Take a Tasteful History Tour

By Jeff Burns

Do you like history and food?  It’s very easy to combine both of your passions when you travel.  Many cities offer walking tours of historic neighborhoods that make stops in restaurants along the way.  You can find these tours listed by the city’s tourist and visitor information organization, through sites like Tripadvisor, or by searching online.  In Miami for spring break, my wife and I took the South Beach Cultural Food and Walking Tour offered by Viator.

This particular tour lasts about 2 and a half hours and makes five to seven food stops along about 10 blocks of the South Beach Art Deco district.  We met our tour guide Katherine and the 7 other tour participants at the starting point and made introductions.  The diverse group included to women from Montreal, a couple from Cincinnati, a couple from Virginia who were in the process of relocating to Miami, and a Chinese student. Katherine is a self-described history nerd and foodie who is very knowledgeable. Before moving to Miami, she had lived and travelled extensively for several years in Latin America, a real plus as so much of the food scene in South Beach is Latin American based.

We started at a Columbian place called Bolivar where we enjoyed a drink that combined a Columbian beer and a cream soda, a great ceviche, and an empanada.    (No pictures of food, unfortunately, since it disappeared very quickly.)  From there, we walked to another restaurant for an Argentine-style churro that we ate as we walked to the next stop on Ocean Drive, in the center of the Art Deco district:  Lario’s, the restaurant owned by musicians Gloria and Emilio Estefan that features Cuban home cooking.  There we enjoyed the beautiful décor and ropa vieja , a popular shredded beef recipe.  The next stop was a five star hotel , The Tides, once frequented by the likes of Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack for a Moroccan curry dish.  The tour wrapped up with a walk to the busy pedestrian area known as Espanola Way with a stop at an artisanal pizza shop and ending at a gelataria for delicious Italian gelato.

 

Along the way, Katherine gave us a great history lesson on the architecture of the area and its cultural history.  We learned about the development and change in Miami Beach in its 100 year history.  For example, we saw the Versace mansion, the building where Al Capone maintained his business office, and the club where Desi Arnaz entertained in the days before “I Love Lucy.”

 

It was a very fun evening. We learned a lot, met some really nice people, and got to sample the fantastic cultural diversity that South Beach offers.  This was our first tour like this, but we definitely plan more in our future travels.

 

Fall Fun in the Pumpkin Patch

By Margaret Duncan, Ed.D.

Welcome to Fall! The calendar hits October and leaves begin to change, temperatures get cooler, and everything becomes Pumpkin related.  Just walk into any grocery store or Starbucks and the pumpkin flavored food is staggering.  Not sure when the pumpkin fascination began, but it is indeed overwhelming at this time of year. Unlike the Pumpkin Spice Frappe, one thing pumpkin related that has been around for decades, is the Pumpkin Patch.     

Some different ways to enjoy a Pumpkin Patch:

Pick Your Own Pumpkin Straight From the Patch
Going to a pumpkin patch allows you to actually walk the field where the pumpkins actually grow.  My daughters have always enjoyed running around the field looking for their very own special pumpkin. We always get different types of pumpkins, some will be carved, some will get painted. However, the downside can be dirt or mud, especially if it just rained.  One suggestion, if you want to pick your pumpkin from the field, you will need to do it early in the season.   

Picking Pumpkins Already Harvested
Unlike my children, I like picking pumpkins already harvested.  Many pumpkins for sale are not at a true pumpkin patch but on a church lawn or local business parking lot.  While this may not be as much fun as running around the pumpkin field, the end result is the same—picking out the perfect pumpkin! For many communities, this is the most common form of pumpkin patch, and for many organizations it is a seasonal fundraiser.  Simply put, pumpkins just don't grow everywhere and need to be brought in.   

Beyond Pumpkins, many local pumpkin patches offer a lot more to do while finding that perfect pumpkin.  My local Pumpkin patch offers hay rides, a petting zoo, horse rides, and the chance to pick your own sunflower out of the sunflower garden.  Hayrides come in several forms: tractor-pulled, horse-drawn and wagons.  Thanks to allergies, the hayride is not my favorite activity, but it is great fun riding all through the farm.

What to do with your Pumpkin

Carve it!
This is a favorite tradition.  While our pumpkin carving skills are not great, it is the fun doing it that matters.  While we carve, we like to reiterate the story of the Jack O'Lantern.  The legend comes from Irish folklore and is often told on the hayride around the Pumpkin Patch. The story goes:

Jack was a crafty farmer who tricked the Devil into climbing a tall tree. When the Devil reached the highest branch, Jack carved a large cross in the trunk, making it impossible for the Devil to climb down. In exchange for help getting out of the tree, the Devil promised never to tempt Jack with evil again. When Jack died, he was turned away from Heaven for his sins and turned away from Hell because of his trickery. Condemned to wander the earth without rest, Jack carved out one of his turnips, took an ember from the devil, and used it for a lantern to light his way. He became known as "Jack of the Lantern."

For more info on the Jack O'Lantern Legend.

Roast the Pumpkin Seeds
1.  Rinse pumpkin seeds under cold water and pick out the pulp and strings.  This is easiest just after you've removed the seeds from the pumpkin, before the pulp has dried.
2.  Place the pumpkin seeds in a single layer on an oiled baking sheet, stirring to coat. If you prefer, omit the oil and coat with non-stick cooking spray.
3.  Sprinkle with salt and bake at 325 degrees F until toasted, about 25 minutes, checking and stirring after 10 minutes. You can also add any other spices to the seeds—salty or sweet to create additional flavors.
4.   Let cool and store in an air tight container.

Bake my Grammy’s Pumpkin Pie
1 crust pie
3 eggs
1egg yolk
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 cups pumpkin puree

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, combine eggs, egg yolk, white sugar and brown sugar. Add salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. Gradually stir in milk and cream. Stir in pumpkin. Pour filling into pie shell.
3. Bake for ten minutes in preheated oven. Reduce heat to 350 degrees, and bake for an additional 40 to 45 minutes, or until filling is set.

Connecting with Landmarks:Creating a Tour of Rose Hill Cemetery, Macon, Georgia (Part 1)

Entrance to Rose Hill Cemetery

by Dianne Dent Wilcox
(diannedentwilcox@att.net)

(Guest Blogger Dianne Dent Wilcox is an expert on the history of Macon and Central Georgia.  She is currently the Humanities department Chair at Georgia Military College.  She and her family reside in Macon.)

Welcome to Rose Hill Cemetery, opened in 1840. I began doing tours here around 1995. Teaching high school in private schools, I had more flexibility with curriculum issues than many of my public school colleagues. Because I taught English, which includes research writing, I wanted my students to feel that their research had meaning – that completing the assignment was more important than just checking off a task that they had to complete for school. I decided to connect the students’ research to the area’s history, culture and heritage. In 1989, my eleventh grade American literature students began researching Macon’s War of 1812 Fort Hawkins. Later, in looking for a middle school research project, I learned that the Washington Memorial Library’s genealogy room had files on prominent Macon citizens. The files provided a narrowed research field accessible to middle school students. So, the project developed this way. On a planned field trip day, I brought seventh graders to Rose Hill Cemetery. Upon arrival, I divided the class into three member teams and had each team draw a card from my hand on which they found the name of someone buried at Rose Hill.  Then, carefully placing chaperones on the tops of the hills here, we released the students into the cemetery to gather as much information about their subject as possible. Because I matched the research subjects to the files in the Genealogy Room, I knew, in advance that each student would be able to locate the materials he needed to write the required 2,000 word MLA research paper.

Students loved exploring the cemetery and finding information about their subjects. Some found historic markers; others found only names, birth and death dates, and a select few found only the Woolfolk, etched in stone at a burial site. (Today that site has nice new markers with names and dates on them.) However, when each student went to the library, he found the remaining information to write his paper. We started with classes on twenty-five, and then as the school and the project grew, we began bringing fifty to seventy-five students at the time.

These students have now graduated from college, and when I see them, they still mention the Fort Hawkins and Rose Hill Cemetery projects and tell me how that real research experience increased the value they put on their education, their community and their heritage. I benefited greatly, too. In reading and grading twenty-five to seventy –five Rose Hill research papers per year, I learned a great deal about Rose Hill Cemetery and Macon history. I’m now the Humanities Division Chair for Georgia Military College.  Our largest Rose Hill tour was Spring 2007, when we had 114 people participate. 

We’ve now adopted Shiloh Cemetery, started in 1831 for reclamation, restoration, protection, and student research. My Facebook page, Dianne Dent-Wilcox, is all Georgia history and folklore, all the time.  I invite you to join in the adventures.

Hunt for History in your Hometown

By Nina Kendall

What makes your hometown unique? Is there a place that everyone knows? Are you from the Fern Capital of the World? Do you live down the street from an important battlefield? Every town has a story to tell. It is the collective story of a place and all those who have lived there. You can find it in what the town has kept and preserved and in what the town has abandoned and destroyed.  The natural and built landscape share a story with you. Do you know what it is?

 

Americans have a history of moving from place to place. Most Americans will live in many places within their lifetime. Moving to a new place can be exciting. You get a new job, new house, and new things to learn.  Learning about your community whether you are new to town or all your life can be exciting. Enjoying public art can be a great place to start.

 

Monuments, murals, and statues help to define a place and tell its story. They can reveal what is important to your communities past or celebrate a famous citizen. You can learn about industries of the past, current popular pastimes, or visions of the future. Sometimes you can simple see how the place was used in the past.  If you have been lucky enough to enjoy a cow parade, you have seen local public art highlight the facets of your community and its history.

 

 

What public art is in your community? It is time to find  out. Take a  trip for yourself or create a scavenger hunt for your kids.  Enjoy the vistas of your hometown and learn about the history of your community. Share what you find with us on twitter @Histocrats using the hashtag #hometownhistory.

 

Enjoy these examples of public art. Can you guess what state they are from?