Neshaminy Reenactment 2014 ( Warning: Photo Heavy)

First event of the season! Beautiful weather for it. The sun was out but there was a little chilly wind and it is always better for an event to be a little cold than too hot. Neshaminy State Park is always beautiful at this time of year. It is located right by the water. The land was one of the original land grants from William Penn and was owned by his secretary in the late 1600s.

While no actual Civil War battle took place here, all of the money made from the event is used for preservation. Also, the event is unique in that spectators do not pay admission.

Photos from this year:

This guy talked to the spectators about what was going on during the battle. He said he's been reenacting for 25 years but can't fight in the battles anymore due to illness. He said he really missed it.

Philadelphia in the distance.

Secret Life of Bloggers Blog Party: Post 13

"Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart. The nearer I approach the end, the plainer I hear around me the immortal symphonies of the worlds which invite me.” -Victor Hugo

This week was bizarre. Instead of snow, we had pounding rain. We also had beautiful days. This week was a week of change. Spring is definitely among us. Everyone is awake and outdoors.

3-22-14

Got to make a really fun cake at work. I didn't design it, just made it. It was a lot of fun.

3-23-14

3-24-14

Smoke in the woods.

3-25-14

I don't write from a chair, I write from an old milk can that stays under my desk.

3-26-14

Finished sewing the signatures of a book I starting working on back in October. It's about time. :)

3-27-14

Spring is on it's way, the early flowers are poking their heads through the earth.

3-28-14

Went for a walk in the park in between the rain. The temperature was a nice 60 degrees though.

I've been having a lot of problems posting lately. Firefox doesn't seem to want to work at all. I was thinking of switching to Chrome but have really liked Firefox in all of the years that I've used it. I'm going to try uninstalling it and installing again so maybe it won't be such a hassle to get blogger to work. Have other bloggers been having problems?'

I can't wait for the summer, I got my first taste of spending all day outdoors, yesterday. It was glorious.

Brady Photos Might Show Lincoln Procession

Lincoln's assassination on April 15, 1865 shocked the nation. So soon after the official end of the Civil War, many soldiers were not yet home and many people were still celebrating the end and looking forward to their returning loved ones. 

As the first American president to be assassinated, Lincoln's funeral and procession were enormous. Lincoln was taken by train over 1,500 miles from Washington D.C. to Illinois. His coffin placed high in the hearse car so that it was in view of the crowds. The train never went over 20 mph to avoid accidents and stopped along the way for viewings where the body was removed from the train and brought through the streets on a horse-drawn hearse. His son Robert, accompanied his father's body for the duration of the trip along with the body of his brother, Willie who died in 1862 and was being buried along with his father. Mary Todd Lincoln did not make the trip. Newspapers printed schedules of when the train would hit cities and millions of people flocked to pay their respects.     

Until recently, there has not been much photographic evidence for the well documented funeral. Newspapers and letters detail the funeral. Paul Taylor, an enthusiast in Maryland, may have rediscovered photos in the Brady collection depicting the event. The photos appear to have been taken from the upper floor of the Brady studio in New York.   

 
At this point, the photos likely depict the event but it is difficult to confirm for sure as the labels attached to the photos did not mention Lincoln. 

There is a group trying to recreate Lincoln's Funeral train and route for the 150th anniversary of his death next year.

Secret Life of Bloggers Blog Party: Post 12

Happy Friday! The weather is beautiful! This is a very short blog party post. Stay tuned. I'm hoping to have two posts up next week.


3-16-14

Spoke too soon. We had a beautiful warm day and the next day, this happened. 


3-17-14

Made Irish Soda bread in honor of St. Patrick's Day. Here is the recipe.


3-18-14

Bought a new camera and had very little time to test it out before the sun went down. I really like it already and had been saving for quite some time.
 
3-19-14

Since my camera is new, I've spent a lot of time taking photos of everything just to get a feel for it and to see how it handles.
 

3-20-14

Unfortunately this week, the camera was glued to my hand more than normal.


3-21-14
 

Behind the Screen: Secret Life of Bloggers Blog Party: Post 11

Recently, I haven't been posting much and when I have, the posts have been blog party posts. I feel bad because I dislike that my content is so party heavy right now and not so history heavy.

I started the blog party for me, as a way to see what other bloggers were up to and to get to know them better. I didn't think the posts would be very interesting to many people but I thought the bloggers would like them. I am very surprised that they are some of my highest viewed posts.  So I thought I'd answer the question that many of you, might be wondering: Why the Secret Life of Bloggers Blog Party?

A while back a lot of bloggers were discussing how they felt their blogs misrepresent them as people. They were looking at various forms of social media and feeling that "facebook envy" that creeps up when it looks like everyone else in the world has it together and is doing interesting and exciting things. Many bloggers spent tons of time to make their posts look perfect on the screen.  But, then they realized just how much their blogs were misrepresenting their own lives. Through their blogs, their lives were sterile and perfect. Dinners looked like they came straight off of pinterest, rooms were always tidy and perfection came effortlessly.

What was on the screen was worlds away from how they felt their lives really were and they wanted to let their readers know that they are real people too. It was fascinating to see the "behind the scenes" from some of my favorite bloggers.

I didn't feel that my blog made my life more perfect than it was but I did feel that when I met people who read my blog that they thought that history was the only thing in my life when it is actually just one part of my life.

I'm a huge history geek, that's no secret, but there is also more to me and my life. Despite popular belief, I actually spend more time at work than at reenactments. :)  I also have an equal love for reading, writing, photography and art as I do history. So I do enjoy getting to share the other things I am doing. It makes me feel better represented.

3-10-14

I finally got my computer monitor calibrated so now I can print photos!

3-11-14

Spent a good amount of time fooling with my camera.
 
3-12-14

 Worked at another bakery, than the one I normally work at. They had a lot of old, dirty textured items that I thought would be really fun to take photos of. 


3-13-14

Went with my dad to the hardware store to look at tile.
 
3-14-14

 Got my finger in the bread slicer at work. Good thing it only got my nail! That could have been bad.
 

3-15-14

Spring is almost here!