Everyone loves to indulge in the macabre stories of the Victorian Era, especially around Halloween, but why were these practices implemented, and what’s with the Victorian obsession with death?
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Pat Conroy was born into a military family in Atlanta, Georgia on October 26, 1945. As a young boy saddled with a violently abusive military father, Conroy and his siblings were moved frequently from city to city. By age 15, Pat Conroy had attended 11 different schools.
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While the citizens of St. Augustine feared pirates of any kind, none was more feared than the fearsome team of Captain Thomas Jingle and his most trusted ship steward Andrew Ranson.
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Poor digestion and faintness, along with chronic back pain and fatigue are some of the more tame liabilities of long-term tight-lacing, but there is sufficient evidence to support the likelihood of more severe complications, such as muscular atrophy, deformed or collapsed ribs, and even cardiac arrest.
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What is your favorite beverage? A tall glass of sweet tea alongside your favorite page turner? Your morning shot of espresso paired with a buttery croissant? Hot cocoa on an icy winter day? It is marvelous to consider how tea, coffee, and chocolate greatly influenced American history. Colonists preferred these exotic beverages to beer, wine, and questionable water. But who could imagine the introduction of caffeine would stimulate revolution?
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William “Willie” Johnston was born on July 12, 1850 in Morristown, New York. He was raised on a farm with a father who served in the 3rd Vermont Regiment for the Union. When Willie was 11 years old, he enlisted in the same regiment as his father as a drummer for Company D.
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The home boasts beautiful architecture and incredible landscape; it is nestled deeply within the Bailey Woods of Oxford, Mississippi. In 1930, after seven years of vacancy, the property was purchased by distinguished author William Faulkner. He spent much of his time writing on the property; it was a place of tranquility and solitude for him. It was Faulkner who named the property “Rowan Oak”.
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It is speculated that J.P. Morgan, a member of the exclusive Jekyll Island Club, organized the use of club facilities for the meeting. The meeting was kept top secret, as the men’s connections to Wall Street could cause harmful speculation to their motivation behind the new plan. The men claimed they were simply going to Jekyll Island for a duck hunting expedition, as the island was and still is known for its vast wildlife population.
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Grayson Stadium, originally known as the Municipal Stadium, has been the home of Savannah’s baseball teams for nearly a century. The stadium was built in 1926 and served as the home stadium for several local and collegiate Savannah teams. Today the Savannah Bananas have taken a simple game of baseball and turned it into a nation-wide Banana Ball phenomenon.
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Walls painted with this “Scheele’s Green”, as it is known today, became the envy of high society. He made this pigment using a compound of copper arsenite, perfecting his timeless pigment with verdigris and arsenic. That’s right- Scheele used arsenic in a pigment meant to surround families in their close-quartered homes.
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Colonial Park Cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in the state of Georgia. It was established in 1750, when the city of Savannah was the capital of the British Province of Georgia, the last of the thirteen colonies.
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When you think about treasure maps, what comes to mind? Treasure Island? A cipher on the back of the Declaration of Independence? William & Mary is home to the original Frenchman’s Map, which remains part of Colonial Williamsburg lore. What is the Frenchman’s Map and why is it important?
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One day, in 1817, John was walking through his corn fields, inspecting his crops. As he walked along, he was started by a strange animal staring at him from the center of one of the corn rows. It had the body of a dog and the head of a rabbit. As it stared at him unmoving, he unholstered his gun and shot at it several times, terrified of the intimidating creature. The creature then vanished, darting through the rows of corn and into the woods. John would not pay it any mind until later that evening.
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Word of gold in the Appalachians spread like wildfire through the surrounding towns and cities, and thousands of families made their way into the mountain, thirsty for the gold and the vast wealth it promised. By 1830, over 10,000 prospectors had settled in North Georgia, despite the fact that it was still treaty-protected Cherokee land.
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The Great Locomotive Chase of Georgia, also known as “Andrews’ Raid” took place on April 12 of 1862. During the Civil War, 22 Union volunteers led by James J. Andrews commandeered a train called the General and rode it North towards Tennessee from Georgia, destroying the tracks as they went along.
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As one of the oldest buildings in Savannah, it sets the tone of the famous historical charm that is adored by many in the city today. The Pirates’ house sits on a plot of land so potent and rich with Savannah history, it is considered one of the building blocks of Georgia herself.
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The use of haint blue spiked during the first outbreak of Yellow Fever in 1820. Communities in the south believed that the epidemic was caused by evil spirits and demons attacking the cities. Soon, almost everyone had a haint blue porch.
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The Battle of Allatoona Pass has gone down in history as one of the most notorious battles of the entire American Civil War.
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The history of the Appalachian Mountains begins long before the era of mining, colonization, and even modern tribal nations. Around 800 CE, the Mississippian peoples’ history began within the mountains and valleys we now know as the Appalachians.
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Taphophobia is the fear of being buried alive. If you were to speak about having this fear today, you might get some strange looks! However, this was a very common phobia during the Victorian Era, and it was not without merit. So many people were buried alive during that time that doctors had to adapt their practices to ensure patients headed for burial were actually dead!
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