Post by Okwes on Aug 22, 2006 9:52:40 GMT -5
Annual event provides real-time history6 lesson for young and old
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Sunday, August 20, 2006
By BEN BOTKIN
The Register-Mail
An Indian warrior was at Lake Storey. So was Benjamin Franklin. A tinsmith was there, too.
Heritage Days brought crowds of people dressed in clothes and reenacting scenes and the work from an early era of American history. Tents dotted the landscape of Lake Storey and people showed off their craft work, which was made with the same tools of the 1700s.
Chuck and Catherine Molenda of Elgin didn't go by their legal names. They were simply known as Benjamin Franklin and his wife was Debra Reed Franklin.
Wearing period clothes and wire-rimmed glasses, "Benjamin Franklin" showed a small box similar to what his predecessor - the real Franklin used to keep writing quills and a Bible.
"Every house should have a Bible," Chuck Molenda said, imitating his character.
"I have the advantage of looking like Ben Franklin," he said.
The couple doesn't converse on 21st century terms when at events like Heritage Days. Recently, a boy talked to them and mentioned McDonald's restaurant.
BILL GAITHER/The Register-Mail
Caleb Robinson, 13, of Wataga, surrounds himself in smoke during a Native American ceremony in which a child was baptized. The ritual was performed for the public in during the pre-1840 rendevous at Heritage Days.
The two feigned ignorance of the fast food establishment and he learned an important lesson, they said.
"It's wonderful to bring history back because they go, 'It's a whole different world,'" said Catherine Molenda.
One vendor sold root beer - not the modern variety, either.
The original root beer was made with roots and berries and fermented with yeast, although children drank a non-alcoholic type, said Ann McGowan of Salt Springs, Fla.
Barrels with metal spigots held the root beer, which wasn't an alcoholic beverage, either.
Denis Dumas and Shane Skiles of Little York dressed as native Americans from the Lenope tribe that was in Delevare in the 1750s.
Skiles was Teme, which means Wolf. He wore red and black war paint, playing the part of a warrior who fought for the English in the French and Indian War.
Face paint wasn't always used for war, Skiles said, adding that it also protected the face from winds and the sun.
"You get into the history and it just goes from there," he said.
In one corner, Betty Coris of Licking, Mo., sat making knots on a piece of cloth. Her craft was called "candle wicking" because in the 1700s, people used candle wicks instead of thread, which was expensive at the time.
Using the wicks to tie knots, she created a heart-shaped pattern.
Nearby, her husband Jeff Coris sold tinware. Tinware products are tin-plated steel and were used for pots, cups, wash basins and lanterns, he said.
Lanterns held candles, with the light coming from holes in the tin.
"I personally enjoy the candle lanterns and the ambiance of the old style," Jeff Coris said.
Coris makes lanterns that look like the old style, but he is sure to put a date on them.
"I don't want someone to age them and try to sell them on E-bay," he said.
Advertisement
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, August 20, 2006
By BEN BOTKIN
The Register-Mail
An Indian warrior was at Lake Storey. So was Benjamin Franklin. A tinsmith was there, too.
Heritage Days brought crowds of people dressed in clothes and reenacting scenes and the work from an early era of American history. Tents dotted the landscape of Lake Storey and people showed off their craft work, which was made with the same tools of the 1700s.
Chuck and Catherine Molenda of Elgin didn't go by their legal names. They were simply known as Benjamin Franklin and his wife was Debra Reed Franklin.
Wearing period clothes and wire-rimmed glasses, "Benjamin Franklin" showed a small box similar to what his predecessor - the real Franklin used to keep writing quills and a Bible.
"Every house should have a Bible," Chuck Molenda said, imitating his character.
"I have the advantage of looking like Ben Franklin," he said.
The couple doesn't converse on 21st century terms when at events like Heritage Days. Recently, a boy talked to them and mentioned McDonald's restaurant.
BILL GAITHER/The Register-Mail
Caleb Robinson, 13, of Wataga, surrounds himself in smoke during a Native American ceremony in which a child was baptized. The ritual was performed for the public in during the pre-1840 rendevous at Heritage Days.
The two feigned ignorance of the fast food establishment and he learned an important lesson, they said.
"It's wonderful to bring history back because they go, 'It's a whole different world,'" said Catherine Molenda.
One vendor sold root beer - not the modern variety, either.
The original root beer was made with roots and berries and fermented with yeast, although children drank a non-alcoholic type, said Ann McGowan of Salt Springs, Fla.
Barrels with metal spigots held the root beer, which wasn't an alcoholic beverage, either.
Denis Dumas and Shane Skiles of Little York dressed as native Americans from the Lenope tribe that was in Delevare in the 1750s.
Skiles was Teme, which means Wolf. He wore red and black war paint, playing the part of a warrior who fought for the English in the French and Indian War.
Face paint wasn't always used for war, Skiles said, adding that it also protected the face from winds and the sun.
"You get into the history and it just goes from there," he said.
In one corner, Betty Coris of Licking, Mo., sat making knots on a piece of cloth. Her craft was called "candle wicking" because in the 1700s, people used candle wicks instead of thread, which was expensive at the time.
Using the wicks to tie knots, she created a heart-shaped pattern.
Nearby, her husband Jeff Coris sold tinware. Tinware products are tin-plated steel and were used for pots, cups, wash basins and lanterns, he said.
Lanterns held candles, with the light coming from holes in the tin.
"I personally enjoy the candle lanterns and the ambiance of the old style," Jeff Coris said.
Coris makes lanterns that look like the old style, but he is sure to put a date on them.
"I don't want someone to age them and try to sell them on E-bay," he said.