finer details of his work, which truly invites close observation. Today, viewers can analyze the work in all of its incredible minutiae by visiting the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., or by examining the high-resolution image displayed on the museum’s website.

Stretched at a width of over 7 feet, the canvas’s significant dimensions allowed Church to encapsulate the wide bend of Horseshoe Falls and meticulously render the massive body of water and its surroundings.

“Niagara” gives the viewer the sensation of hovering above the river as it quickly roars toward the falls. Church’s brilliant decision to keep the river’s edge out of the picture plane fills the foreground of the painting with only water, rapids, and a tree trunk that is only milliseconds from plunging over the edge: a fitting way to represent one of the world’s greatest waterfalls. Church also lowered the foreground of the waterfall so that its details could be enjoyed from a slight aerial view 91

Arts & Letters | Landscapes

while maintaining a more natural plane toward the middle of the painting.

A small strip of land separates water and sky, which is bathed in golden light. Beyond the distant water’s edge are easily overlooked, yet expertly rendered, elements of the natural landscape sprinkled with buildings and homesteads that are surprisingly imperceptible at first glance.

The large sky is purposefully toned down to contrast the bright white foam of the falls, emerald blue highlights of water, and vivid glowing light of a fragmented rainbow.

Views for Americans and Canadians Alike In 1867, Church completed another Niagara Falls masterpiece titled “Niagara Falls, from the American Side.” Church composed this canvas vertically from beyond the American and Bridal Veil waterfalls (Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls: Bridal Veil, American, and Horseshoe).

The Canadian side of Horseshoe Falls is deep in the distance of the painting, allowing the artwork to encapsulate a viewpoint that is nearly opposite to his former painting, “Niagara.”

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In his depictions of Niagara Falls, Church opted to restore the area’s pristine views by removing most evidence of the tourist industry that was already experiencing swarms of people in the mid-19th century. Instead, he decided to include an imaginary and precarious-looking perch from which a very small figure peers over a railing into the cloud of mist below.

Water and trees at the left side of the painting are executed with hyper-realistic detail. They stand out sharply against the large area of foaming water and mist, which floats in a haze across most of the painting’s surface. This impressive sight is the result of hundreds of thousands of gallons of water falling every second at Niagara Falls.

Church’s devotion to every detail of the scene’s rocks, water, and mist earned him high praise from critics and artists alike.

In his five-volume work titled “Modern Painters,” John Ruskin, famed Victorian art critic, wrote, “The imperative duty of the landscape painter is to descend to the lowest details with undiminished attention. Every class of rock, every kind of earth, every form of cloud, must be

BELOW Oil sketch of the Canadian Falls and Goat Island

by Frederic Edwin Church, circa 1856.

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York.

RIGHT “Underneath Niagara Falls” by Ferdinand Richardt, 1862. Oil on canvas.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

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Tulip fields in Skagit Valley, Wash.

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Answers to history quiz on pg 9 1. False. While Ford invented the Model T, this was not the first automobile.

2. True. Franklin performed his experiment in June 1752 and wrote about it in the Pennsylvania Gazette in October, without mentioning that he himself was the experimenter.

3. True. George Washington Carver National Monument is located in Missouri, and it was the first such park to honor an African American.

4. False. Tesla came up with the ideas for these things but could not obtain the funding to realize his projects.

5. True. The records aboard the Voyager space probes contain over 100 images and a variety of sounds, including greetings in 55 languages.

6. True. A man tried to steal Knight’s invention, but she took him to court and won her case.

7. True. Franklin became both nearsighted and farsighted as he aged, and he got tired of switching between two pairs of glasses.

8. False. While Edison did stage electrocutions of dogs and an elephant, he was trying to prove the dangers of alternating current.

9. False. Oppenheimer later became an advocate for nuclear peace.

10. True. Einstein could not get a job in physics after graduating from college, but he liked spending time alone to think and solve problems.

11. False. Whitney never made much money due to patent infringement issues.

On the Cover Photo: Courtesy of Polynesian Voyaging Society Pictured: The Hokule‘a canoe arrives at Honolua Bay, in Maui, Hawaii.

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Gone Fishin’ WRITTEN & PHOTOGRAPHED BY

OAK MOUNTAIN STATE PARK in Pelham, Alabama, is located on a sprawling 11,000 acres of land, filled with rare oaks, rare animals like the bald eagle, and scenic waterways. The history of Oak Mountain can be traced as far back as A.D. 1000, with the recent discovery of Mississippian era artifacts including arrowheads, tools, and pieces of pottery. Because of the park’s natural springs, there is evidence that the area was once a hunting ground for bears, elk, and deer.

Today, there are plenty of recreational activities, including archery, BMX, falconry, a demonstration farm, and a 128

Karim Shamsi-Basha

Treetop Nature Trail, where you walk along an elevated boardwalk in a woodland valley to view vultures, owls, and other wildlife. There are also five hiking trails, ranging from 1.8 to 8 miles. Hikers can take short detours to view the valley and meadows along the beautiful ridgetops. One of the most vigorous hikes begins at the beach area, then ascends 2 miles to the 65-foot cascade of Peavine Falls, one of the park’s most iconic features.

Among the many visitors each year are fishing enthusiasts, who take advantage of the calm waters at Lake Purdy to find a catch—amid stunning sunset views. • AMERI CAN ESSE NCE

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