Fabric and Textile Making Summer 2012

 

How on earth did Texas Pioneers make their clothing? We’ll worked hard at tasks like carding wool, spinning, weaving on an Inkle loom, sewing, quilting, and embroidering at Bear Bend cabin late last summer. Look for similar programs popping up on our Summer 2013 schedule soon!

Dance of the Muscovy Ducks

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video certainly must speak for itself. Enjoy the museum's latest creative endeavor "Dance of the Muscovy Ducks".

And Happy Holidays!
-Danielle Brissette
  Historical Interpreter

Good Eats

Good Eats from Helen, Danielle, & Brenda of the SHMM Education Department

Saturday, December 1^st, was a wonderful day on the grounds of the Sam Houston Memorial Museum and a great start of the holiday season.  We hope those of you who visited Eliza’s kitchen at the Woodland Home had as much fun sampling our holiday goodies as Danielle, Brenda, and I had making and serving them.  Several people have requested the recipes for the gingerbread which is an old traditional dessert.  According to several sources, gingerbread was served to General Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, a French military hero who fought with and significantly aided the American Army during the American Revolutionary War.

Two recipes were served in the kitchen the first is Best Ever Gingerbread submitted by Charlene Peck from a local cookbook and the other, The General’s Gingerbread by Doris C. Schulte.  

Best Ever Gingerbread

¾ cup molasses

¾ cup brown sugar

¾ cup melted butter

2 eggs

2½ cups flour

2 teaspoons soda

¾ teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon cloves and nutmeg

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 cup boiling water

Mix sugar, butter and molasses; add beaten eggs.  Sift dry ingredients together and add to mixture.  Add boiling water.  Bake at 350° in 9 x 13-inch pan for 25-30 minutes.  Take out of oven, split and butter.

The General’s Gingerbread by Doris C. Schulte

“In central and western Tennessee, sorghum is an important field crop used for silage (green fodder stored in a silo) and for making sorghum molasses.  Sorghum was grown at the Hermitage, which consisted of 1,050 acres at the time of Andrew Jackson’s death in 1845.  Sorghum molasses was and still is used as a sweetener on cereal and pancakes, in beverages, and in cooking.

Our gingerbread recipe, or ‘receipt’ as it was called then, is one hundred sixty years old and thus was used while Jackson was still alive.  It calls for sorghum molasses and is a very dark, spicy cake.  We call it the General’s Gingerbread in honor of our seventh president.”

¼ cup shortening

½ cup sugar

½ cup sorghum or other type of molasses

1 egg

1½ cup flour

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon allspice

½ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

½ cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 350° F.  In large bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar.  Add the molasses and egg.  Beat thoroughly.  Sift the flour and add the baking soda and spices and sift again.  Gradually add the flour to the first mixture, alternating it with the buttermilk.  Beat well until the batter is thoroughly blended. Grease and flour the baking pan (8 by 8 by 2-inch), then pour the batter into the pan.  Bake the cake for 30 minutes.  Cut it into squares and serve it either warm or cold.

Both gingerbreads were wonderful but Danielle and I agreed The General’s Gingerbread had a more traditional old fashioned flavor and our favorite.

A good lemon sauce or a rum sauce is fantastic served with a dollop of whipped cream on a square of warm gingerbread. Yum!

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We have served the same wassail in the kitchen the last two years and really like it.

Mrs. Fantroy's Hot Wassail

3 oranges

3 lemons

1 ounce cinnamon sticks

1 tablespoon allspice

1 1/2 cups water

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 gallon sweet apple cider

Squeeze the juice from the oranges and lemons, and reserve. Place rinds and spices in a saucepan. Add the water, cover, and simmer 2 1/2 hours.  Strain the liquid and pour over the sugar.  Add the fruit juices and apple cider.  Heat almost to boiling, but do not boil.  Serve very hot. 

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The Education Staff of the Sam Houston Memorial Museum wishes everyone a wonderful holiday season and good eating!

The Big Bang Theory by D.E. Barker

D. E. Barker, Historical Interpreter

Black powder and flintlocks, the old percussion rifles, cannons, muzzle loaders, cap and ball pistols, mention them in conjunction with the word “Texas” and you’re bound to be regaled with family stories from someone’s past and even a few stories from the present.  One can’t discuss Texas, the west, and this country’s heritage without making note of the role firearms have played.  Historians, reenactors, and even some hunters will tell you of their importance in shaping our country and our state.  As interpreters at the Museum we have an opportunity to touch on this subject in different ways with many of our visitors.

Our school groups often ask for the “Black Powder Demonstration” as one of the rotations.  It continues to be one of the most popular stops on the tour.  The kids have usually heard about the firing of a replica 50 caliber Hawkins percussion rifle, their fingers in their ears as soon as we start to pick up a muzzle loader.  Before the firing, they have to endure a little lecture first on tools that pioneers used to eke out a living in the wilderness.  We try to explain to them that these guns were tools as were the broad axe and steel wheeled push plow.  Once we’ve established that they had shelter, firewood, and a few veggies to eat we delve into the guns and their part in a settler’s life.  Defense in the wilderness and meat on the table are brought up. The differences between a black powder, smooth bore, muzzle loading flintlock gun and a black powder muzzle loading percussion rifle are pointed out.  That’s about the time you hear “fire in the hole,” and the Hawkins replica is fired. Once the kids settle back down, we gain their attention and a brief lecture on the danger of firearms is presented before they head for the next stop.

In our Rotunda building one can find flintlock pistols and muskets.  Percussion rifles and pistols are on display in many of the museum wings.  A brace of flintlock dueling pistols that were presented to General Sam Houston in 1836 and one of Sam’s powder horns reside in the same wing as a reconstructed skull from the battle of San Jacinto and artifacts belonging to Santa Anna. Two of Sam’s Navy Colts are on display near his “leopard” skin vest.  All are documented as to their place in Texas history and Sam’s life.

 And there are the big guns, the cannons.  Just mention the “Twin Sisters” or the phrase “Come and Take It” and stories start flying.  Is it the mystery of what happened to the Twin Sisters?  Are they really buried near San Jacinto?  How did they get their name?  Were they melted down as scrap?  How important were they to the battle of San Jacinto?  Do you know the whole story behind “Come and Take It,” and the little cannon at the battle of Gonzales?  The Museum has two working cannons.  When asked, “What caliber?” the joke is often that they are 35 mm.  Are you old enough to remember the old 35 mm film canisters?  That’s about the diameter of the charge loaded into our cannons.  It’s been asked if either are copies of the Twin Sisters.  Most research indicates that there were no drawings or specifications kept on the Sisters so one can only speculate.  The larger of the museum’s two cannons is brought out during the General Sam Houston Folk Festival to be fired.  It is often accompanied by a visiting cannon crewed by members of the Sons of the Republic of Texas, Lone Star Chapter.  The basso profundo of both “Rolling Thunder” and our own, as yet unnamed cannon echoes across Lake Oolooteka on the hour every hour during the festival.

As conservators and demonstrators, we remind ourselves and those watching and listening of the importance of firearms, their history, and their inherent dangers.  Just recently historical interpreters and reenactors attended a cannon school in Seabrook, Texas.  It was a thrill to experience close to ten different cannon and crews firing volley after volley across the narrow inlet.  The major impetus for the gathering was not only to understand the place of the cannon in Texas History, but to develop a standard operating procedure for the safety of the cannon crews, reenactors, and the viewing public. Make no mistake; we love the flash bang of the guns, the thunder of the cannon.  It could be the odor of spent black powder or the smoke as it roils the surrounding air.  It may be that it’s the vibration you feel in your chest when the gun goes off, the ground shaking beneath your feet from the cannons recoil. There is a realization of the power you have unleashed and an inkling of what the founding fathers might have felt as they pulled the trigger or touched burning slow match to the fuse on cannon. But, the safety of our employees and visitors is paramount.  So you might be able to witness the black powder demo if you follow a school group on the grounds. Come to the Folk Festival and one can witness muskets, percussion rifles, and cannon all in one day.  Come and hear the thunder.