While we promised “now obsolete” occupations in the last post in this series, that doesn’t exactly hold true this time around, although the nomenclature has changed from the exotic “peruke maker” to the more mundane “wig maker.” While wigs date to much earlier times, it was Louis XIII of France who is credited with helping […]
One Sunday each month from May – October, 2017 costumed volunteers will enrich the visitor experience by presenting living history activities at Graeme Park. Volunteers will interact with guests as they tour the house or grounds and will do a short presentation at 2 p.m. on the day’s topic or theme. Living History Sundays will […]
Trade cards were the 18th century’s equivalent to today’s business cards and they provide interesting insight into some of the now obsolete jobs people once held. John Hunt, of Goswell Street in London, for instance, advertised his services as a “Nightman and Rubbish Carter.” What exactly did a nightman do? As the name indicates, […]
The necessary, necessary house, bog, boghouse, boggard, bog-shop, temple, convenience, temple of convenience, little house, house of office, close stool, privy, garderobe—all euphemistic terms for what we would call an outhouse. The privy at Graeme Park is a reconstruction located just off the south side of the house. Given the proximity to the door, the […]
Any assessment of health care in the 18th century, when life expectancy on both sides of the Atlantic averaged about 43 years, must include personnel ranging from educated physicians through barbers and midwives to neighborhood quacks. Diseases were attributed to superstitions, to bad behavior, or inhalation of foul air. Remedies included everything from herbal extracts, […]
On Sunday, March 12 Pennsylvania will be celebrating the 336th anniversary of the granting of the founding charter to William Penn by King Charles II. The original charter was granted on March 4, 1681 in fulfillment of a debt of about 16,000 English pounds (over 2 million of today’s money) which the crown owed to […]
Happy New Year! As the holidays wind down and we nurse those hangovers from our New Year festivities, it’s comforting to know we’re in good company as we reach for the bottle of aspirin. People worldwide, no matter what race or religion, celebrate the new year in some form. There are many customs and traditions […]
When we last left off, about mid-day on Friday, August 24, the lower slope of the south side was about half done. And if you’re a Facebook Friend, then you saw where they were at the end of the day on Friday – about 2/3 done. […]
Well, after much anticipation, and an official state bidding process, the new roof project has begun on the Keith House. The existing oak shingle roof was put on in 1989 (to replace the first roof the state put on the house back in the 1960s) and was really starting to show its age – both […]
Happy Bastille Day everyone! Today it seems appropriate to take a break from our Celtic Festival preparations and quickly look at Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson’s interest in the French Revolution, which followed so closely on the heels of American independence. In 1793 Elizabeth sent a bundle of her poems and writings to fellow writer Annis Stockton. […]