Florida Frontier Gazette Vol 3 No 1 by Florida Frontier Gazette

FLORIDA

Vol. 3 No. 1

Where old news is good news!

January-March 2000

BRITISH ATTACK FORT MOSE Families Flee to St. Augustine

1. From which part of Africa was Francisco Menendez brought to America? 2. Who was the Governor of Florida in the early 1700’s? 3. What is a shovel test? 4. Where did the young women of the Job Corps live? 5. What were some common tools made from the columella of a Horse Conch? 6. What kind of uses did a Quohog shell have? 7. For what ceremony was the Lightning Whelk used? 8. Why were the pioneer Florida Artists called the “Highwaymen?” 9. How much would you have paid for the Highwaymen’s work? 10. What were the duties required of a teacher in St. Augustine in 1872? 11. How much of a raise would a teacher receive if he proved himelf worthy? 12. What were some of the advantages of attending a private Florida academy advertized in 1885?

Florida Fortress of Freedom was attacted by General Oglethorpe’s Army in 1740. Slaves who made it to Spanish Florida automatically found freedom if they agreed to defend Spain against the English and became Catholics. Not a bad deal concidering their alternative.

FRANCISCO MENENDEZ The Story of Slave who becomes a Soldier/Sailor by Robert Hawk

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Events …page 2 & 3 Digging History … page 4 Editorial …page 5 Job Corps…page 6 Frontier Gazette Was There …page 6 & 7 Gifts from the Ocean …page 8 Florida’s Beauty Caught on Canvas by Highwaymen …page10 Daniel Dolan …page 11 Book Reiws …page 12, 13, 14 Florida Frontier.com …page 15 Recipes ... page 16

The story of Blacks in the military and naval service of Florida begins in the earliest weeks of settlement of the colony by the Spaniards and continues to this day. Without argument, the most prominent, successful and famous of all to perform these services to Florida in the first half of its long and colorful history was the former slave, Francisco Menendez. Francisco (his African name is unknown) was brought to the English plantation settlements in the Carolinas as a teenage slave from the Portuguese colony of Angola in southwest Africa. Having suffered one or more whippings and other indignities at the hands of his new masters and hearing of a possible sanctuary in the Spanish lands to the south, this young slave ran away and successfully reached Spanish St. Augustine in the Floridas about the year 1718. He voluntarily became a slave of a

local government official in whose service he learned to read and write, transact business and prepare for formal acceptance into the Catholic Church. After embracing Catholicism, he assumed the Spanish name of Francisco Menendez, became a free citizen and prospered in his new home. He was a success in business and contributed to many worthy local causes. He joined the local Black militia company and was soon appointed its First Sergeant. When the troubles with the English to the north became open warfare, Menendez was commissioned a Captain and placed in command of the Black militia of St. Augustine which included all Blacks in the city and those associated with free Black settlement of Gracia de la Mose, three miles north of the city, established by other former slaves from the English colonies. During the siege of St. Augustine by the English in 1740, Menendez com-

manded the Black militia which, in conjunction with other Spanish colonial troops, successfully assaulted the English garrison occupying the small fort at the Mose settlement. The English garrison was almost annihilated. There were rumors that some Indian and Black Spanish militia may have killed wounded English prisoners. Less than a year later, Menendez was in command of the boarding troops, in effect sailors and marines, carried by a local ship commissioned as a privateer by Florida’s governor, Manuel de Montiano, to prey on English shipping in the area. The ship’s crew were almost entirely local Spanish Florida army and navy militiamen. After a period of some success, the ship was captured by an English warship in late 1742. Menendez was recognized by the English as the former commander of the Black militia accused of killed prisoners at Fort Mose. The ship’s officers refused to grant him the status of prisoner of war. Instead, they proposed to sell him as a slave in the Bahamas. See Menendez…page 4

EVENTS CALENDAR NORTH CENTRAL SOUTH

NORTH January

1-2 Fernindina Beach at Fort Clinch State Park, UNION GARRISON, Sat. 9-5, Sunday 9-Noon. Located off A1A on Amelia Island. (904) 277-7274 5-8 Tallahassee, Hernando de Soto State Archaeological Site DE SOTO’S 1539 WINTER ENCAMPMENT, Hernando de Soto and his entrada occupied the native village of Anhaica where on christmas they celebrated the first Christmas Mass in North America. Located at 1022 De Soto Park Drive. Contact: C.W.Smith or Shirley Deal (904) 922-6007 Web Site www. freenet.scri.fsu.edu/Historic_Preservation/ de_soto.html. 15 Wakulla Springs State Park & Lodge. FIRESIDE CHATS. Sit by the crackling fire and listen to tales of florida folklore. Free in Lodge lobby. Ask about River Boat Cruises & Wildlife Hikes. (850) 224-5950. 20 NAS Pensacola, National Museum of Naval Aviation, YEAR 2000 Live in Person Concerts, A Salute to Benny Goodman - “The King of Swing” by Clarinetist Terry Myers and his orchestra with Xylophonist Peter Appleyard and vocalist Michelle Amato. Doors open 6 PM Concert Starts at 7 PM Tickets $15 Foundation Members $13 Call (850)453-2389 or (800) 327-5002 for season tickets.

February

5-6 Fernindina Beach at Fort Clinch State Park, UNION GARRISON, Sat. 9-5, Sunday 9-Noon. Located off A1A on Amelia Island. (904) 277-7274 8 NAS Pensacola, National Museum of Naval Aviation, YEAR 2000 Live in Person Concerts, Those Sentimental Gentlemen” The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra led by Trombonist Buddy Morrow with vocalist Walt Andrus. Doors open 6 PM Concert Starts at 7 PM Tickets $15 Foundation Members $13 Call (850)453-2389 18-19 Olustee at Olustee Battlefield State Historic Site, OLUSTEE BATTLE REENACTMENT, battle at 3:30 pm on Saturday. experienced soldiers’ lives as nearly 2000 reenactors portray Florida’s only major Civil War Battle. Calvary, artillery, medical units and infantrymen portray events leading up to and during the Battle of Olustee. Period music, demos and sutlers. 44 adults/$2 students. located on US 90, 15 miles E. of Lake City. 18-20 Tallahassee, at Bradley’s Trading Post,18th Century Trade Fair. Mayors of Merchant Street Rick and Susan Haven invite you to an 18 acre site, rich in history, with two acre lake surrounded by live oaks. Native American and military camps across the lake, civilians under the pines. Features Early Spanish, French, Scottish, and Southeastern Indians. ALL participants will present themselves in period attire and conform to period habits and social graces meaning NO modern jewelry, eyeglasses, cigarettes or rubber soled footwear and NO public drinking. NO modern tenting or merchandizing permitted.Wood, water, straw and ice provided. Exit 30 o I-10, go N to Thomasville Rd., right on Capital Circle tol eft on Centerville Rd. , go approx. 12 miles to Bradey’s and Faire. Jan Winans, 2945 Spinnaker Ct., Tallahassee,FL, 32303 E-Mail: janleroy@aol.com 25-27 Gainesville at Paynes Praiie State Preserve 3rd Annual PAYNES PRAIRIE KNAP-IN & PRIMITVE ARTS FESTIVAL.

See how early man lived and worked: flint knapping; deer hide brain tanning, bone, wood and antler carving, Old and New World bow and arrow construction, basket weaving, early pottery techniques along with bow and atlatl demonstrations. Park fee. (352) 466-4100. 26 Wakulla Springs State Park & Lodge. FIRESIDE CHATS. Sit by the crackling fire and listen to tales of Florida folklore. Free in Lodge lobby. (850) 224-5950. 22 NAS Pensacola, National Museum of Naval Aviation, YEAR 2000 Live in Person Concerts, “Swing and Sway” again with Trumpeter Roger Thorpe leading The Sammy Kaye Orchestra, vocals by Karina Keene, Ray Lamere and the The Kaydets. Doors open 6 PM Concert Starts at 7 PM Tickets $15 Foundation Members $13 Call (850)453-2389 26 St. Augustine, 481st Anniversary Menendez Birthday Festival 10:30 am - 5 pm. Gregorian Mass at the CathedralBasilica of St. Augustine, a festival in the Plaza de la Constitucion, a Grand Paseo parade down St. George Street and a ceremony at the Menendez statue in front of the Lightner Building/City Hall. Noche de Gala ( 16th Century Spanish banquet. 7pm- until. 16th C. clothing or Black tie. Mask required) for advanced purchase tickets and info contact: Nella Rogero Holton (904) 825-5088 or 825-5033

March

4-5 Tallahassee/Woodville, at Natural Bridge State Historic Site NATURAL BRIDGE BATTLE REENACTMENT Battle at 2:30 on March 5. Free to everyone. Reenactment of 1865 CW battle which defeated the Union takeover of Tallahassee, the only confederate capital east of the Missippippi which didn’t fa;; into the Union hands. Encamps open to publicfrom 10 AM to 4:PMdaily. Park located approx. 20 miles S of Tallahassee, 6 miles east of Woodville on Natural Bridge Rd. off SR 363. (850) 922-6007. 4-5 Fernindina Beach at Fort Clinch State Park, UNION GARRISON, Sat. 9-5, Sunday 9-Noon. Located off A1A on Amelia Island. (904) 277-7274 7 NAS Pensacola, National Museum of Naval Aviation, YEAR 2000 Live in Person Concerts, The World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra led bt Trombonist Larry O’Brien, vocals by Julia Rich, Nick Hilscher and the Moonlight Serenaders. Doors open 6 PM Concert Starts at 7 PM Tickets $15 / Members $13 Call (850)453-2389. 18-19 Fernindina Beach at Fort Clinch State Park, Spanish American War Event, Sat. 9-5, Sunday 9-Noon. Located off A1A on Amelia Island. (904) 277-7274. 25 NAS Pensacola, National Museum of Naval Aviation, YEAR 2000 Live in Person Concerts, Trumpeter Al DePew leads the “Music Makers” Orchestra of Harry James. Doors open 6 PM Concert Starts at 7 PM Tickets $15/ Members $13 Call (850)453-2389. 25 Gainesville, Museum of Natural History - Powell Hall, DOWN LIKE LEAD: 400 Years of Florida Shipwrecks. Noon to 4 p.m. 16th-19th Century “Time Travellers” will be on hand to interpret the period and answer questions. Exhibit opens March 4, Hull Rd and SW 34th St., Contact: Betty Dunckel Camp, (352) 846-2000. 25-26 Fernindina Beach at Fort Clinch State Park, CONFEDERATE GARRISONS, Sat. 9-5, Sunday 9-Noon. Located off A1A on Amelia Island. Contact (904) 277-7274 25-26 Inverness at Fort Cooper State Park, FORT COOPER DAYS, 9-4 PM. Visit an old Seminole War Reeactment. the days include authentic Native American and US soldier Camps, battle skirmishes, heritage crafts, live music, and much, much more. Fee $3 per adult, 41 per child ages 5-7. Kids under 5 FREE. (352) 726-0315. 25-27 Inverness at McGregor-Smith Scout Reservation, Southeastern Cultural Society Encampment, Living History programs and activities, Feast Saturday night. Contact:David Mott or Jason Wolz Web Site or E-Mail:David

Mott or SCS Hosted Events.

CENTRAL January

1-2 Bushnell. Dade State Historic Site, ANNUAL COMMEMORATIVE BATTLE, Reenactment Second Seminole War when Major Fancis Dade and his command of 107 U.S. soldiers were ambushed by 180 Seminole warriors at this site on December 28, 1835. Living history camps, food and craft vendors. 1 mile S. of Bushnell on Battlefield Drive, between I-75 and US Hwy 301. (352) 793-4781 11 St. Petersburg at Boyd Hill Nature Park, NATURAL HISTORY Speaker Series, Can a Rabbit Go Extinct? The Plight of the Lower Keys marsh Rabbit, Dr. Beth Forys,of Eckerd College. Meeting at Oak Hall, Environmental Studies Area, 2900 31st St. S. Phone (727) 892-7326. 15-23 Brandon, 29th Annual ALAFIA RIVER RENDEZVOUS, SR-39 at same place as last year. Opening Ceremony Monday, Jan, 22. 4 p.m. All clothing, camps and accoutrements must conform to pre-1840 time-period upon arrival in camp. Early Set-up Fee $15 per person, Rendezvous Fee, $25 per person, Booshways Greg & Cynthia Fulbright, (941) 551-0985 Segundos Charlie & Susan Hager (813)6542829 Day Visitors on Friday, Jan. 21 and Saturday, Jan. 22 from 9-4 p.m. only. $5/ adults $3/Students. 16 St. Petersburg at Sunken Gardens/ Great Explorations, REPTILES OF THE WORLDJoin naturalist Doug Scull and his slithery friends. 1 & 3 pm, Admission to Sunken Gardens, $4 adults. 20 Tampa at MOSI, Eclipse Watch, 9 pm to midnight, On this evening the moon will enter the shadow of the earth for the final time this millenium, for residents of Tampa Bay. It will be over by 2:24 am. Don’t miss it! Watch from atop the IMAX® Dome Theatre. Fee $2, 4801 E. Fowler Ave. Contact: (813) 987-6300. 28-30 Dade City at Withlacoochee River Park, FORT DADE MOUNTAIN MAN RENDEZVOUS, 9 - 5 $2.00 adults, Children 12 and under free. 1244 Withlacoochee River Blvd., from US 301 take the

Haulin’ wood, water and supplies to your camp is much easier with a

friend. Don’t miss the upcomin’ Ala-

fia River Rendezvous OR Singing River Rendezvous.

98 by-pass (truck route) to River Road and follow the Rendezvous signs. (352- 5670264 or (352) 583-3388. 28-29 Lakeland at Tigertown, 2000 LAKELAND PIG FESTIVAL, Florida Frontiersmen Traders invited to exhibit. 29 Largo at Heritage Village. PINELLAS FOLK FESTIVAL 10AM-4 PM An annual celebration of Florida folk music, storytelling and pioneer crafts performed by skilled artisans. (727) 582-2123. 29 St. Petersburg at Sunken Gardens/Great Explorations, Souteastern Guide Dogs. Learn how these dogs are bred, trained and supplied to help the blind. 1 & 2 pm, Free with admission to Sunken Gardens. 29-30 Ruskin at Camp Bayou, SCHOOL of the 16th CENTURY, Lots of fun and wonderful information about the cultures of Spanish and Florida’s first people. $15 entry fee for weekend Lunch is provided as you learn to cook over an open fire. Overnight camping in period tents. See ad for details amd map.

February

Jan 31 - Feb. 6 Bradenton at Flying Eagle Camp, SINGING RIVER RENDEZVOUS. Pre-1840’s Mountainmen. Opening Ceremony , Feb. 2 Open to the public Fe. 3 - 6. Campers (modern, primitive or trader)$30.00 Day visitors Adult $5.00 and Students $3.00 Located at Camp Flying Eagle on Upper Manatee River Rd off Hwy. 64 east of Interstate 75. Karen and Bob Lamb: e-mail: kslbopeep@aol.com 5 - 4/30 Daytona Beach at Museum of Arts

Vol.2 No.4 Oct. - Dec. 1999 Published Quarterly by Neily Trappman Studio 5409 21st Ave. S. • Gulfport • FL • 33707 Phone (727)321-7845 E-Mail tocobaga@floridafrontier.com Web Site http//www.floridafrontier.com

“Understanding the past gives you the freedom to plan for the future.” Writers: Robert Hawk Bill Ruggie Elizabeth Neily Joseph Schmit Benedict Tutoli Hermann Trappman Illustrations/Photography: Elizabeth Neily Hermann Trappman Computer Service: specializing in Apple Macintosh George Watson (727) 321-7845 John Mariner (727) 823-0933 Webmaster: Greg Johnson thiswayto the.net

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1 YEAR/4 ISSUES - $8.00 2 YEARS/8 ISSUES - $14.00 Please send name, address and phone # with check payable to

Neily Trappman Studio

Writers, artists, photographers may submit articles to us for concideration. Subject matter must be written in style appropriate for all age groups from the 4th grade into the golden years. This is not meant to be a scholarly publication but one to increase awareness of Florida’s rich and varied heritage.We want to celebrate our past, not dwell wholely on our failures.

and Sciences, Processing Elvis, a photodocumentary made on march 24, 1958, offers a glimpse into a pivotal moment in the life of an American cultural icon. The U.S. army spent that day processing Elvis Presley and William Leaptrott, a former classmate of Presley, made 10 remarkable and rare photos. 1040 Museum Blvd. Susan Cerbone: (904) 255-0285 ext. 17. 8 St. Petersburg at Boyd Hill Nature Park, NATURAL HISTORY Speaker Series, Florida Burrowing Owl Project, Pamela J. Bowen, Un. of Central Florida. Meeting at Oak Hall, Environmental Studies Area, 2900 - 31st St. S. Phone (727) 892-7326. 11 - 8/3 Daytona Beach at Museum of Arts and Sciences, Drawings and Photographs of Norman Rockwell. In 1961, fabled American Illustrator Norman Rockwell was commissioned by the Volusia County Coucil to produce a set of beach scenes as the basis for a national ad campaigne for the “most famous beach”. 1040 Museum Blvd. Susan Cerbone: (904) 255-0285 ext. 17. 12 Largo at Heritage Village. WORLD WAR II DAYS 10AM-4 PM Military Encampment, displays of memorilbia, swing music, and more. (727) 582-2123. 11-13 Tampa, at Hillsborough River State Park, FORT FOSTER RENDEZVOUS, the only standing replica of a Second Seminole War Fort in the United States. Come see Army, Navy, and Militia Reenactors garrison the fort. Period crafts and living history demonstrators. Early set up Tues., Feb. 8th for reenactors. Fri. school tours Approximately 20 miles NE of Tampa, 6 miles SW of Zephyrhills on US 301. Fort Forster Home Page http://www. fortfoster.homepage.com. Quartermaster Ralph Van Blarcom (813) 996-3847 or email rvbl@mindspring.com or Booshway: Bushman Jack (813) 949-5680. Ranger Station 813-987-6771 10-21 Tampa at State Fair Grounds,

FLORIDA STATE FAIR -

a New Beginning for Old Traditions. Adult $7 Advance $5, Child ( ages 6-11) $4 Advance $3, (5 and under free) Seniors Days, Tues. 2/15 Wed. 2/16 & Thurs. 2/17. Student Days Friday 2/11 and Momday 2/21. Grades 1-12: $3. Mid way Tickets $20 & $16. Advanced mailorder deadline Jan 21, 2000. “UPN $$ Family Fun Pack $44 for 2 adults and 2 child. - Includes 80 ride Tickets % 10% off Cox. For Info on Group Rates and Advanced Tickets call (813) 6217821 or 1-800-345-3247Restaurants 13 Bradenton at De Soto National Memorial, 16th Century Living History Camp. Demonstrations of period weapons, food, Spanish Conquistadors with members of Calderon Company. Contact Denise Spear at (941) 792-0458 / #11. 29 St. Petersburg at Sunken Gardens/Great Explorations, FLORIDA WILDLIFE” THE PREDATORS. Join naturalist, Doug Scull and his snakes, spiders and birds, of prey for a close-up encounter with Florida’s wild things.1 & 3 pm, Free with admission.

FORT FOSTER February 11th, 12th, 13th... Early check in on Feb 9th. RENDEZVOUS 2ND SEMINOLE WAR Rendezvous

2 skirmishes...powder ration, showers, firewood, water, chili pot dinner Friday night & a ice cream social Saturday night. Sutlers and traders welcome, registration and fees apply. Need Soldiers, Militia, Civilians, Craftsmen, Seminole Reenactors, Sutlers, Traders etc. Period camping at the site, modern campers contact the Ranger Station. NO PETS PLEASE.

Contact Quartermaster Sgt. Ralph Van Blarcom (813)-996-3847 Hillsborough River State Park, Ranger Station: 987-6771

Fort Foster State Historic Site, Hillsborough River State Park, on Hwy 301, Thonotosassa, Fl.

Check our website:

Http://fortfoster.homepage.com

3rd. Sunday of each month- rain or shine.

At the School of the 16th Century

FORT FOSTER GARRISON WEEKENDS

Turtle Woman will teach you how to live like a pre-historic Indian. She is Y2K ready! 19 St. Petersburg at Sunken Gardens/Great Explorations, WORKING FOR A LIVING: STONE AGE THROUGH THE MILLINIUM . A mixture of storytelling and balladry covers work and labor from the Stone Age to the Technological Age. by Judy Gail of the Florida Speakers Bureau. 1-2 pm with hands on activities to follow. 1 -2 pm, FREE with admission. 29 St. Petersburg at Sunken Gardens/Great Explorations, CARING FOR YOUR PET’S TEETH. How do you get your pet to brush his teeth? Come to this demo and find out. 1 & 2 pm, FREE with admission.

March

4 St. Petersburg at Science Center of Pinellas County, ARCHAEOLOGY DAY 2000, explore the prehistoric cultures of Tampa Bay with archeologists, living historians and demonstrations of primitive technology. Free Family Fun. Contact (727) 384-0027. 4 Largo at Heritage Village. Sheep to Shawl… and More. Spinners and weavers from the Pinellas Weavers Guild will work the wool from the sheep as they are sheared, transforming the raw material into a finished garment. Contact (727) 582-2123. 5 Ellenton at Gamble Plantation State Historic Site. 40th Annual OPEN HOUSE Tour the only remaining antebellum mansion in South Florida. Period costumes, music and folk demonstrations highlight a delightful afternoon at this 1850’s plantation site. 40 miles south of Tampa, 5 mile NE of Bradenton on US 301. (941)964-0375 11-12 Palmetto at Emerson Point Park, SNEAD ISLAND TIME LINE, Living History Camps from prehistoric natives, to Spanish Conquistadors to Civil War to Cracker Settlers and Spanish Fishing Rancho. No info available. 29 St. Petersburg at Sunken Gardens/Great Explorations, WILDLIFE MAGIC SHOW oin naturalist, Doug Scull for a safari filled with magic and learn some cool things about wildlife. 1 & 3 pm, Free with admission.1 & 2 pm, FREE with admission. 14 St. Petersburg at Boyd Hill Nature Park, NATURAL HISTORY Speaker Series, Medicinal Ethnobotany in North America, July Anne Ferguson Demers, Un. of Florida , 7:30 p.m. Oak Hall, Environmental Studies Area, 2900 - 31st St. S. Phone (727) 892-7326 25 Largo at Heritage Village. Vintage Baseball Game. Watch the excitment of old-time baseball as the Largo Crackers take on the Dunedin Rail-Roaders! Period baseball unifiorms will be worn and the game will be played by 1890’s rules. Contact (727) 582-2123. 29 St. Petersburg at Sunken Gardens/Great Explorations, GROOMING YOUR PET FOR STYLE AND COMFORT. How to make your pet healthier and happier with Linda McKee from the SPCA.1 & 2 pm, FREE with admission.

Rick Haven will make sure you comply with camp standards at the

18th Century Trade Faire

Lunch provided for all reenactors as well as a powder ration when needed. Tours will be conducted at the fort in the morning at 10 am and in the afternoon at 2 pm. Reeactors. please be there in the morning at 9 am for dress out. This time will also be used for drilling, meetings and other activities.

28-30 Punta Gorda, FLORIDA FRONtIER DAYS sponsored by the Florida Adventure Museum. Crafts, Music, Storytelling, Hands-on activities and games for kids. Contact Lori Tomlinson (941) 639-3777) www.charlotte-florida.com/museum.

SOUTH January

21-22 Ft. Meyers at Koreshan State Historic Site, GHOST WALKS, By the light of the moon, reenactors bring histoic Koreshan settlement alive. They take visitors back in time to the turn of the last century with presentation of early Koreshans. Fee $5. Tours last 1 hour by reservation only. On US 41 at Corkscrew Rd. (941) 992-0311 28-29 Key West Ft. Zachary Taylor State Historic Site, LIVING HISTORY WEEKEND, Reeactors give visitors a glimpse into daily garrison life of Union soldiers duringthe 1860’s. Park fee. Located at the end of Southard St. on Truman Annex. (305) 292-6713.

February

5-6 Seminole Big Cypress Reservation KISSIMMEE SLOUGH RENDEZVOUS & BATTLE, Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Musem, Alligator Alley to Exit 14, 17 miles n on CR 833 (Snake Rd.) $6-Adults. $4-Seniors/students, Under 6 FREE. Contact Brian Zepeda (941)902-1113 or E-mail: BZepeda@Semtribe.com 21-22 Ft. Meyers at Koreshan State Historic Site, GHOST WALKS, By the light of the moon, reenactors bring historic Koreshan

settlement alive. They take visitors back in time to the turn of the last century with presentation of early Koreshans. Fee $5. Tours last 1 hour by reservation only. On US 41 at Corkscrew Rd. (941) 992-0311 26-27 Key West Ft. Zachary Taylor State Historic Site, LIVING HISTORY WEEKEND, Reeactors give visitors a glimpse into daily garrison life of Union soldiers duringthe 1860’s. Park fee. Located at the end of Southard St. on Truman Annex. (305) 292-6713.

March

4-5 Key West Ft. Zachary Taylor State Historic Site, 13th ANNUAL KEY WEST HERITAGE FESTIVAL, Relish Key’s West’s rich and colorful history as we portray what island life was like from 1830 to 1870. civil War reeactors portray garrison life and civilians demonstrate the skills and crafts of the period. Festival begins with a march through downtown, then a skirmish with a three masted schooner,. Crafts, Sutlers, Union Army Music School and Good Food! Park fee. Located at the end of Southard St. on Truman Annex. (305) 292-6713. 25 Ft. Meyers at Koreshan State Historic Site, 5TH ANNUAL ARCHAEOLOGY FAIR. Renowned archaeologists and local artists come together to interpret the past. On US 41 at Corkscrew Rd. (941) 992-0311 25-26 Key West Ft. Zachary Taylor State Historic Site, LIVING HISTORY WEEKEND. End of Southard St on Truman Annex. (305) 292-6713.

Our FLORIDA STATE PARKS

Pinellas Folk Festival ... a Family Event

Don’t “fiddle” around! Make plans now to attend the Pinellas County Historical Society’s 7th Annual “Pinellas Folk Festival” at:

Heritage Village

Saturday, January 29, 2000 from 10 - 4.

• the best traditional folk, country, gospel, and bluegrass around. • rug hooking, quilting. weaving, spinning, basket making, embroidery, and chair caning demonstrations. • petting zoo and vintage baseball game played by 1890’s rules. • storytelling, music, and poetry area for children. • historic house tours • traditional day-long Jam Circle - bring your own instruments! • vendors selling delicious and diverse Florida cuisine.

PERFORMERS

Brendan Noland * Old Time Friends * Porch Dogs Steve Wallace * Now and Then * Kim Hunt Shana Banana * Charley Groth * Billie Knoaks Windell Campbell * Veroika Jackson (pending) The “Hammerhead” and “String-a-Long” dulcimer players * “Heritage Folk”

The “Pinellas Folk Festival” is sponsored by the Pinellas Historical Society, the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners, the Heritage Rug Hookers, the Pinellas Weaver’s Guild, the Largo Cracker Quilters, and WFLA News Channel 8.

For further information, call Heritage Village at 582-2123.

Menendez continued from page 1

Flight to Freedom Reenactment

Either the plans of the English officers were not endorsed by their superiors or some other event intervened because, by 1743, Menendez was once more in command of the Black militia company in St. Augustine. An older and much respected Menendez was listed among those Florida residents who moved to a new home in Cuba following the advent of British occupation of the peninsula in 1764. It is presumed Menendez died in Cuba as he was not listed among those who returned to the, once more, Spanish Florida in 1784. Still, his was a most unusual and remarkable life; a valued veteran of Florida’s “army and navy”. “ Excerpt from Robert Hawk’s unpublished manuscript: “Florida’s Navy: Naval Militia 1565-1945”.

February 25-26, 2000

This vignette of Francisco Menendez was taken from a poster created by Elizabeth Neily for Florida Archaeology Month 1997. The original painting was donated to the Fort Mose Historical Society by the Florida Anthropological Society

Digging History by Joseph C. Schmidt The landscape changed before my eyes. Where a moment before I had stood in the burgeoning heat of a crowded north Florida pine forest, I now saw open savanna gently rolling off in all directions. Bejeweled here and there with small lakes, the grass sward presented no obstacle to the mild breeze that played over it in my mind - but in my mind only. The vision collapsed with a thud as the reality of close, still air assaulted my senses. The words of Brian Parker, National Forest Service Archaeologist, had momentarily transported me to this very spot, five or six thousand years previously, as he explained his decision to dig… right there! “See that bay head over there? And that one out there? They indicate low spots in the terrain, probably lakes when all this land was higher and drier. He was noting my forehead, awash with sweat despite the early hour. A bay head, apparently, is a crown of bay trees in an otherwise hugely monotonous pine forest. But don’t tell Webster - he doesn’t know. I was here, in the heart of the Oceola National Forest just east of Lake City, FL, because a bug had bitten me. Always having an incipient ardor for history as evidenced through archaeology, I had not long before been introduced to the Forest Service’s PIT (Passport In Time) program, which encourages and enables volunteer participation in archaeological and historical research projects on National Forests throughout the nation. I called (toll-free) and got the (free) PIT Traveler and marveled at the golden opportunities the catalogue held. I could help document petroglyphs in Alaska or rebuild a thirteenth-century Anasazi pueblo in New Mexico. Wow… where’s the catch? “Must be in good physical condition.” Well…relatively. “Knowledge of archaeological techniques desirable.” Aha! There it was… the catch! Thinking that good old fashioned salesmanship could carry the day and circumvent almost anything, I called the National Forest Service and found that no PIT projects are going on in Florida. Having only two open vacation days, I needed

Join the Fort Mose Historical Society

African American Community ofFreedom P.O. Box 4230 St. Augustine, FL 32085-4230

Memberships

Individual $10.00 Seniors/Students $10.00 Family $15.00 Non-Profit Organization $75.00 corporate $150.00 Life Member $250.00

* Life Membership can be paid (within one year) in the following manner. 40% down, 40% within three months. Balance by end of the membership year.

March is Archaeology Month!

something close to home, so I phoned the Archaeologist in charge at the Osceola NF (I like north Florida) and asked if I could volunteer for anything. I figured the experience would help get me in on a PIT project next year. I was told that the only thing going on at the end of May 1998 was compliance survey work - the Aegean stables of archaeology work. All Forest Service land must be surveyed for historical significance prior to any kind of consumptive use - in this case, logging. Survey work is an ongoing, and exhausting, process in a forest the size of the Osceola. Shovel Tests - holes one-half meter (19-20 inches) square and one meter deep - are performed at survey sites. Any positive find necessitates four more holes - ten meters distant, one at each of the four cardinal points. The soil is screened, analyzed and typed, and every artifact, from the humblest flake (the detrius of stone tool-making) to the most exquisite spear point, is catalogued, labeled, and bagged equally. Survey sites yielding evidence of human habitation are not harvested and remain pristine until further research can be done. But just how Brian knew where to start digging is still a mystery to me. Though I could see, in my mind’s eye, the pastoral scene he described, the trees blinded me to the nuances of the topography that actually surrounded us. He seemed to feel it intuitively. Seeking the highest point in that timber-clogged clutter ( a matter of inches, tops!) he set up shop. I dug, he screened. About halfway through, the screen revealed a treasure - a flake of very fine workable limestone known as chert. Odd and angular, obviously random but equally obviously the result of sudden, purposeful pressure, it glinted white ad unique among the pebbles. Here was indisputable evidence that man, in some long forgotten time, had stopped and rested just here, among the upland lakes, and taken the time to catch up on the mundane necessities of life. Perhaps there had been a village here, perhaps a temporary camp. Maybe this was early man’s version of the Catskills - a place of ease and rest and tranquillity. Who knows what further research, ensured now by that one little piece of stone, would

bring to light? I was stuck by the power of this valueless inanimate object… the power to stop the saws and the bulldozers. And I had found it… incredible! Brian and I dug about forth holes, nearly half of which yielded artifacts. flakes, projectile points, a scraper - but the heat won. One hundred sixteen degrees on the forest floor did me in, and ashamed as I should be to admit it, I felt only relief when our tests started coming up empty after defining an area of habitation about the size of a football field. That last ride back to the ranger station in the little green tuck was heaven - A/C or no A/C. At the motel, the shower washed away the heat and fatigue, but it couldn’t dilute my certainty that I had done something right and had grown, somehow, just by giving my time and effort. I had never felt more fully connected to nature, time, the human race, or the conviction that my next foray would involve weenie little trowels and not big, heavy shovels.

To see what opportunities await you, call the PIT Clearinghouse at 800-2819176 and ask them to send you the free PIT Traveler. All you actually need, I’ve since discovered, is a genuine love for history or pre-history. You will be astounded at the things you can do: basket weaving with real folks who invented the art; restoration of NRHP properties; documenting rural tombstones in New Hampshire’s White Mountains; historic photograph archiving in the Sierra Nevada; on and on. Call for the catalogue and either dream or do it. I have, and the trowels are weenie. You can do it, too!

March 30- April 2

16 ANNUAL FLORIDA

STORYTELLING CAMP Y2K: Celebrate Harmony! Featured tellers include: Heather Forest, Margaret Read MacDonald, Ed Stivender, and Rex Ellis . Offering 4 days of storytelling heaven, workshops and symposiums, featured Florida tellers, networking, Story Swap sessions, complete StoryStore, CEUs for educators and storytelling concerts in a friendly and casual atmosphere with reasonable lodging and meals at Camp Lake Yale near Eustis, Florida Contact: Terry Deer, Registrar, 1032 Tompkins Drive, Port Orange, FL 32119 Phone: 904-761-6374 e-mail: tdeer@earthlink.net Website: members.xoom.com/flstory

April 15 Tampa, Storytelling Festival

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Editorial

THE MILLENNIUM BUG by Hermann Trappman

Stepping out your front door beneath the canopy of nighttime sky, you know that the stars blazing away in the heavens are distant suns. If you take a moment to think about them, you reason that the faintest are far away and some of the brightest are probably closer. You may further reflect that there are some huge stars and some smaller. You can do all of that because you live in the last part of the twentieth century. The notion that stars are the faces of angles looking down at you is apparently naive today. But many of the notions which are dearly held in our time seem almost as fanciful. The very idea of a millennium as a universal measurement is a little difficult to fathom. But, we humans desperately want a universe we can control. Our very notion of miracle describes our viewpoint. We want the extraordinary to happen. Imagine a cosmos of the extraordinary. It’s chaos. The miracle is that we can depend on things. You are the miracle. Gravity is the miracle along with mass, inertia and time. Physics, chemistry, geology, biology — these are the miracles. For most of this millennium, the Christian world used the Julian Calendar which was set in 4 AD. It figured the year as 365.25. The number should be closer to 365.242199. Although it doesn’t seem like much, it caused the calendar to be 9 days off by 1492. In 1582, the Catholic Church corrected the problem by giving us the Gregorian Calendar. The English, being English, held onto the Julian Calendar until 1752. By that time, the English were 11 days off, and yet, they still managed to enslave a good part of the world. Actually, the Mayan calendar was more accurate than our European observations. Calendars begin at a significant starting point in some people’s notion of things. But, the cosmos may have very different rhythms, rhythms we may miss altogether or misinterpret.

work toward that goal. The architecture of our modern schools looks like a factory or more often like a prison. What are we really saying to our kids? What are we saying to the future? Is it interesting how America, the melting pot society, has been constantly involved with the notion of uniformity? “America is not so much a melting pot as a tossed salad,” someone recently pointed out. Have we come to see our differences as a difficulty? Our attitudes of racism have their roots in British colonial rule. That period of history is over. It’s time to move on. It was our diversity which built our great nation. Yet, our educational system seems much more interested in forcing conformity than working with diversity and developing the creativity we will need to step into a successful future. “In America,” Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in 1835, “ there is truly no adolescence. At the close of boyhood, he is a man and begins to trace out his own path.” What changed since that time? Now we have a well defined image of what is a teenager. In fact that term, teenager, points to a stereotype within the process of our biological life span. The modern idea of adolescence was expanded into its present form of craziness in 1904 in G. Stanley Hall’s book Adolescence: Its Psychology and Its Relations to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Crime, Religion and Education. The term “teenager” seems to have first appeared in a 1941 Popular Science. That dance of change, that biological wonder of adaptation effused with the hunger for peer community, is a problem? Or is it a problem of control when both parents work and the society has little interest in genuinely understanding, much less working with it? Is the problem that we can’t even cope with our own lives much less the future? Those years of young adulthood,

This moment, Our educational system seems much we have chosen to notice the pasmore interested in forcing conformity sage of a thousand than working with diversity and developyears, might be an ing the creativity we will need to step into important time for reflection. Like the a successful future. English and the calendar, we haven’t done that so well. offer the adult community a need for real We have passed through the most violent honesty. Our kids are a reflection of the millennium in all human history. The besociety we allowed to develop. liefs which soaked the soil with the blood We are so afraid of sexuality that we of war carried us to the very doorstep of give the government power over the most nuclear annihilation. private part of our life. Land of the free Notions that we are somehow more and the home of the brave? Why do we important than the rest of the creatures still snicker and leer in guilt and embarwhich inhabit the globe with us, that the rassment at a biological imperative and rich are more deserving than the poor, that flaunt violence openly? How did we learn the color of the skin or the slant of the eyes that notion? Do the wealthy share the same makes a difference, that management lives response? Our youth are caught in a whirl in a separate community form labor, that wind of contradictory messages. Just Say government employees can resent the No! But, TV displays it in all its suppressed people they serve, all of these ideas have adult perversity. We generously give Jerry laid a trail of blood and suffering for the Springer his ratings. The messages claw entire human species. at our social fabric. Do we want to look Where do we begin? Friends and through someone else’s bedroom window history are great teachers, but it should and feel superior? Do we love it? be honest history. It must be a cause and I have friends who desire paradise effect study which truly evaluates elitism, here on earth. They want a place of all love environmental destruction, social controls and harmony. I believe that this earth is and their origins. I believe that the future paradise, just because there is no constant lies within our view of children. Tongues love and harmony. We should experience fan a wind that we love children, but it is the full range of our emotional life. This is apparent that we mean only our children. the place to test systems, to learn and grow Children in war-torn central Europe die through the challenges. This is a dynamic with little regard, while in Africa, they die system. It is apparent that people need with almost no regard. reward incentives, and so, a certain kind We evaluate our educational system by of capitalism works. We know that there how well our children will perform in the are players who will ruin the game for marketplace. The educational systemthen others. And so, we need a little protection uses tests to regulate that idea. Then, we from those who would take it all. We know

that representative forms of governments always have a better result than a single person on top who tells everybody else what to do. But, we know that there are people who would like to rule… I work for one. We know that the system which our Founding Fathers set up works, but we don’t always take the time to understand why it works. It is the concept of capitalism and representative democracy that our young adults need to understand and work within. They need to understand their biology as well. I believe that they need to be educated more in their community and less in the classroom. And, I believe that the greatest lesson is respect for others along with tolerance and appreciation for the resources offered by diversity. I define Homo sapiens as the communications animal. We alone on this planet look at our genes with recognition. But, what will we recognize, problems, or potential? Here’s to a thoughtful next thousand years!

 TRADITIONS OF CHANGE by Hermann Trappman Socrates was put to death for corrupting the youth of Athens. They weren’t judging him on teaching elementary school children. Students like Xenophon and Alcibiades turned out to be capable of their own agenda and that was dangerous in the opinion of the state. The lessons which Socrates taught, was to question everything. The European model of things tried to determine the future by controlling the present. The notion is found in everything that school touches from their kids to their spouse. They didn’t wait for natural disaster, they turned war into the engine of radical change. Some nations of Native American Indian’s had a different approach. In many of their Grandmother stories there was

the teaching for change. Grandmother represents the culture. Her unruly and determined grandchildren in the story, often twins, bring innovation. The Native People recognized that adaptation was part of life’s natural progress. The vision quest which each child was responsible to perform acted as a socially sanctioned opportunity for change. Children were never hit in Indian society. They were loved and doted over. But when the time came, they were expected to go out and discover who they were and what they had to offer. It was often a powerful and traumatic experience. Most brought back absolute allegiance to their nation. But others brought back a vision of change. All of it was integrated into the society as natural and normal.

MICANOPY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

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Chief Micanopy 1-75 at Exit 73 or 10 miles Head Chief of the Seminole Nation south of Gainesville on US 441. 1835-1842 Visit us On-line! www.afn.org/~micanopy/

The Florida Job Corps Memories FRONTIER GAZETTE was there! by Benedict Tutoli

In retrospect,it was all so unlikely. the year was 1965. The season, spring. The project, the very first Job Corps for Women. the place, little old semi-segregated St. Petersburg, Fl, haven for retiries, venerated as “God’s Waiting Room,” now, unaccountably, chosen as the setting for this, the latest jewel in President Johnson’s “Great Society” collection. As a added fillip, this would also be the first Job Corps of any gender to be sponsored by a school board, a most uncharacteristic bit of bravado which the Board was soon to regret. Even while they were still accepting congratulations, reality intruded. Where were all these disadvantaged young women to be housed while their socal and economic rehabilitation was in progress? Initially, this was thought to be a minor problem, that the project might be contracted to some struggling tourist facility in our outlying precincts, a short-lived suppostion that died when the Feds pointed out that, unklike the original Job corps protocols for men, regulations governing Job Corps For Women prohibited any domiciling of participants outside the sponsoring city’s core area. Fortunately, there were numerous inner city lodging establish inner city lodging establishements which might be available. first choice was the Soreno Hotel, which, although bereft of air-conditioning, had provided a splendid haven for winter visitors for 40 years and was the current home for the spring-training New York Yankees baseball team. Ultimately, the Sorino was felf to be somewhat too up-scale, and, after a hurried search, the Board zeroed in on the more modest Huntington Hotel, a venerable structure, nestled amidst some equally veneralbe retirement lodgings. Being a seasonal accomodation, the Huntington, like the Soreno, was quite lacking in air-conditioning save for one unit in the dining room. Nevertheless, it was agreed that the Huntington was to be the facility of choice, and a meeting for the contract-signing by school board members. Mr. Barnes, the Huntington’s owner, was duly scheduled and only slightly delayed by his collision with a school bus while en route, a incident eeily prescient of subsequent misadventures. They started when it was discovered that the Huntington’s kitchen would require unanticipated modifications, costing $100,000-$300,000. Foretunately, this was an expenditure of federal, not municipal funds, so there was only mild criticism of the School Board’s lapse in not ascertaining the problem prior toi making a contractual commitment. Since the project was sponsored by the School board, it was predictable that most of the staff would be transplants from the school system, adventurous souls who had chosen to foresake their settled career paths

for the excitement of particpating in what they envisioned as a trail-blazing experiment destined to serve as a benchmark in the annals of sociology, economics and education. Yet, even while the building stood vacant, and before any young women had enrolled, the staff was to know first pangs of disillusionment. The noble experiment was downgraded to a cluster of foregone conclusions, as a parade of advisors from acameme arrived, and in the time-honored traditon of experts, world wide, who shtand always ready to describe what they have not seen and to explain what they dio not understand, proceeded to “indoct5rinate” the staff as to appropriate standard “ coping machanisms: to be used in detailing with the mundane problems of impending prototype. Then, suddenly, the advisors were gone. The enrollees had arrived, enlivening a warm verdant spring that would soon evolve into the usual soggy, sweltering summer, augmented by the hyper-thermic quartets of angry young women housed ineanch of the Huntington’s non-airconditioned rooms. Nor were the Job Corps enrolleesalone in their lamentations. Complaints about Job Corp lodgings also arose from retirement hotels in the area, whose residents objected that the young women did not draw their shades nor close their window. Wors yet, they were attracting hordes of young men, who would drive by, sound thier car horns, and generally behave in a raucous fashion, disrupting the settled lifestyle of the onlookers. In an effort to moderate a rising civic disenchantment with the project, a public meeting was held at the 5th Avenue Baptist Church. A spokesperson for the Job corps reminded the assemblage that the enrollees had come in good faith at the specific invitations of St. Petersburg. when an audience member rebutted, “But we didn’t know we’d bew getting that type of girl,” a little old lady stood up and, in her little old lady voice, delivered the perfect riposte, “Well what the Hell did you expect, a bunch of Junior Leaguers?” The audience erupted in a gale of laughter, and the Job corps staff went away reassured, only to discover that, with the new day, the same old problems had resurrected. Six months later, the program was gone. The Huntington has since been demolished, and the Soreno has long since been imploded. Was it a waste, St. Petersburg’s Job Corps for Women? Perhaps not. True, it will never be a benchmark, yet it may still serve as a useful footnote , verifying an old axiom about warm places and good intentions.

Storyteller, Bobby Norfolk entranced us at the Homeland Festival.

At Dade City Pioneer Days this Mother and son turned out to express their loyalty to the Confederate south

The 18th Century English Camp at Collier County Museum’s Old Florida Festival Dedicated reenactors tough it out in the searing July heat at the filming of the documentary movie for the DeSoto National Memorial. (Left) Camera’s role as DeSoto approaches the Lady of Cofitacheque . (Below) Native American’s portray slaves taken by De Soto’s band of soldiers. Lugging water buckets and barrels – all in a day’s work on the set.



POWWOWS! February

5-7 Belleview. 3rd Annual Native American Inter-Tribal Arts & Crafts Festival & Gathering at the Market of Marion. Contact: Jamie Nemeth (352) 821-0256 11-14 Hollywood. 28th Annual Seminole Tribal Festival/Pow Wow and PRCA Rodeo at the Seminole Festival Grounds. Contact: Buster Baxley (954) 967-3434 26-28 Vero Beach. 3rd Annual Vero Beach Pow Wow. (561) 778-8128 or (561) 567-1995 11-14 Tampa. 5th Annual Native American Pow Wow Celebration Seminole Indian Reservation (813) 626-1692 or (813) 681-3361

March

2-14 Gainesville. 1st Annual Tuscawilla Native American Pow Wow. (352) 5953429 or (352) 568-8194 26-28 Ft. Pierce. 34th Annual FIHA Pow Wow St. Lucie County Fairgrounds (561) 466-0233 11-14 Orange Springs. Ocklewaha Band of Yamassee Seminole Cox-Osceola Indian Reservation Contact: White Wing: 352-546-4511 Soaring Eagle DeLong 352-546-4728 or White Fawn 352-5465525 12-21 Brooksville 1st Annual Mountain Man Rendezvous and Native American Gathering/ Pow Wow Mondon Hill Road - Billy Rainwater 352-797-0324 or Spirit Wing westwing@atlantic.net

27-28 Dade City. Great American Trader Days Central Fl Muscogee Creek Tribe, Panther Bend 850-342-3311 or 813-8841936 2-14 Gainesville. Tuscawilla Native American Pow Wow Tuscawilla Ranch. Contact: Hunter or Hawk 352-595-3429 or Grumpy Bear 352-568-8194

April

2-4 Orange Springs Chambers Farm. 15th Annual Native American Spring Dance BobAchorn 352-669-4605

May

7-9 Dade City. 8th Annual Withlacoochee Native American Indian Culture Mother’s Day Pow Wow 850-342-3311 or 813-884-1936

Alafia Rendezvous’s Fascinating Folks Jim Sawgrass represents the Creeks of the pre-1840 period. Children excitedly line up for the judges at the fashion contest at the Alafia Rendezvous (Below) The Fishing Rancho Display at Sneed Island Days is just one of many in the histoic time line.

1640

A Dutch Lady of New Amsterdam with her dashing patroon husband, wears a crimson silk gown with pointed lace. An overskirt made green wool opens down the front. Her husband wears baggy breeches and a slashed doublet of wool or velvet. His hose are knitted wool. Galloon lace on his collar and cuffs.

1686

1660

The lady’s jacket of red velvet trimmed with fur gives warmth to cold winter evenings. An underskirt of wool peeps out from under her amber satin gown. The gentleman sports a coat of flowered silk, cuffs of rich brocade, with full breeches which hang over the points which fasten his silk stockings.

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A fine woolen cloth with a smooth surface, used for mens garments and always regarded with respect by the lower classes. Now it is made of cotton.

* Brocade

A heavy fabric interwoven with a rich, raised design often with contrasting or metalic threads.

* Calico

Originally called Calicut, from the town in India whence it was imported; later the name was applied to a cotton fabric in general wear at the time of the American Revolution. Towards the end of the 18th century calico was worn by everyone. Imported French calicos were very fine and delicate in coloring. They were often used for trimming plain materials.

* Damask

Fabric woven in elaborate patterns of silk, wool or linen. Wool damask was used for curtains and bed hangings.

* Linen

Fabric made of flax, it became the cheif European textile of the Middle Ages until introduction of sea island cotton. Used for chemises.

* Wool

Fiber from the fleece of domestic sheep. It is warm, absorbant, elastic, strong and crease resistant.

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(Below) All dolled up for an afternoon visit to our rustic cabin at the Huntley Farm Civil War Event.

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Nestled in the fabulous flowersat Sunken Gardens. Elizabeth Neily performed as “Maria Velasquez”.

1830

Nan Colton from the St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts entertained the crowds at the Open House at Sunken Gardens with “the three goddesses, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite”. Visit us online at http://www.

FloridaFrontier.com

A summer walking dress of embroidered muslin with trimmings of blue ribbon. The gentleman is in a brown coat and waistcoat with drab trousers. Drab is a grayish or brownish olive color.

1835

A figured chintz morning dress is accented by a lovely apron of blue silk. The gentleman is wearing a green broadcloth walking suit and a drab color hat.

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GIFTS FROM THE OCEAN

by Hermann Trappman

As the ocean’s came flooding back over Florida’s landscape, it brought changing environments as well as many important resources into the world of the ancient people. Vast quantities of our planet’s water was trapped in ice sheets to the north, as well as in the southern polar region. Mixed with glade and meadow, forests were tossed across the ice free terrain. Conifers, like pines, formed a margin to the south of the blanket of ice. Mixed hardwoods, like oak and hickory, punctuated the milder climates. As this last glaciation began to melt, Florida was twice its present size and evidence left by the first people lay scattered throughout much of the landscape. World weather brought those early people warmer summers and cold winters. Systems of rains shifted and pasture spread or shrank along with it. Hunting patterns changed as migratory paths, which may have once forded the Mississippi River, were blocked by the massive flow from melting ice. At times the Mississippi River filled its entire flood plain, swelling it to almost one hundred miles wide in some places. The muddy churn of water may have been choked with tumbling blocks of ice. The flood of cold fresh water into the Gulf of Mexico changed coastal environments. Populations of early people, living on what their skill could hunt or gather, must have felt the terrible pressure of these great changes. Animal populations which relied on certain grazing lands were forced into landscapes which were in transition. What had once been kind of a checkerboard pattern of scattered mixed forests now opened into wide grasslands. Then about 8,000 years ago the entire thing began to jolt back. Ice fields grew again. A strange time of frozen winds blew down form the north. The Younger Dryas, as this glacial spike is called, must have forced new adaptations in the human population. It was out of this turmoil that the world’s people developed. It was out of this stress that the ancient people living along the Gulf of Mexico explored changing resources. Suggestions that human migrations flowed from the north as well as south America have been made by scientists. Evidence from north Florida tells us of a northern people coming down the rivers and settling along the

banks. The language of the Timucuan people, in central, east and north Florida and parts of Georgia suggests, Caribbean influences. Did wars divide the difference between the coastal people and the folks from the interior? The way those ancient people saw their world was woven in to their response to this environment. We can be certain that their origin stories, knowledge of the use of plants and animals, and skills reflected their adventure in the world they passed through. Exchanges between different cultures may have sparked new methods of living within the environment and new economies. The cities with their temple mounds, plazas, and other engineering projects were born out of that tumultuous landscape. Although chert, a great stone for making tools, was readily available in Florida’s central highlands, sea shells provided the coastal people with an easy alternative. Surf clams, or sunray Venus clams served to scrape hides with as little effort as picking them up from the beach. Serviceable axes are made from a large lightning whelk with a worked limb for a handle. The blade for an adz or a net gauge can be carved out of a the shell of the same whelk. The central column of whelks or the horse conch were ground down into beads, pins, punches, or chisels. The shell halves of the large quahog clams made excellent rasps or grinders to blunt the edges of chert in the process to chip it. The ocean was extremely generous to the native people. Its generosity was reciprocated by carving shells into beautiful sacred ornaments and vessels. Artist, Jacques LeMoyne, recorded their used in the Black Drink Ceremony in the 1500’s.

Sunray Venus Up to the 1980’s it was commonly thought that scrapers for scrapping scraps of meat off hides were made from Whelk shells. Today it is obvious that needed scrapers could simply be picked up on the beach in the form of Sunray Venus shells. Ax

Lightning Whelk

Net Guage Ceremonial Cup

Horse Conch

The stone in this area was clean and clear. Made of coral, the polyps were very well defined.

Horse Conchs provided strong columellas for woodworking. Chisels, and gouges were common tools made from this shell. Some columellas were rounded on the working surface and may have been used like a pestle for grinding medicines in a shell mortar. By knocking the top spirals off, the Horse Conch made a powerful trumpet which could send signals for long distances. Quahog

The Quahog shell makes a very good grinder or rasp, as well as a handy bowl for small foods, paint, or medicine. As a rasp it works very well along the sharp edge of a chert arrow point. Once the edge is dulled, the point can be resharpened or reshaped by pressure flaking. Shellfish were a wonderful source of food. They sparked the pallet with a wide variety of flavors and some could even be dried for easy future use. Because seashells offered so many opportunities for tools, and our methods for understanding that use is still in its infancy, we can’t imagine them all. What we must keep in mind is that the original people had developed over a long time. Their culture was extremely complicated and their need for tools were sophisticated.

Athough beautifully carved, this area was frosted. The sculptor came across a series of stone flaws which made his skill very apparent.

Waist

Fortunate enough to have glimpsed this blade, I sat down and made this drawing. It was found in northwest Pasco County in backspill from a ditch which was about 5 feet deep. I have never seen a base like this before. The blade was 5.25” long, about 2” wide and .25” thick. The waist was perfectly defined and ground. Has anyone else found a base like this? So much of our cultural history is lost because discoveries like the one above go unreported. If you find something like this, the important thing is to get your discoveries acknowledged. By publishing the wonderful artifacts you find, the folks who study and try to describe our ancient people have a chance to fit it into a pattern. You will give future generations the opportunity to learn. Publishing also creates provenance and increases the value of your discovery. Let us help get the information which your discovery offers out to the community. There is nothing to lose and everything to gain!

Provenance Columella tools Drills, pins, punches Chisel

Ladles

The Lightning Whelk, often called the Lefthanded Whelk, provided a wide variety of tools. Because of this and the direction of its spiral, it was considered sacred. The spiral may have represented the spiral of life, from birth to death, the spiral of the calendar, and the spiral of culture. It was used in the Black Drink Ceremony.

Proof of authenticity, place of origin, derivation, or past ownership. 1. A good description of the article; length, width, thickness, color. 2. A photograph, or in some cases a photo copy. 3. A description of the place and the circumstance of the find. Example: Corner of 54th Street and 21st Ave, Gulfport, FL. Found in the ditch trailing - the ditch was 5 foot deep. 4. Date and time of discovery and any other observations. We will happy to publish your information on our web site at FloridaFrontier.com or in the Florida Frontier Gazette.

Saturday, FEBRUARY 12 • FREE telescope viewing 6:30-10pm

FREE Dramatic Play

7701 22nd Ave. N. St. Petersburg, Florida 33710 (727) 384-0027 Thursday, JANUARY 20

LUNAR ECLIPSE EVENT • FREE telescope viewing • Laser Show (TBA) at 8pm ($2) • Planetarium Shows at 8:30pm & 9:15pm ($1)

celebrating Black History Month (8pm) • Children’s Laser Show at 6 pm ($2) • Laser Show (TBA) at 9:30 pm ($2) • Planetarium Shows at 7, 7:30pm and 9pm ($1) Saturday, MARCH 4

Ancient Natives Return!

10AM - 4PM

FAMILY DAY FESTIVAL • FREE General Admission • Celebrate Florida Archaeology Month • Exciting exhibits, Presentations Laser Shows • Planetarium Shows • Concessions & Entertainment

❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃❃

Let’s Go Day Trippin’

with historian/storyteller Elizabeth Neily January 22

Alafia River Rendezvous

Sponsored by the Florida Frontiermen Escape to the most unique trade fair you will ever attend. Pre-1840’s traders and frontier people meet in the wilderness to trade goods and have an old fashioned good time. Thousands of living historians, rendezvousers and traders from all over North America pitch canvas tents, teepees and leanto’s to buy and sell everthing from leather to honey – from trade beads to historic costumes. This is the place to reconnoiter with the past, to smell the spicy aroma of a wood fire, to savor Indian fry bread stuffed with cinnamon apples or wild rice and venison, all washed down with a cool ginger beer. There are tinsmiths, blacksmiths, weavers, coopers and all kinds of historic craftsmen and women. Elizabeth Neily will guide you through the intricacies of your first Rendezvous. A warning though... it can become addictive and soon, you too will be wondering where to pitch your tent.

February 17 and 24 and March 2, 9, 16 and 23 Day Trips Camp Bayou Living History Camp and Eco-Tour

Travel back in time to a Prehistoric Indian Camp in Tampa Bay’s very own Living History Park at Camp Bayou, Ruskin. Learn the ways of the Ancient Florida People. Visit the Paleo-Preserve to discover Florida’s pre-historic fossils. Van leaves Science Center at 8:00 a.m. and returns by 6:00 p.m. $40.00 per adult per day. Includes Picnic Lunch

$40.00 per adult

February 12 and 13

Fort Foster Rendezvous

Sponsored by Friends of Hillsborough River State Park Nestled in the pinelands of the Florida wilderness is Fort Foster, a reproduction of the Second Seminole War Period palisade that stood on the Hillsborough River in 1835. Ride with historian/storyteller Elizabeth Neily into a period when Seminoles and the U.S. Army clashed over the right to live on this land. The Rendezvous portrays the sutlers (traders), settlers who came to the fort for protection and the Seminoles who fought to keep the land they loved. A battle for the bridge will be reenacted each day. You can wander the grounds, learn how a fort of that time period functioned or simply sit by one of the fires, listen to tall tales and sip a warm coffee. Dress comfortably. Bring camera but, no cell phones, please. Van leaves Science Center at 8:00 a.m. and returns by 6:00 p.m. $40.00 per adult per day. Includes Picnic Lunch

At Camp Bayou - Ruskin, Florida Sponsored by:

Heritage of the Ancient Ones

A Multicultual, Nonprofit, Educational Organization OFFERING LIVING HISTORY EDUCATIONAL TOURS IN A RECREATED 16TH CENTURYNATIVE VILLAGE VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT:

www.ancientnative.org

School of the 16th Century

January 29 & 30, 2000

Learn theskills and crafts of Florida’s First People and Spanish. Registration Fee $15

February 3 Day Trip Hillsborough River State Park/Fort Foster Eco-Tour

Explore the river and the park with historian/storyteller Elizabeth Neily. What makes this a different environmental system from the coastal communities of Tampa Bay? Learn about the Second Seminole War where the U.S. Army fought bitterly for the land with Seminole Indians and Free Blacks. Visit Fort Foster for a peek into that past. Van leaves Science Center at 8:00 a.m. and returns by 4:00 p.m. $40.00 per adult per day. Includes Picnic Lunch

Weekend Get Away

January 29 and 30 School of the 16th Century

Sponsored by Heritage of the Ancient Ones and Historic Florida Militia. Travel back in time to a Prehistoric Indian Camp in Tampa Bay’s very own Living History Park at Camp Bayou, Ruskin. Learn the technology of the Ancient Florida People — pottery, weaving, making twine from native plants, games and lots of fun things to do. Stroll down the village path to discover Spanish Conquistadors camped under the spreading limbs of live oak trees. Put on a coat of chain mail and try your hand at some more ancient skills. See all the wonderful things brought here from the far reaches of the globe — spices, incense and jewels. All workshops and meals included. $70 per adult for weekend. Overnight camping and motel accoodations Science Center van has room must be arranged ahead of time. for only 14 passengers so

(727) 384-0027

Announcing the ANCIENT VILLAGE EDUCATIONAL CENTER

For information or to make reservations for your school or group Call (904) 824-3325 or Email: ancientnative@aol.com

the first floridians no longer live here…

…but we know quite a lot about them, thanks to scientific examination of the mounds and other artifacts they left behind. This book is fascinating for all ages, has lots of sidebars, photographs and illustrations, and is organized by county. Do you live on an old Indian mound?

@ Size 51/2” x 81/2”, 320 pages, paperback, $14.95 at your local bookseller.

S BY BOOK AC I. M RY PER

who was the first black man in america?

Estevanico, a Moorish slave, was perhaps the most lively, charismatic member of the 16thcentury Narvaéz expedition, but he’s completely unknown to most people. Read this historical novel to learn how he prevailed over early Florida’s hazards (and captured the hearts of Indian maidens!).

Size 51/2” x 81/2”, 256 pages, paperback $9.95 at your local bookseller E

CALL 727-525-6609 FOR A FREE CATALOG OF FLORIDA BOOKS

Florida’s Beauty Caught on Canvas by HIGHWAYMEN by Bill Ruggie

This breathtaking sunset over a Florida prairie, by R.A. McLendon, is typical of those done by the pioneering artists known as the Highwaymen. Its original $35.00 price tag could only be called highway robbery! The painting is on loan from Bill Ruggie. Photo courtesy of the Safety Harbor Museum. The word “Highwaymen” conjures critics would feel important and lasting, up visions of masked men in days of yeslocal Florida people could enjoy a beautiful teryear in our American West or perhaps Florida landscape for a reasonable price. a dark and wooded forest in the heart of This was a means to an end for the artists. England in the eighteenth century. This was an opportunity to leave the hard Fast forward to our beautiful and work and drudgery of the vegetable fields bountiful State of Florida. The time is and citrus groves and earn money at their the early to mid 1950’s. The location is leisure. Earn money whenever they needed the Indian River country and the city of it. Ft. Pierce. At this time and in this area While no one paid much attention over began the development of a school of a period of 40 years or so, what was really art that would later become named “The happening was the quiet development of a Highwaymen”. As this story evolved, it Florida regional art school. This regional certainly is one of the most interesting art school would come to be known as the short histories of art that depicts the natural Indian River School. beauty of our beautiful Florida. Art, which In the 1990’s - enter Jim Fitch. Jim beis basically self-tought as opposed to being came the Director of the newly established purely academic. Art that was created in a Museum of Floridaís Art and Culture. It most improbable place, a most improbable became his job to define the boundaries for environment and by the most improbable the Museum’s permanent collection. The people. Thank goodness! Museum is an institution that is dedicated to Zanobia Jefferson, a Ft. Pierce sculpcontemporary regionalists; the boundaries tor and high school art teacher at Lincoln were set from 1950 and forward. Park Academy High School, recognized All of Jim’s research kept leading him a natural talent in one of her students. to the Ft. Pierce area and to the same group His name was Alfred Hair. Mrs. Jefferson of people. That is A.E. “Bean” Backus and realized that there were some special a group of young and ambitious men (one qualities that this young man possessed woman). These artists worked together and referred him to an artist by the name to create a market for Florida landscape of A.E. Backus. A.E. Backus was probably paintings. That is paintings by a group who Florida’s best landscape artist at this time, have come to be known as the “Highwayand was called by the nickname “Bean”. men”. Credit Jim Fitch with creating the He was a white man. Alfred Hair was an label “Highwaymen”. The obvious conAfrican-American. notation is artists selling paintings from Alfred Hair was an old car and from a talented and will- “The story of the Highwaymen the highway. ing student. After an is unique in all of art history.” To quote Jim; art class with Bean, - Jim Fitch “Historically, these he would go home, artists and the work meet with some of his friends in his back they produced are a definite marker in yard and teach them to paint Florida landthe timeline of Florida’s art tradition. The scapes. These young painters became prostory of the Highwaymen is unique in all digious and sometimes produced up to 35 of art history. The Highwaymen are a true paintings in one day - paintings that were art phenomenon and their contribution to beach scenes, woods scenes, rivers and Florida’s art tradition is just beginning to sunsets. The materials used were what were be recognized.” at hand at the time - upsom board, frames These notes would be incomplete if made from door frame moldings and most we did not recognize two other people inoften house paints. Art store materials were volved in this unique story. Those people expensive. are Robert Butler and Gary Monroe. Robert Butler grew up in the Art Floridians Could Enjoy Okeechobee, Florida area. He has come These young artists were poor. They to be known as one of Florida’s greatest began to market their art to local profeslandscape artists. Robert is of the Highsionals, barbershops, banks and motels. waymen tradition and his artwork is in high Florida scenes at the right price. Eventudemand. ally, these artists moved past the city limits Gary Monroe has done much addiof Ft. Pierce marketing their work up and tional research on this subject. He is the down U.S. Highway #1 - their showroom author of a book on the Highwaymen that was the trunk of an old car. Duval County is now at the University Press. He is also a south to Dade County and west on the two recognized lecturer by the Florida Humanilaners to the Tampa Bay area. It seems that ties Council. We anxiously await his book. $35.00 for each painting was generally acceptable. While not the art that serious art

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Safety Harbor Museum of Regional History

A Florida History and Archaeological Museum Art Exhibit : FLORIDA HIGHWAYMEN January 6 - March 3 Florida Regional Black Folk Artists of the Indian River School January 16: RECEPTION and SYMPOSIUM with Jim Fitch and Gary Monroe at 2:00 pm 329 Bayshore Blvd. S., Safety Harbor, FL

Phone: (727) 726-1668 Email: shmuseum@ij.net Tuesday — Friday 10a.m. - 4p.m. Saturday & Sunday 1p.m - 4p.m.

DANIEL DOLAN,

Spanish American War Soldier Based on biographical material submitted by Joseph Dolan and edited by Elizabeth Neily. As often happens with wars, volumes

are written about military campaigns, the generals and colonels that lead them, the battles that are waged and lost. Not often enough do we recognize the ordinary soldier that risk their lives for their country. This is just such a story. Sent from the Irish American Heritage Museum in Albany, NY it is the story of a young man who made his way to America with the dream of finding a new home, of forging a life for himself in this land of promise. Who knows what motivated him to join the army but what ever it was, he managed to turn it into a long and rewarding career. Daniel Dolan was born, February 20, 1863, in Claremorris County, Mayo, Ireland. He migrated to New York between 1879-1880, and became an American citizen on April 26, 1893. In 1884, Dolan enlisted in the United States Army where he quickly advanced in rank moving from post to post along the Atlantic Coast. In 1890 or 1892 Dolan married Mary Rowan, also from Mayo, Ireland. Being an Irish immigrant, record of such events were not always exact. A year later a son, James, was born to the young couple . In 1898, war was on the horizon. Cuban insurgents had been flexing their muscle against Spanish rule for a number of years and Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Teddy Roosevelt, was anxious to prove America’s strength on a world stage. Daniel Dolan met the national cry for a “Cuba Libre” by re-enlisting in the army in Buffalo. He shipped off to Tampa and on to fight along side Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders at San Juan Hill. In May of that year, a daughter, Elizabeth Marie, was born.

DUNEDIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY Andrews Memorial Chapel c. 1888

Sunday Tours

In 1899, Dolan was sent to fight the insurrection in the Philippines. While away fighting on the other side of the world, his wife gave birth to their second son, Daniel D. Dolan, Jr. on October 30. When Dolan returned to the United States in 1902, he was stationed at Fort Wingate, New Mexico. His wife and three young children traveled by train across the country t0 join him. In February 1905 a fourth son was born - Francis Curran Dolan. In December 1905, Dolan found himself in Fort Mason, San Francisco, and with the rank of Commissary Sergeant. The ground trembled and Dan Dolan found himself doling out food, water and blankets to thousands of destitute victims left homeless by the Great Earthquake and subsequent fires of 1906. Dolan was sent to the Philippines again in 1909 and returned to the Presidio in 1914. When war broke out in Europe, he was sent to serve in France as a Lieutenant from 1914 to 1919. After 43 years of service in the United States Army, Dolan retired with the rank of Major in 1927. He remained in San Francisco the rest of his life. Dolan was buried in the National Cemetery at the Presidio, San Francisco, on April 11, 1956. with the full honorary gun salute.

2 pm - 4 pm Available for Weddings, Concerts, Tours. 1899 San Mateo Drive, Dunedin.

Museum Programs

Dunedin Historical Museum Railroad Station c. 1922 341 Main Street, Dunedin, FL Exhibits related to Dunedin and Florida History

HISTORY OF DUNEDIN ISLES EXHIBIT February 8 - May 6

HISTORIC HOUSE TOUR

Museum Hours Tuesday - Saturday Saturday - March 18 10 am - 4 pm Tickets available at Museum - $15 each For information call Books available at Museum Gift Shop (727) 736-1176 Images of Dunedin & Images of Pinellas County

The Florida FRONTIER GAZETTE hosts

La Cruz Days -

Reenactment of the Panfilo de Narvaéz Landing in 1528. The generous support of Gulfport’s City Council, the Millinenium Committee, and local businesses, allowed the 16th Century Company of La Cruz to sparkle on November 20th. As the first one of its kind ever to be put on in this small community in South Pinellas County, the day turned out to be glorious. Newcomers to reenacting, drawn from the community, were enthusiastic about bringing it back again next year. (Right) Our littlest reenactor was two month old Morgan, daughter of proud Mama and Papa, Collin and Mary King of Tampa.

Was Dan Dolan one of the faceless, nameless men initiatng a new recruit in this picture? Did he begin to learn his commissary skills in this rustic camp kitchen at Port Tampa?

The Royal Conquest sailed into Boca Ceiga Bay on the morning of November 20 to kick off the festival with a splash!

Did this military transport ship steam out of Tampa Bay on that hot summer day in 1898 with Dan Dolan aboard? We will never know the secret stories of the men who bravely went off to rescue Cuba from oppression. Such is the fate of wars. (Photos courtesy of the Wamsley Collection, University of South Florida Library Special Collections.) offer a variety of fascinating interpretive programs, camp fire talks, nature walks, canoe trips, etc. For a detailed list of what the parks offer near you, pick a copy of Festival and Events or visit their website at http://www.dep. state.fl.us/parks. Get involved! Become a State Park Volunteer or become a member of AMERICORPS. Call State Program Coordinator, Mary Matthews at The Real Florida SM (850) 488-8343

Just a handful of the wonderful folks who donated their time to bring history alive. Scouts from the local Webelo Troup acted as shipboys, and assisted with raising the cross while Narvaéz read the King’s Summons proclaiming North America for the Holy Roman Emporer, King Charles V of Spain.

BOOK REVIEWS

Idella Parker From Reddick to Cross Creek Idella Parker with Bud and Liz Crussell University of Florida Press ISBN 0-81301706 Hard Cover $

Idella Parker shares her remarkable life with us, from her stuggle as a poor black child growing up in rural Florida to her irrepressible years as a young woman coming of age to her friendship with the inigmatic Marjory Kinnan Rawlings. Parker collaborates with the Crussels to give a frank and endearing account of her life. She adds insights into life for African American citizens during the early part of the century, of debt bondage to their employers at the Lime Kettle’s company store in Reddick. “Despite its drawbacks, working at the Lime Kettle did provide a continuous year-round job, not seasonal, like farming. Workers would say, when asked where live, ‘I live to the Lime Kettle,’ a place where lime dust covered everything. My brother, E.M., worked there after school or on Saturdays, in the stock room of the commisary. Up until 1919 when the practice was outlawed, prisoners were used to provide local industries with cheap labor. The turpentine and lumber industiries, railroads, farms and mining industries all leased convict laborers during the years it was legal, from 1877 to 1919. This system made the debt-bondage cycle even worse, for when a worker tried to escape from an employer to whom he was endebted, he would be arrested and convicted of a crime. He would then become a part of the prison work force, having to do the same work for no pay. Fortunately, I was still very young when this practice ended, and I’m glad I have no memory of those cruel conditions.” Parker joined Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings in Cross Creek in October, 1940, as cook housekeeper and eventually confident to the famous author. Finally, she left her alcoholic boss after a series of frightening car accidents and near misses. “ Mrs. Rawlings had wrecked a lot of cars herself, often when I was with her. I couldn’t forget the one wreck that broke two of my ribs, about an eighth

of an inch from my spine. I was nearly paralyzed. That time Dr. Strange, Mrs. Rawlings’ doctor in McIntosh where they took me after the wreck, said, ‘You’re gonna let Margie kill you.’ Well that summer, after Bernard left, while Mrs. Rawlings was driving in New York, she swerved as a semitruck was coming right at us. I was sitting beside her, and I snatched the wheel away just in time, or we both would have been killed. I promised myself right then that if I ever got back to Florida, I would leave Mrs. Rawlings. I didn’t tell Mrs. Rawlings my intentions, though. In many ways Parker reveals the dark side of life with the author. Although she didn’t owe her soul to the company store, there came a time when she feared her former employer. When Rawlings wrote in a letter after she had left; “Meet me at Cross Creek”, Parker didn’t go. When asked why she was so afraid, Parker explained, “I was black, and blacks lived with fear of whites. Even knowing Mrs. Rawlings, or maybe because I did know, I wasn’t sure what would happen to me if I went. Even in Reddick there was fear. A white person might strike you or trip you up or anything, just going up and down the street. If you came to two white people talking on the sidewalk. You just had to wait until they finished or go around. I wouldn’t dare go through or say. ‘Pardon me,” or “Please let me pass.” It was rough then; it wasn’t pleasant. So that was really the reason I wouldn’t answer the letter and wouldn’t go to Cross Creek to see her.” The biography continues on to discuss the years that followed her employment with Rawlings. Parker maintained a close friendship with Norton Baskin, Rawlings second husband, until his death in 1997. Of Baskin she reveals, “Everytime we talked, he would keep me laughing.”

“Smoked Yankees” And the Struggle for Empire Letters from Negro Soldiers 1898-1902 Willard B. Gatewood, Jr. University of Arkansas Press ISBN 0-938626-88-4 Paper $18.00 Another in a series of authors who reveal the heroism of African-Americans in the military history of the United States, Gatewood has collected an amazing series of letters which reveal the role that these “Smoked Yankees” played in the struggle for Empire. Again and again disposesssed black American men send home Letters to Editors of local papers, poignant truths about racial attitudes in a war that would place America on a world stage. It also reveales the differences in attitudes between the northern and southern states. To the Editor of the Illinois Record, John E. Leis of C Troop, 10th Reg. of Calvary, wrote,

“Our receptions along the route were more than my pen could ever tell and we knew no difference until the line of Kentucky was reached, at Hopkinsville, Ky. It seemed strange that on one side of the road stood the whites and that on the other colored. The people of Nashville, Tenn., gave us a rousing reception and many of the boys longed to return to that city. At Chattanooga our pleasure was entirely cut off. Several days before the 9th went in [some Negro soldiers] broke up the Jim Crow car and took shots at some whites who insulted them, and See Smoked…page 13

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See St. Pete’s Oldest Tourist

as you journey through the history of St. Petersburg in our newly update “Walk-Through Time” gallery, then do a little…

Nostalgia Trippin’

as you discover the meaning of time in the Musuem and preservation environment and how change is represented in the evolution of the design, use, purpose and meaning of common items like tools, furniture and appliances, clothing and printed materials. Also Showing

St. Petersburg Underneath: The History of Undergarments 1880 - 1920

And Coming in April, 2000

Films, Flyers, Fossils & Froclics: the History of Weedon Island

St. Petersburg Museum of History

335 Second Avenue N.E., St. Petersburg, Florida 33701 Visit our website at: www.ij.net/spmh/ Hours: Monday.Sat 10-5 Sun. 1-5 Reservations are now being take for the 2000 “Catch the Weedon Island Fever” Summer Camp. Call the Museum of History for details. (727) 894-1052

WANTED: SALES ASSOCIATES ALL OVER FLORIDA We are G-R-O-W-I-N-G at an breath-taking rate. We can’t keep up!!! Our circulation has exploded to cover most areas of Florida. So if you love history, museums, parks and special events and would like to make a little extra cash here and there, we sure would like to talk to you. Territories in Pensacola, Tallahasee, Jacksonville, Orlando, Gainesville, Miami, Naples… Please contact Florida Frontier Gazette, 5409 21st Ave. So., Gulfport, FL 33707 Where old news or Email tocobaga.gte.net. or call (727) 321-7845. is good news!

Smoked from page 12 the officers were afraid that serious trouble would arise. Our camp life at Chickamauga Park was one round of pleasure, although many white southerners tried to raise enmity between the whirte and colored soldiers. One white Southerner talking to a white soldier [was] runnign down the colored solder,and because the white soldier would not approve of what he said he commensed to abuse him. It ended in the white southerner being killed and not one thing was said about it. .... But here in [Lakeland] we struck the hotbed of rebels.” Despite the abuse of Southern whites, the soldiers were proud of their Calvary Unit and Lewis writes in a subsequent letter, “It was a very impressive scene when the regiment formed into a line on their march to the depost, and you could not see one face that showed sorrow or fear; all were anxious to go and when the band struck up a march and the command ‘march’ was given, it seemed as if the troops were on inspection instead of going on a journey of death and sestruction. It was hard to bid the boys good-bye, for we well know that some of us will never meet again, and the friendships that have been of years standing made it hard for the boys to part. The cry of the boys left behind saw ‘I would rather go than stay.” This is a soldiers life. Hearts must be true and brave.” In battle these black soldiers proved their true mettle. First Seargeant M.W. Sadler, Co. D. 25th Infantry, reported somewhat sardonically in his letter, “The Spaniards call us “Negretter Solados” and say there is no use in shooting us, for steel and powder will not stop us. We only hope our brethern will come over and help us to show the world that true patriation is in the minds of the sons of Ham. All we need is leaders of our own race to make war records, so that their names may go down in history as a reward for the price of our precious blood.” After the invasion of Puerto Rico by American forces, James Miller, wrote of the plight the poor natives. “Children are lying about the streets, women and men are in a starving condition although they are very clean. The city is under United States martial laws. They live on fruits, cocoanuts, mangoes, bananas and saps. They have nothing to cook on. They value a meat can very highly. “ Later in the letter he adds... “This is the first place in my life that I have been and found no distinction in color.” Miller ends his report like a real soldier in a foreign land with a touch of humor. “What suits me best of all, the island is covered with beautiful women and girls and they fairly worship an American.” Gatewood letters take us into the private lives of soldiers who do battle for their country in off shore countries. Regular soldiers and volunteers alike share their hardships, their fight not only

against racism and bullets but with tropical diseases and poor quality food as well. He also shows us the compassion of a black soldier fighting in the Philipines struggling to understand that peoples resistance. Smoked Yankees should become an important reference for those who stuggle to make sense of America’s age of Imperialism..

TAMPA

Before the Civil War Canter Brown Jr. University of Tampa Press ISBN 187985264 Hardcover $18.00

For a number of years now Canter Brown Jr., has been delighting readers and scholars alike with his stories of Florida’s struggle to statehood. Through the support of the Tampa Bay History Center, Brown has brought the forgotten tales of the pioneering families, soldiers and entrepreneurs who fought to eke out an existence in this frontier town. Tampa, the culmination of many years of diligent research, opens those creaking doors to our past a little further. Brown does not always paint a pretty picture of our founders, but he does show them to be colorful characters. One of the most colorful of these early settlers was newspaper publisher, Augusta Steele. Steele’s story gives us an insight into the type of character who would move to Tampa in its formative years. Brown writes, “Sued for debts, he fled to Tampa Bay after friends arranged in June 1830 for his appointment as a post sutler and as deputy collector and inspector of customs. As Steele witnessed first hand the military decline at Tampa Bay, he occupied an ideal perch from which to serve as the local eyes and ears of his Middle Florida friends. Major James S. McIntosh, Fort Brooke’s commander, permitted him to build a home and store on the Hillsborough River, west of today’s Tampa Street and about two blocks south of Whiting. In June 1831 he began issuing an informal newspaper, Tampa’s first. He called it The Gouger and broadcast its motto as ‘I gouge - Thee gougest - He gouges!’

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Within a year Steele had improved his status by arranging a further position for himself. The United States government opened a post office at ‘Tampa Bay’ in November 1831 with store-keeper William G. Saunders as postmaster. By July 1832, Steele had assumed the position.” Tampa was born out of a military need to block the re-establishment of the free black and Indian settlements around the Bay. Construction of Fort Brooke began “...in January 1824, approximately 200 men of the Fourth Infantry, commanded by Colonel George Mercer Brooke, endeavored to conquer on a small scale the exotic wilderness that had greeted the new arrivals upon the eastern side of the Hillsborough River where it flowed into Hillsborough Bay. A tent camp, located just across the stream and near the mouth of what would come to be called Spanishtown Creek in today’s Hyde Park, first served as headquarters. From there, the soldiers set about clearing what pioneer settler Cordelia Collar Hoey remembered as ‘a dense jungle’ on the river’s side.” Tampa’s went through some horrendous growing pains in those early years. Wars, vigilante violence, political turmoil, hurricanes and disease all conspired to nip it in its infancy. But as difficult as those early years were, Tampa had a will to survive. Despite “Tampan’s troubles—seemingly so great in 1860—[they] were about to get worse,” Brown concludes. The PETTICOAT AFFAIR by John F. Marszalek The Free Press, ISBN 0-68482801-4 Hard Cover $25.00 This is the story of Margaret Eaton and the scandal which rocked President Andrew Jackson’s administration in 1829 through 1833. Author, John Marszalek fully appreciates how points of view effect a topic. The PETTICOAT AFFAIR, beautifully written, targets the general reader, and it handles historical facts without getting in the way of the story. Margaret Eaton was an innkeeper’s

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daughter who had the audacity to try to elbow her way into the social elite of Washington, DC. Politicians’ wives endlessly vocalized their disdain, which resulted in Jackson firing his entire Cabinet. The Jackson adminstration, much like Clinton’s, was bogged down in a White House scandal. Marzalek writes, “Although he was upset at the attacks from political opponents, these were at least anticipated, but Jackson never expected opposition from his own friends. The Reverend Ezra Stiles Ely had been a fervent supporter of Jackson; indeed, some had already said that he had been too fervent for Jackson’s own good. A graduate of Yale University, he served as pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church (also known as the Old Pine Street Church) in Philadelphia; and from 1825 to 1836 he acted as stated clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States and in 1828 as moderator of the same denomination. In 1813, Ely had gained national fame with the publication of the two-volume Visits of Mercy, the story of his chaplaincy among prostitutes in the New York City Hospital and Almshouse. In May 1827, in his role as Presbyterian stated clerk, Ely published a report on the state of religion in America, publicizing recent progress, but condemning the “prevalence of immorality.” He opposed the breaking of the Sabbath through the operation of the post office, nonemergency travel, and the driving of wagons, stagecoaches, and steam and canal boats. He also lamented intemperance and lotteries. Then he preached a Fourth of July sermon, which was published in 1828 and drew widespread national attention. Entitled The Duty of Christian Freemen to elect Christian Rulers, it called for a “Christian party in politics,” which would ensure the election of only orthodox Christians to office and keep out those of more liberal tendencies… Two weeks after attending the inauguration, and after several conversations with Richard K. Call and a minister friend in Washington, Ely wrote the new president a long letter of advice urging him to fire John Eaton because of his wife’s purported immorality… In effect, he asked Jackson how he could preside over a Christian nation if his administration included such a sinful woman?”

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Catering/Private Parties Beer/Wine/ Sangria/Liquor Se Habla Español Totally Smoke free inside Upstairs Dining in our locally sponsored Art Gallery

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Book Reviews continued The Petticoat Affair from page 13

and concent” and recognized King Henry VIII as “the supreme head on earth of the English Church.”

Monks who refused to acknowledge the king as head of the church were hanged After Eaton resigned his Cabinet Post and quartered. The monks of Tavistock did as Sec. of War, he was banished to Florida not refuse. They signed. to become its third Territorial Governor In this act, the local lands which the from 1834-1835. His accuser, Richard Drake’s father, Edmund, rented from the Keith Call replaced Eaton the following church now belonged to the crown. When term. . Edmund couldn’t make a living, he and Without any historical landmarks to John Hawking stole a horse and fled the steer by, the scandal which plagued the country. Francis would grow up with the Clinton administration seemed to have Hawkins in Plymouth. It was from Plymno equal. Understanding the history of the outh that young Francis learn the ways men who have occupied the White House of sea raiders aboard ships owned by the and the very human problems they have Hawkins. all had, we can begin to see our political In 1578, as Drake began his epic voyproblems in a more focused light. age around the world, he shared command with Thomas Doughty. But a shared comSir Francis Drake mand was not for Drake. He began a series The Queen’s of accusations which would culminate in a Pirate phony trial. They landed on the southeastby Harry Kelsey ern coast of South America. There Drake Yale University accused Doughty of inciting munity. Press “Few of the gentlemen seemed to ISBN agree with the procedings. Leonard Vicary, 0-300-07182-5 the lawyer, said to Drake, ‘This is not lawe Hardcover nor agriable to justice.’ Drake was not concerned about legal niceties. “I have not[,] $35.00

Harry Kelsey’s scholarly tomb delves into the complex personality and confusing story of one of the history’s most illusive characters, Sir Francis Drake, pirate in the employ of Elizabeth I of England. Drake is a noteworthy study in bad management. He was the kind of man that many of our modern sensibilities loves to hate. Self promoting, and lacking a greater perspective, he cheated everyone he was not in the process of toadying up to at the time. He even broke the pirates cardinal rule of not cheating your crew. He used religious predjudice to his advantage, stealing form Catholics because he could. Because Drake was a financial success, historians have often portrayed him as a man with the right stuff. Kelsy begins Drake’s story a year before his birth on March 3rd, 1539, with a ceremony in the English town of Tavistock. The Catholic monks of the Abbey of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Rumon sat in their Chapter house. The representative from Henry VIII unroled a parchment and began to read, “Omnibus Christifidelibus ad qous presentus scriptum pervenerit.” The latin words began unveiling the loss of all their spiritual rights and privileges, to the king. It was an astonishing document, covering enormous clerical privileges, plus thousands of acres of agricultural and grazing land, forests, fisheries, mills and mines… According to the document the king’s man had prepared, the assembled monks did it all “by their own free will

quoth he[,] to do with you crafty lawyars, neythar care I for the lawe, but I know what I wyll do.’ Vicary still objected, finally saying, “There is I trust no matter of death.” To this Drake replied, ‘No, no Mastar Vickarye.’ The problem for Vicary and others was that although most of the allegations were petty, some were true… Thejury members were inclined to think that the whole matter should be forgotten, but they were afraid to act counter to Drake’s obvious will. So with Drake’s seeming assurance that Doughty would not be executed, the jury members had a convenient way out of their dilemma. They decided that the charge of inciting to munity was indeed true, as were some of the less serious allegations… Drake was elated.” After some mean-

spirited pressure on both officers and crew, Drake forced the issue. No-one would oppose him. Drake had Doughty’s head chopped off. Afterward, he had the head held up before the assembled sailors, telling them, ‘this is the end of traitors.” Drake may have been immortalized as a pious, brave and just seaman but Kelsey leaves no doubt that the man who raided St. Augustine in 1585 was purely an amoral privateer interested solely in lining his pockets with Spanish loot. Even the queen knew not to trust this paranoid, self-serving rogue when it came to commanding her fleet against the Spanish Armada. In the end, Drake’s legacy remains merely that of a ruthless pirate.

Yale University Press Http://www.yale.edu/yup/

Hermann and Elizabeth escaped the boundaries of Florida this fall with a short trip into Georgia to visit ancient Indian Mounds there. Oklomulgee, Etohah and Kolomokee all enhanced our perception of what amazing engineering feats these early people were capable.The Etowah Indian Mounds in Georgia provide a serene setting for quiet meditation.

ETOWAH MOUND DELAND ACADEMY

The DeLand Academy (right) was typical of the elite class of schools available to children of parents with money. Most children however went to one room schools where poorly paid teachers valiantly taught grades one through eight. Like today school budgets were hard pressed to provide supplies.

Schools on the Florida Frontier by Elizabeth Neily.

This lovely lady takes us back to another era outside this replica of an old log schoolhouse at the Wagon Wheel fleamarket in Pinellas Park.

Teaching on the frontier was always a challenging experience for school teachers. Most often a local gentleman of means would finance a school for his children and some of his neighbors. In Pinellas County, James P. McMullen lured a teacher from the north, Mrs. Abbey, who lived with the family. Having no schoolhouse available, she taught in the attic of the McMullen sugar house, where the family processed sugar cane. Area children sat on benches fashioned by the school’s patron. soon they numbered thirty, all living with the family during the school sessions. n Volusia County the DeLand Academy began to accept students in 1883. It enrolled students 15 the first year and grew to a burgeoning eighty-eight in its second. Besides a firm grounding in language, science, literature and art the school also advertized that it was positively Christian. It’s advertizement in an 1885 tourist guide promised even more exciting possibilities...

THE SPECIAL ADVANTAGES OF THIS INSTITUTION

1st. The healthfulness of the location – in this particular it is equaled by a few points in the State, and exceeded by none. 2d. The climate – Is peculiarly favorable for those who have diseased or delicate constitutions. For the early stages of pulmonary affection, for bronchial and asthematic difficulties it is highly beneficial. It may be safely said to be a specific for catarrahal trouble. dipotheria is unknown here, and those who have been severely afficted with this disease elsewhere, enjoy perfect immumity from it here. 3d. The intelligence and morality of the community – There is in the town and its immediate surroundings a population of not less than a thousand white people, of whom it might be safely said that for intelligence, morality and social culture they are not exceeded by old educational towns. For the pleasure of attending this school families could pay quarterly – EXPENSES–TUITION Classical or Scientific Course -$10.00 For Higher English Course-$8.00 Prepartory Departmen t - $6.00 “In 1929, you did not have to attend college or even finish high school to become a teacher. If you were smart enough to answer the questions and pass the teacher’s exam, you could teach.” writes Idella Parker (see Book Review). “My first teaching job was in the winter of 1929 at a school in Gulf hammock, located west of Reddick in Levy County. I was fifteen years old. The school served

1872 Rules for Teachers 1. Teachers each day will fill lanps, clean chimneys. 2. Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day’s session. 3. Make your pens carefully. You may whittle nibs to the individual taste of the pupils. 4. Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly. 5. After ten hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or other good books. 6. Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed. 7. Every teacher should lay aside from each pay a goodly sum of his earnings for his benefit during declining years so that he will not become a burden on society. 8. Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity and honest. 9. The teacher who perfoms his labor faithfullt and without fault for five years will be given an increase of twenty-five cents per week in his pay, providing the Board of Education approves. Courtesy of the Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse, St. Augustine. Built over 200 years ago while Florida was still under Spanish rule, the school master lived upstairs, above the small classroom. blacks in first through eighth grade. there were two teachers, but we both taught in the same big room. I taught beginners through fourth grade, and the other teaher taught the older students. I was young and not too sure of myself, and the children seemed almost as big as I was. the other teacher helped me out a lot, showing me what to do.” Parker received $30.00 a month for her work, $5.00 went for her room and board and the rest she used to help out her family, spending a little occassionally on food. She worked at other schools including one in Wauchula. She too would be forced to comply to strict standards in her personal life. ”One night during that term, I went to a dance in town. the supervisor, who was not an educator himself, was there and informed me that teachers were not allowed to attend dances. That’s when I decided I wouldn’t go back after the term, and that teaching was not what Idella wanted for a lifetime career. If I couldn’t dance or socialize as young as I was, then I would look for something else besides teaching.” Ray Albritton’s early 20th Century school wasn’t much better, he writes in Recollections of a Time Gone By. The school house had two rooms, the first room went up to the fourth grade and the second went up to the eighth. There was no first grade, the beginning students started in the primer. There were about five of six students in each grade and when their time came they moved up to the front of the classroom and had the undivided attention of the teacher. the other students were expected to stay at their desks and study quietly. This system worked quite well, probably due to the fact that the hickory stick, was nearby and teachers were not reluctant to use it. The old Johnson A schoolhouse was about to fall down by the time I got there, albritton, remembers. It was propped up with a log on one end and leaning to the east. The county decided to build a new schoolhouse. when the new school was finished we were disappointed. It was exactly like the old school except it was new. We had expected something totally different. the old log prop was gone and there was a fresh coat of paint on the building.”

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We have some exciting news to share with you. The Florida FRONTIER GAZETTE is boldly exploring our newest frontier - the World Wide Web. We have procured a large web site where we hope to be the Premier source of Florida history information on the web. We have some really neat things planned for the site...

FLORIDA HISTORY EVENTS Complete and comprehensive listing of all history related events in Florida, including maps, driving directions, and info request forms. You can even LIST YOUR EVENT on-line!

WAS THERE! Pages showing photos of events that

we attend throughout the year. Folks will want to come to our site to see pictures and reminisce.

THE CATAWAMPUS

FLORIDA FRONTIER FORUM - Discussion groups The FLORIDA FRONTIER GAZETTE where the mysteries of Florida’s history can be discussed and blossom into a rich image of all our shared ideas.

CHAT WITH FLORIDA PERSONALITIES

Scheduled chat sessions with different characters from Florida’s rich historic past. Scheduled personalities include: • Maria Velasquez - a woman who sailed with the Narvaéz expedition in 1528. • Kit Watkins - war corespondent during the Spanish American War in 1898. • Juan Ortiz - Spanish youth tortured by Hirigua, saved by his lovely daughter. • Turtle Woman - a Timucuan Caciquein the time before European contact. • Hernando deSoto - 16th Century conquistador • Billy Bartram - Florida’s first “investigative tourist” • Many more including acclaimed authors and writers Kit Watkins spills the beans on Tampa in 1898. involved with Florida History. Make an appointment to talk to her live on our STORIES FROM FLORIDA HISTORY Web Site. We have many wonderful artists and writers who & NATURAL HISTORY contribute on a regular basis. Join us for some of the more controversial issues that have somehow failed to make it into our history textbooks. Learn where Florida was during the Age of Dinosaurs.

FLORIDA HISTORY IN THE NEWS

Coverage of current events and activities related to Florida History. This is the place to send us your latest discoveries . A new archaeological discovery, a forgotten book you have dusted for information, family insights, travel with Florida history in mind - share your adventures here!

HISTORY QUIZ

A regular feature will offer a new challenge to our readers with every issue. Questions are based on content in the stories. Just like on the cover of the paper but more...

RECIPES

Featuring food from throughout Florida history. Everything from Mastadon Stew to “Cabbage Palm Stew” and other delicacies to tantalize your palate.

Johnny Shaffer , dressed as a 16th C. gentleman. Visit him at the Storytelling Tree. All storytellers are invited to link or place a page with us. It’s free! Maria Velasquez, tells the story of her voyage to la Florida in 1528, and the Narvaéz Expedition’s tragic end.

THE COSTUME PAGE

One of Elizabeth’s great loves, we have pages devoted to discussion of period costumes with patterns, LINKS, and chat room. Discussions about how to join a reenactment group and how to get started.

MANY MANY MORE FEATURES

With the resources available to us now with an “on-line presence” we hope to build a community united for the cause of promoting and understanding Florida history. We have the ability to offer free email accounts within our domain to help our contributors establish an identity with Florida History. Email accounts can forward to existing ISP or be setup as a fully functional POP3. If you are interested in participating, please send email to : tocobaga@floridafrontier.com

Open a window to the past. Discover the World...

Nunnerly Pudding

One-half pound of raisins chopped, one pound of suet, four tablespoons moist sugar, four ditto flour, and four eggs. To be well boiled and served with wine or brandy sauce.

Just Plain Good Cookin’! As printed in Godey’s Lady’s Book - 1864

Beefsteak with Mushrooms

4 lbs Sirloin, cut thin 1 Qart of mushrooms stemmed and skinned. Season steaks with ground black pepper and a little salt. Put a large tablespoon of good lard into the frying pan and set it over the fire. When it is quite hot, put the steaks in and the let them brown. Moisten mushrooms with a pint of water seasoned with a little salt and pepper. and thickenedbslightly with a good dredging flour. Pour it over the steaks in the frying pan and let them cook until thoroughly done. Venison steaks are excellent when done in this manner but the venison must be fresh.

What to do with those Left Overs? Minced Beef

Take the lean from some cold Roast Beef and chop it very fine, adding minced onion. Season with salt and pepper. Put it in a stew panwith some gravy left over from the day before and let it stew for a quarter of an hour. Fill up the dish with mashed potatoes, smoothed on the surface and brown with a salamander or a red hot shovel. Cold Roast Mutton or lamb may be minced as above, adding some sweet marjorum to the seasoning and filling the dish up with mashed turnips instead of potatoes. Also, cold Roast Pork flavoring the filling with a little chopped sage. Cover the top with mashed sweet potato, or with apple sauce that has been stewed as thick as possible.

Preserving Meat and Fish with Sugar

To preserve fish by sugar open them up and rub the sugar in, in the same manner as salt., leaving it then for a few days. If the fish be intended for long keeping, dry it after this, taking care to exp[ose new surfaces to the air frequently, to prevent moldieness. Fish preserved in this manner, is said, to be found, when dressed, much superior to what has been cured by salt or smoke. For salmon of six pounds weight, a tablespoon of brown sugar is sufficient.

HOW TO CHOP ONIONS PROPERLY

Few persons know how to chop onions properly. In the first place, all the dry skin must be removed; then a thin slice off the top and bottom or they will be bitter; then cut them into thin slices, dividing the onions, and

cut crosswise to form dice. If a slight flavor is required, and the onion is strong when chopped, put the pieces in the corner of a napkin or cloth, wash them in water, squeez then dry, then put them back on the board and chop fine.

Cakes, Puddings, Etc. An Excellant Pudding

1 pint fine bread crumbs 1 quart of milk (whole) 4 egg yolks 1 lemon - grated rind Piece of butter the size of an egg Bake until done but not watery. Whip the eggs until stiff and beat in a teacup ful of white sugar in which has been stirred the juice of 1 lemon. Spread a layer of jelly or any sweetmeats you prefer. Pour the egg whites over this and replace in the oven and bake lightly. To be eaten cold with cream.

The President’s Pudding

Mix together 6 oz butter creamed 4 oz brown sugar 4 egg yolks beaten 6 oz bread crumbs (3/4 cup) Rinds of 2 lemons grated Line the dish with a light crust and a layer of jam or marmalade pour in the mixture and bake in a very slow oven (300º) for half an hour. Froth the egg whites with a little sugar and place over the pudding and put in the oven just before serving.

The Secretary’s Pudding Chop four ounces of apple the same quantity of bread crumbs, suet, and currants, well washed and picked; two ounces candied lemon, orange, and citron, chopped fine; five ounces of pounded sugar loaf, one-half a nutmeg grated. Mix all together with four eggs. Butter well and flour a tin, put in the mixture, and place a buttered paper on top, and a cloth over the paper. If you steam it the paper is sufficient. It will take two hours boiling. When you dish it, stick cut blanched almonds on it, and serve with wine sauce..

Corn Cake

Take one pint of corn meal, one quart of sour milk, four eggs well beaten, two tablespoons of sugar, and soda enough to sweeten the milk. Mix all together, and bake in pans. To have any corn cakes with eggs light, the eggs must be well beaten.

Bon Appetit!

Hard Ginger Bread 2 lbs flour 1/2 lb. butter 1 pt molasses 1/4 lb sugar 1 oz. ginger 1/2 tsp. cream ot tartar Bake in oven

Macaroons

To a quarter of a pound of sweet almonds, take four teaspoons of orange-flower water, the whites os six eggs, and one pound of sifted white sugar. Blanch the almonds (remove the brown skin), and pound them whith the orange-flower water, or some of the white of an egg; then wisk the whites of the eggs and add them gently to the almonds. It is important that these two ingredients should be carefully added, or they will “oil” or separate. Sift the sugar into the mixture until the whole forms a paste, not too stiff to drop upon white paper, which should be placed in a tin, or on a plate, and the whole baked in a slow oven till done.

To Make Apple Fritters

Take one pint of milk, three eggs, salt just to taste, and as much flour as will make a batter. Beat the yolks and whites separately, add the yolks to the milk, stir in the whites with as much flour as will make a batter, have ready some tender apples, peel them, cut them in slices round the apple, take the core carefully out of the center of each slice, which must be cut very thin. Fry them in hot lard to a light brown on both sides.

Apple Jelly One pound of moist sugar, one pound of apples, one lemon — the juice of the lemon used and the rind added— cut very fine. Boil the whole till it becomes perfect jelly. Let it stand in the mold till quite firm and cold. turn out, and sticl it with almonds; set custard round. If for dessert, use a small mould, plain.

Miscellaneous Information for the Good Housekeeper. Hard Soap

4 gallons of water

6 lbs of clean fat 3-1/2 lbs of stone lime Put the lime and soda in the water and boil until the soda is dissolved; Then pour it into a tub and let it settle. The pour off the water gently, with as little lime as possible; then add the fat and boil it until fdone. Take a little out in a saucer, and if no water remains under it when cold it is done. Pour it in deep pans, or a tub, and when cold cut in bars.

Cement for Stone Ware

Gelatin is allowed to swell in cold water, the jelly warmed, and so much recently slaked lime added as a requisite to render the mass sufficiently thick for the purpose. A coating of this cement is spread, while warm, over the gently heated surfaces of fractures of the articles, and let dry under strong pressure. What oozes out is removed directly with a moist rag.

To Clean a Black Silk Dress.

Talk one quart of soft water and put ito it and old kid glove, and boil it down to one pint; then take a sponge, or soft piece of flannel, and sponge it over; then iron it on the wrong side while it is damp. It will look bright and new, and will be quite stiff. For light colored silk take a white glove. Hmmm? Another contibutor offered another solution to cleaning silks. To extract grease fron silk. Wet the part with eau de cologne and gently rub the silk upon itself between the hands. When dry, the grease will disappear. This will also remove recent paint, and the grease from a wax candle. or...

To Clean Silk

Quarter pound soft soap, one ounce honey, one pint gin. Put on with a flannel, or nail brush, and afterwards brush with cold water, then dipped in cold water five or six times, and hung out to drain, the n ironed (wet on the wrong side) with a hot iron.

Happy New Year!

Last summer while visiting my Aunt Hilda Jane Miller at her lovely cottage overlooking the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, I spied an original volume of Godey’s Lady’s Book and Magazine from 1864. My covetnous delight must have been too hard to ignore, for Hilda Jane said that I could have it. Since then I have wiled away many hours pouring over its pages, discovering the rich treasury of advice available to American women almost a century and a half ago. These books not only offered Victorian women advice about the latest fashions but also recipes, games for chidren, art lessons, crafts, stories, poetry, music, and yes, even advice on how to behave. Simply, Godey’s was the Martha Stewart of their day. Many of the ideas seem strange by today’s standards and the writing tedious, even obscure. But for those interested in writing about or reenacting the Civil War era, it is priceless. Any woman who could afford a subscription to this miraclulous series of magazines bound together with insets colored steel plates of the latest fashions was surely the envy of her piers. For sure, when I became the inheritor of this volume, I too shared some of those same feelings of excitement and pride. It is only through the generousity of family, friends, and even strangers that the Florida Frontier Gazette is possible. As we enter the New Millenium, and our third year, we wish to honor those folks, to offer them our sincere thanks and appreciation for all they have have given us. Elizabeth Neily & Hermann Trappman.