A Magic Lantern and Quaker Hats

From horse-drawn wagons to "modern" technology.  A Magic Lantern was a sign of enormous prosperity for a family.

Again I'm researching something for you on the world wide web and, surprise, surprise, I discover that, not only is there a whole museum dedicate to Magic Lanterns, but that it is located in ... Texas!  (San Antonio to be exact.)  The Magic Lantern is known as "the father of motion pictures and the grandfather of television."

In our church/museum they have showcased a series of rooms from a former home in Greensboro with the actual furnishings from that home.  I believe these were from the home of a furniture store owner so the furniture was exquisite.  The seating, however, was so SHORT.  But I guess people were smaller back then.  Really, they were.  No vitamins I'd guess.

I always like when a museum tells you the going price for items "back then."  For instance, to buy this handmade Quaker-style hat in the 1840's, hunters could trade 100 rabbit hides. 

Not so big a deal.  I remember one Christmas when we visited our grandparents.  The first night there us kids shot 53 cottontail rabbits - and this was like 1962!  (That's nineteen-sixty-two, not eighteen-sixty-two.)  We thought that was really neat - until Momma told us we couldn't come in out of the snow (yes, it snows in Texas - especially in the panhandle) until we had skinned and cleaned every one of them!  I was SO glad I was the baby of the family because after awhile Momma took pity on me and let me come in.  Rightly so!  They wouldn't let me hold a knife, so I was no help to them anyway!  (A gun I could hold, but not a knife.  Go figure.)  There was snow on the ground, and all I could do was stand there and shiver!


Just an aside:  Momma always said, if you shoot it, you eat it.  That was to keep my brothers from shooting everything that moved.  She meant it, too.  My brother once shot a huge turtle.  Momma made him clean it, and we ate turtle soup for what seemed an eternity.  I don't believe my brother ever shot another turtle - leastwise not one he told HER about.

In a Covered Wagon

Well, we are FINALLY moving on down to the second floor.  (Remember, the ancient man at the desk advised us to start at the top floor and work our way down...)

Just to remind us that we are in a church, there is a huge stained glass window beside the spiral staircase on our way down.  One of my favorite Biblical scenes:

When what to my wondering eyes appears.... a full-size covered wagon!

It's the Winecoff wagon.  Just like we have Fords and Chevys our grandparents had Conestogas and Winecoffs.  Though they look very similar, the Conestogas had blue paint on the body and red wheels.  Again with the giant horses (six) to pull this massive thing!  I have to seriously resist the urge to hop the rail and crawl up inside this monster.  Look at how big that wheel is compared to 6'3" John!  This is not a replica.  It was donated by the family of the man who owned it five generations ago!

Obviously, this floor tells the story of how people first came to Greensboro, how it got it's name (American Revolutionary War hero and one of George Washington's most trusted aids, Nathanael Greene), 

the history of gold and copper mining, (remember, copper was a major metal for cookwear - still is).  Remember Castle McCullock and panning for gold in North Carolina.

Speaking of cookwear, how about a couple of recipes?

Can you believe it calls for a tea-cup of yeast?!  Oh, you've never made a loaf of bread in your life?  Bummer!  It's a really fun thing to do.  If I put a tea-cup of today's yeast in my homemade bread it would blow the door off the oven.  It would make a great "I Love Lucy" episode for sure.

O. Henry and Edward R. Murrow

O. Henry is one of my favorite authors.  I'm always telling his "Ransom of Red Chief" story on our sons and grandsons.  Someone kidnaps a little boy and tries to ransom him back to the parents.  They refuse to pay the ransom and in no time at all, due to the boy being a Dennis the Menace type, the kidnappers end up paying the parents to take him back.  Sounds so much like our sons and grandsons.  :-)

So, one of the museum storefronts is a drugstore.  Turns out, Porter & Tate Drugstore was owned by Will Porter's uncle.  Will Porter used the pen name "O. Henry"  "O. Henry" used to work here!  He was born and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Will had trouble remembering the names of customers so he began sketching them as a way to help learn their names.

Ever heard of Vick's VapoRub?  It was invented right here!  There was a whole collection of Vick's remedys on display here.

For small children there were jigsaw puzzles showing ingredients for standard remedies.  (Well, John had those puzzles put together in no time at all - must be his medical background...)

You can go to your spice rack today, take out a whole clove, put it next to your toothache and before you know it, the pain will go away.  No Chloroform necessary!  I thought everybody knew that.

Ever wondered what's in Pepto Bismol-type products?  Pepsin, a lil' flavoring, and phosphoric acid maybe?

You have to be AT LEAST as old as we are to remember Edward R. Murrow.  He was born here, too.  Murrow was a pioneer in broadcast journalism who brought live radio reports of the Nazi bombing of London in World War II into the living rooms of America.  He was at the forefront of journalism during the McCarthy era and essentially invented the traditions of television news. Over Murrow's career he was recognized with five Peabody Awards and six Emmy Awards.  "Good night, and good luck."

Old Town Greensboro

We come out of the gun collection displays and cross the foyer to another doorway.  It's like walking back in time.

Each room here is set up as though you were walking into a storefront:  hotel, drugstore, barber shop, schoolhouse, firehouse.  Even the streetlights are period.  There are several antique cars including the one in the mural:

The hotel, of course, housed the telephone operators.  How old am I?  I actually, in one of the first jobs I ever had, (at the Sears Fashion Center on Harry Hines Blvd. in Dallas) worked a switchboard that required me to literally plug in the call much like what is done on this switchboard!

I remember having a large ring on my right hand and, after I plugged in a call, that ring caught on a wire from another call and disconnected it.  (Not cool.)

There was an advertisement  for Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company posted on the wall that I thought was interesting:

You might not be able to read this but here is some of what it says:
Have you ever considered the Advantages of having a Telephone in your Home?
The Telephone ...
Overtakes Telegrams
Outstrips Messenger Boys
Lengthens your life (??)
Calls the Carriage (not the Taxi, not the car, the "Carriage")
Reserves the Berths (I'm guessing on the train?)
It lengthens your days (by saving time ?)
Reduces your worries
Saves your temper

Our Rates Always Reasonable (Someone needs to share that sales pitch with today's AT&T !!!)

Notice the fire engine is a STEAM engine.  John was telling me that a firehouse dog was essential because it was used to chase neighborhood dogs away from the horses pulling the engine.  (How'd he know that??)

They had a picture of one of the horses used to pull this.  He was HUGE!  He would have made John look small!  He was so well known in the region that, when he was retired, there were newspaper articles about him as far away as Richmond, Virginia.

This is really an awesome museum - who knew! - in a CHURCH.  And there is so much more...

Feedback. Feedback. Feedback.

I'm not getting any feedback from you guys.  I mean, I'm getting great numbers in my stats, but no comments, no questions.  Let's see, I must not be boring you to death or my numbers wouldn't keep growing and growing.  But I wonder if I'm exciting any curiosity about the places we go.  Don't you want to know the names of the companies that we travel for?  They're the ones making all of this possible.  (Well, them and God.)  Do you have any traveler questions we might be able to answer for you?

I'm going to keep doing this regardless.  It all started because of GSR's. (That stands for Grandparent Status Reports.)  Our kids and grandkids and other family members can check in on us at any time by virtue of the ol' blog.  I get to share a smattering of vacation photos (OH NO! THE DREADED VACATION PICTURES!!!!) and a lil' chit-chat about what we've been up to.

But, what about y'all?  Want more pictures?  less?  More information on a particular topic? or are you Googling your own?  ARE YOU LEARNING ANYTHING?  We homeschooled our sons (wa-a-a-a-y before homeschooling was cool - or even legal) and one of the reasons was because I love watching them learn.  Have you ever consciously "watched" someone learn?  I mean, anticipate a learning moment and actually watched their little minds "get it."  Scrunched up lil' faces agonizing over a word or a concept, then, suddenly relax all of those muscles, and the light bulb effect kicks in?  It is such a JOY to me to know someone LEARNED!  Now THAT's fun stuff.  So, are you learning anything?

We are.  We are history buffs.  We've lived a fairly long time.  We've learned a bit in school, through movies, books, previous vacations.  But with all that we've absorbed over the years, we constantly have "Ah-ha" moments now.  "Who knew," has become one of our most frequent comments to each other.  We're learning the most interesting things in the strangest of locations.  There is so much out here in the world that we are literally tripping over it.

They say that if you want to delay the onset of Alzheimer's keeping the mind active is a major way to do that.  We figure we've put off the Alzheimer's until maybe the next CENTURY now! 

So, come on, guys, click the ol' "Comment" button at the bottom of the blog and give us some feedback!  Who are you people?

Greensboro Historical Museum

This is what John has decided on.  It's attached to a Presbyterian Church!  I'm actually just kind of playing along.  A museum.  Inside a church.  How good could this be?

We step inside, and there is an ancient gatekeeper who suggests to us to start at the top and work our way down.  Take the circular staircase or the elevator.  At least, he says, that's what he's been told to tell visitors.  (I'm thinkin', in for a penny, in for a pound and head for the stairs.)

Surprise, surprise, surprise.  Inside this church we find one of the largest, most comprehensive, best documented collection of Civil War weapons anywhere - and a 770-page book copyrighted in 1996 cataloging all of it!

There is a separate showcase for each source for the guns - mostly rifles.  John was pleased to find one dedicated to Texas:

And that some of the guns were manufactured in Tyler!

 

 And a bit of Texas history, too. (#16)

This was pretty cool.  Most everyone knows about the Derringer - a tiny lil' pocket pistol usually good for one shot; sometimes you see a double-barrel Derringer that will give you two shots.  How about a FOUR-barrel ?

Curiosity took over, and I did a lil' research.  Did you know they make a SIXTEEN-barrel now?  and one that shoots SHOTGUN shells?  What kind of kick must that puppy have !?!

There was more than just weapons:

There was much more to this museum - too much to relate in a single posting - so you will have to check back over the next SEVERAL days to get a clue to just some of it.  This place deserves your personal attention, so definitely put it on your to-do list.

Panning for Gold in North Carolina? at a Castle?

A few weeks ago we drove down to Greensboro, North Carolina.  We saw an exit for a castle.  Interesting.  We visited a castle while we were in Connecticut, Gillett Castle, and it was really, really cool.  So, we take the exit.

It's Saturday and they only allow you in on tours Monday thru Friday.  Bummer.  Weekends are for weddings.  Ok. We'll just have to come back.  So, we went back to our original plan and ended up at the Guilford County American Revolutionary battlefield.  Good enough.

Yesterday we were planning our weekend and decided to go back to the castle - but we couldn't remember it's name or much else about finding it.  I decided to Google "North Carolina castles," and we were VERY surprised to find out that there are a TON of castles in North Carolina.  (Makes ya' wonder how many there are in other states ...)  I spy one on the list in Guilford County and figure that must be it.  One click and another surprise:  It was originally a mill for crushing ore and picking out GOLD.  In fact, we could actually PAN for gold if we want!  Who knew?  Gold in North Carolina! 

The Castle McCullock website says:  "Following the discovery of gold in North Carolina, an enterprising Cornish engineer named Charles McCulloch came to the gold fields of Jamestown, North Carolina to build a gold refinery. He brought with him the architecture of England and the latest technological development, the steam engine. McCulloch Gold Mill was built in 1832 and operated for many year..."

Turns out the California gold rush of 1849 pulled all the miners out of the Carolinas and on to California.  Sutters Mill made the history books; North Carolina didn't.  The Civil War rolls around and Castle McCullock ends up as a Confederate hospital for awhile.

There is a "history" tab at the bottom of the website, and when I click on it I discover that the castle virtually ceased to exist a long, long time ago.  About the only thing left standing was the chimney and a part of a wall with a window opening.  It's been rebuilt now, but the gold story is more interesting to us than the castle itself.

Ultimately we decide not to go to Castle McCullock.  It seems to be more a wedding site than a tourist attraction.  John begins to research other things to do in Greensboro...

A Traveler's Request

Well, we know for certain that this contract won't be extended again, so January 4th, 2012 will be our last day here.  One of the neat things about being a traveler is that you can request that the companies look for a place that holds some kind of particular interest for you.

John and I are interested in EVERYWHERE, but come spring John wants to attend a conference in Arizona to get in some CEU's (Continuing Education Units) before renewing his license at the end of 2012.  So, we've let the companies know that, if there's an opening in the southwest of the country, that would be our preference.  Might happen, might not.  You see, we believe that God is in control - and he's done a pretty good job so far!

Now, just in case, we give them preference #2 and #3.  It's gettin' kinda chilly up here in the north, so I'm thinkin' the Florida Keys might be nice.  If we HAVE to be cold, maybe Alaska would be another choice.  We usually tell the companies to give us "drive time," but I don't know what it would be like driving through the Yukon Territory in mid-January.

I've been through the Yukon.  Going catty-wampus (that's Texan for corner to corner) across the Yukon is like driving Texas top to bottom - it's a long, LONG way.  My momma and I decided a few years back to visit Alaska.  She was almost 80 and I was almost 50 (well, 79 and 49), and I don't like hotels or flying, so I told Momma we were gonna drive it - just the two of us.  What a trip that was!  We were gone 22 days and pitched a tent 19 of them.  We even shamed a few 20-30-40 year olds into pitching their tents, too.  They figured if two lil' ol' white-haired ladies all alone could brave the elements and wildlife then they ought to be able to manage it.

We took so many pictures of black bear that we finally gave up.  Figured we'd never get back to Texas if we stopped and took pictures of every one of 'em.  Eagle, moose, elk, deer, big-horn sheep, Dahl sheep, fox, coyote, antelope - you name it, we saw it and caught them on tape.  Even grizzlies.

And so, if you want to be a traveler and name your preference for a location, so be it.  Maybe you want to semi-retire and just stay sort of close to home.  YOU are the boss working for yourself.  You tell 'em, baby.

Amish Country

To reach Gettysburg from Philadelphia we travel through Amish country.  My, oh my, how beautiful it is!

They manage a lot of the dairies here.

This has been Amish country "forever" and the Amish are against violence of any kind, so it is particularly sad that they were caught up in the war between the states at Gettysburg.  Eighty percent of America's Amish are located in Pennsylvania, but the numbers are growing because of having lots of children (average seven per family.)  Contrary to statistics in other Christian religions, the Amish church has a really high membership retention rate - in the high 70 percent range.

The Amish are exempt from forced education of their children beyond the eighth grade on religious belief grounds, and they do not accept social security or any other form of government support.  They were possibly the first to believe in separation of church and state.

We saw several buggies out and about this Sunday morning as we drove through.  Not wanting to be intrusive I snapped this quick pic as we were driving by at about 50 mph.  Can you tell that their buggy has a glass windshield?  And this horse appears to have dainty hooves, but we noticed most of the horses were possibly Morgans.  (For you non-horsemen, a Morgan is like a Clydesdale - think Budwieser.)  Their legs and hooves were massive, their hindquarters, too.  All the better to draw the farm machinery around as Amish people don't go in for modern technology.

You know how we have automobile dealerships?  How cool is it that the Amish have buggy dealerships?  I guess I thought they were, like, made one at a time to order, but no.  There on a street corner was a whole sales lot full of buggies.  I love it!  Wish I could buy one and drive it back to Texas.  Whoo-hoo, that would be fun!  Yes, sir, it surely would be.

Leaving the German/Dutch Pennsylvania Amish country behind in the mist, we travel on to Gettysburg.

Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia

 Ah, Ben!  He was but a young man when he moved to Philly.  He left a huge mark on our country, but it's nothing compared with the mark he left on Philadelphia!

At the age of 12, Ben was apprenticed to his older brother who owned a print shop.  At 15, Ben authored the "Silence Dogood" letters to the editor of his brother's newspaper.  (Remember the movie, "National Treasure.")  At 17, Ben abandoned his apprenticeship due to frequent beatings by his brother and the general lack of appreciate for his abilities and work ethic by his bro.  Ben hopped a ship from Boston to New York, moseyed across New Jersey and eventually caught a boat to Philadelphia.

He arrived virtually penniless, was taken in by the family of his future wife, found work in a print shop and ultimately, believing he was a better printer than the owner, opened his own business.  He was noticed for his hard work, excellent skills and diligence and began getting bigger and better contracts.  He began to franchise his printing company into other cities. (Think McDonald's or Starbucks.)

The rest, as they say, is history.

Franklin became our first Postmaster General and made it PROFITABLE!  (Now HE might be worth cloning for that reason alone...)

You can go into this location above and they will hand-stamp your postcard, letter, or parcel with Ben Franklin's signature.  That's pretty cool.  Notice the tunnel to the right side of the picture.  This leads back into the courtyard of the last piece of property Franklin owned.

Imagine his carriage coming and going through here carrying him about his many duties and business.  Living to the very ancient age of 84 (Thirty-five was considered old age back then) he became unable to walk and had to be carried in a chair contraption by hired men from house to carriage and carriage to offices.

Throughout his life, if Franklin realized a need he put all of his energies into filling that need:  the first library company, the first fire insurance company, Union Fire (if you bought a policy you were given the bonus of a "fire-extinguisher" - two buckets), organized night watchmen (more for fire warning than crime) which evolved into the Philadelphia police department, he invented the lightening rod to prevent house fires, promoted hatches in roofs so people could climb out and put out roof fires before they spread, invented the Franklin stove and refused to patent it so that everyone would have access to the "technology," established the Philosophical Society, set up university scholarships...  If it was too big a job for one man, like setting up healthcare facilities that evolved into the Pennsylvania Hospital, Franklin brought people together to fill needs corporately.

Amazingly, his scholarship fund is still active today, the Philosophical Society still exists, the hospital is still there, and his fire insurance company is still selling policies.  Some of you might recognize the insurance logo of four hands clasping each others wrists:

Just as the owners of Jefferson's rooms in Philadelphia were allowed to tear down that building, so, too, was Franklin's last home allowed to be torn down.  (WHO WOULD BE CRAZY ENOUGH TO DO THAT?!  Oh.  Family.  Figures.)  So, the National Park Service did something unique here.  They simply built a framework of steel, known as the Ghost House, to show size and location of Franklin's final home.  There are viewing kiosks to underground museums, too.  The second framework is the home he built for his illegitimate son?  or his nephew?  (senior moment) whom he set up (surprise!) a print shop business for.

20,000 people attended Benjamin Franklin's funeral.  That's a lot of people for today, but this was in 1790!  Pretty neat guy.

Hundreds of Original Portraits! (a MUST see)

Think of all the photographs of portraits of our Founding Fathers and folks of that period that you've seen reproduced in textbooks and elsewhere.  We were surprised to find a lot of the ORIGINAL portraits here in Philadelphia in - of all places - the Second Bank building. (Architecture reminiscent of the Parthenon in Greece. Did you know there used to be a full-size replica of the Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee on the University campus?)  (That lil' aside won't cost you a thing - just a memory from when I was about ten years old living in Nashville...)

Those aren't wrinkles on Fulton's face - that's just what happens to old, OLD paintings.  Look at the SKILL that portrait painter had!  You can even see the "five o'clock shadow" and a sparkle in his eye!  Look at the shadow between his face and shirt collar in the lower right hand corner.  Astonishing attention to detail!  So cool!  And there are some 200 original portraits right here.

I'm sure you recognize George Washington's long nose...

You may not recognize this fella by himself  (look at that detail!), but how about the whole picture:

There are portraits of ladies:

And they talk about Texas women with big hair!

Is this me? or Martha Washington?

Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant

And Indians (they weren't called Native Americans then).  (Note: If you click on the picture it enlarges.) 

This is another one of those screen prints.  Can you make out the Indians?  They must be coming to the gallery to get a peek at their chief.  I love the screen prints.  We'd be in a building focused on whatever artifact was being showcased, and suddenly I would notice another print.  Wish I could have this one at home in our log cabin.  How cool would that be?

There's Ben Franklin (He's everywhere in Philly)

and John Paul Jones

 There are statues:

Mmmm.  I could go on and on, but as I say, there are HUNDREDS of these items in this building.  They are presented in a variety of formats and it is all beautifully done.  Don't say, "It's just a bunch of old paintings" and pass up this building.  It's well worth the trip inside.  If you have young children, get them to start looking for items in the paintings that might catch their interest.  Pretty soon they'll be studying the portraits themselves.  And don't forget the Indians out the window...