Thomas Jefferson

Revolutionary Food

August 2, 2019 By Karen A. Chase

City Tavern and Early American Food

From 1774 through 1776, a tavern in Philadelphia that had only been open a few years was the place where our founding fathers assembled after a day of debates. City Tavern, just a few blocks from the State House, was a spot where they could lift a pint, stay the night, and further discuss (or eavesdrop) on the issue of separation. It was also a place to taste dishes made from the game, fruits, and spices coming into the port city.

It still is.

Recipes Recreated

Although City Tavern was destroyed by fire in the 1800s, the National Park Service rebuilt it completely because the original architectural plans existed as did the original footings. A dozen or so years ago, along came Walter Staib—a chef one could describe as obsessed with understanding the origins of 18th century food. In addition to a TV show called A Taste of History, Chef Staib developed a Colonial menu for the tavern.

Now, one can stroll into City Tavern just as folks did in 1776, and order numerous dishes off a lunch or dinner menu, including a chicken or turkey pot pie described as, “tender chunks of turkey, mushrooms, early peas, red potatoes, sherry cream sauce & flaky pastry crust,” and with a, “Pennsylvania Dutch egg noodle accompaniment.” I’ve eaten it. Oh my word. That gravy! This is my idea of Chasing History. (You can see the pot pie in the photo below.)

One might also meet or dine with an actual founding father or two—it was a delightful conversation, Ben and T.J.—as I did while in Philly to see the live reading of the Declaration on July 8th. All of this is to say, that when it came to writing about the Revolution, having such a spot where I could experience the food was crucial to creating the era and setting. Food is universally how we humans experience a time and place.

Including Food in Fiction

I love it when books I read include food, so naturally, it’s in mine, too. I’m also in a book club that often chooses stories so we can try new recipes. This month, my own book club read Carrying Independence. (Yes, there was some trepidation—I’ve seen this group when they don’t like a book—but they were lovely.)

Thanks to Chef Staib’s recipe book and TV shows, and a few revolutionary food-inspired websites, we created a feast of salmon and corn cakes, an elegant salad platter of corn, tomatoes, and greens, asparagus, a succulent pot roast, apple galettes, and Shrewsbury cookies, among other things. Swoon is the word you’re looking for. (Thanks to Becky for the food shots.)

Reader Insights: Chef Staib’s food and City Tavern are recreated within Carrying Independence. My characters meet, drink and dine in a back corner booth of City Tavern in Philadelphia (see photo), and the food and spices they experience are taken from my own in this same place. On my website I’ve included an excerpt—a full chapter—that takes place in City Tavern in that booth.

Now you can get a taste of the history behind Carrying Independence, too. Be sure to mop that gravy off your chin.

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Declaration of Independence Mistakes

June 13, 2019 By Karen A. Chase

Founding-Documents Blog Series: Part Five

Between now and July 4th, my blog features an ongoing series related to the history and signing of the Declaration of Independence… Part one began here.

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While researching the Declaration for Carrying Independence, I came across a few unique things about the the document itself.

The Declaration is a Document With Mistakes

Timothy Matlack was hired to copy the text from Jefferson’s drafts onto the official document. He was responsible for the ink used for the text and the signers (see Part Four here), but in the copying, there were a couple mistakes.

As Kris Spisak wrote, when she was a guest on my blog in her article on Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of an American Language, we often discuss the use of “unalienable” versus “inalienable.” Alison VanNest also wrote an article for Grammarly.com on the spelling and grammatical errors. She illustrates how some mistakes (the spelling of “Brittish” and “shewn”) are simply because of the usage at the time.

The Declaration was Later Corrected

Personally I love the two corrections that were made—some assume by Jefferson’s hand—after it was fully crafted. The word “representatives” was missing the “en” so that was penned in. The word “only” was inserted about ten lines up from the bottom into, “…our repeated Petitions have been answered only in repeated injury.” Cropped images of those sections are below (see the whole document close up here).

A Handprint on the Declaration

There is also a handprint is embedded into the paper in the bottom corner, possibly having seeped through from the back. The size is smaller, as if from the hand of a woman. It’s impossible to determine when it was set or to test for any traces that might result in a DNA examination without pulling up chunks of the actual document. So there it sits, an unknown shadow sealed forever in parchment.

Reader Insider Note: What’s more fun that an unknown piece of history like an inky handprint when you’re a fiction writer? Not much, so youbetchya… I had to scoop that up and provide a scenario for how it got there! No… I can’t tell you what that scenario is right now, but you can get the book… (ahem).

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For more history nerd posts like these, subscribe to the blog. Guest posts are welcomed and encouraged. Contact me for details.

For behind-the-scenes author-related news, giveaways, and to find out where I might be speaking near you, subscribe to my e-publication, CHASING HISTORIES.

Tuckahoe Plantation Then and Now

April 23, 2019 By Karen A. Chase

Recently, I visited Tuckahoe Plantation—about 30 minutes from my home—for the first time. For Thomas Jefferson, whose birthday we were celebrating at the estate, he first came to Tuckahoe when he was just two. According to Jefferson biographer Dumas Malone, Jefferson recorded his earliest memory of riding in a carriage, propped up on a cushion held by a slave, heading to what would be his home for the next seven years.

The History of Tuckahoe

Built by William Randolph and Maria Judith Page beginning in 1730, by 1945 it was home to their suddenly orphaned children. In his will, William declared Thomas Jefferson’s parents as guardians, and rather than uprooting the Randolph children, the Jefferson’s moved to Tuckahoe Plantation.

It is not difficult to image little T.J. running the halls of the H-frame home and being educated in a tiny one-room school house on the property. The house has been incredibly well maintained as a National Historic Landmark and that school house still stands beyond the tulip gardens.

Tuckahoe Today

It’s also easy to imagine the estate occupied by a family because it still is. Although the home is open to visitors, it is still privately owned, and rooms are filled with a mixture of then and now. Founding father portraits look upon framed family photos of weddings and graduations. Period antiques are cushioned by the occasional modern rug gracing rooms still inhabited by the current owners.

While these modern family and functional pieces keep the visitor grounded in current day, it is the gardens, outbuildings, and thankful preservation of the home, (it was nearly demolished to put in a highway—gasp) that allowed me to wander through the door and back to the 18th century. It’s a splendid example of the period—from the dark paneling to the paint colors to the perennials. (Check out the glass windows etched with signatures of visitors on their Instagram feed.)

The plantation is open daily from 9–5 with limited tours inside the home. For tour and photography information visit the Tuckahoe Plantation website.

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For more history nerd tidbits like these, subscribe to the blog. Guest posts are welcomed and encouraged. Contact me for details.

For behind-the-scenes author-related news, giveaways, and to find out where I might be speaking near you, subscribe to my e-publication, CHASING HISTORIES.

How to Garden Like Thomas Jefferson

March 28, 2019 By Karen A. Chase

Watercolor ”View of the West Front of Monticello and Garden” (1825) by Jane Braddick. Peticolas. The children are Thomas Jefferson’s grandchildren. – WikimediaCommons/PublicDomain

While planting season in Virginia usually begins around tax day, I’m anxious to get into my garden now. I live an hour or so from Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello where I frequently visit his historic gardens, which are still jaw-droppingly impressive. In three distinct garden areas, the estate sprouts flowers, fruits, and vegetables. To produce gardens, even on a small scale, that will make us equally proud, here are three simple tips:

One: Keep a Gardening Notebook

In order to be a keen observer of what works in different areas of your garden from season-to-season, you can keep notes in a brief journal or calendar. Jefferson kept track of the weather and how it affected plantings, along with sketches and other memoranda, in what he called his “Garden Kalendar.” (Which you can meander through thanks to the Massachusetts Historical Society, Thomas Jefferson Papers.)

Two: Buy Heirloom Seeds

Over 300 varieties of vegetables were produced by Monticello including beans, peppers, and tomatoes. Thanks to a long-sustained heirloom project—whereby seeds were and are harvested from plants each season—some of those original varietals can be yours. Why heirloom? According to Lynn Coulter on a post on Gardening Know How, some reasons may include better taste, pest resistent, or more fragrant flowers. With delightfully-painted new package designs, by local artist Tim O’Kane, the Monticello heirloom seeds feel even more charming.

Three: Plant Abundant Flowers Along Walkways

In a letter from 1807, Jefferson writes that a “limited number of our flower beds will too much restrain the variety of flowers in which we might wish to indulge.” The borders of his walkways—which were curved, not straight—were packed with flowers that help keep the gardener amused and enthralled.

For more information and events about the historic plantings at Monticello and in early America, connect with the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants.

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Thanks for sharing in the spirit of learning about our collective American History by subscribing to the blog. Guest posts are welcomed and encouraged. Contact me for details.

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Kris Spisak–On American Language

January 17, 2019 By Karen A. Chase

Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of an American Language

A Guest Post by Kris Spisak.

When people think of the American revolution, freedom comes to mind—freedom, liberty, and independence from the necessity of following rules established without any thoughtful representation. But these ideals weren’t and aren’t limited to government. The English language itself went through its own revolution, with founding fathers such as Ben Franklin at the helm here too.

It was an era when “thee” and “thou” were just starting to decline in usage. Our “unalienable rights” were discussed rather than today’s standard “inalienable rights,” and “the” was more commonly written “ye” as a stand-in because the “th” sound no longer had a single alphabet letter to represent it as it once had.

The English language has continuously evolved for hundreds of years, but because the first print dictionaries were published in the 1600s and 1700s, this was an especially turbulent time for words.

Ben Franklin himself suggested that we create a new twenty-six letter alphabet, dropping the letters C, J, Q, W, X, and Y and adding in six new ones of his own creation. His new alphabet would allow, he said, for a phonetic reading of the entire English language. Many ignored him. Many others, like Noah Webster, took Franklin’s many language thoughts into consideration. Thus, when Webster’s American English dictionary was finally published in 1828, he included Franklin’s suggestions that the “u” be removed from “color,” “favorite,” and “honor” and that the “re” in “theatre” and “centre” should be reversed, among many other ideas. The differences between American English and British English were born of this celebration of reason and independent thought, but, of course, the story hardly end there.

The fact that Thomas Jefferson used linguistic ciphers in his correspondence with Merriweather Lewis during his great expedition westward with William Clark is a story for another day.

Kris Spisak wrote her first book, Get a Grip on your Grammar: 250 Writing and Editing Reminders for the Curious or Confused (Career Press, 2017), with a goal to help writers of all kinds empower their communications. Her “Words You Should Know” podcast and “Grammartopia” events follow the same mission. A former college writing instructor, having taught at institutions including the University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University, Kris now works as a freelance editor, specializing in fiction. She is on is on the board of directors of James River Writers, is the co-founder and director of creative strategy of Midlothian Web Solutions, and can’t wait for you to hear about her next book. Sign up for her monthly writing and communications newsletter for more tips and trivia like this.

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Alphabet anecdotes and language-based ciphers also play a role in my American Revolutionary novel Carrying Independence, debuting in summer of 2019.

For research related to the novel and to stay updated on Karen-related author research tidbits, book news and events, subscribe to my e-news publication, CHASING HISTORIES.

Thank you for sharing in the spirit of learning about our collective American History by subscribing to the blog. Guest posts like this one are welcomed and encouraged––by academics, historians, authors, artists, and storytellers. Contact me for details.