Woodville Has a New Website and Blog

Woodville Plantation is proud to present our newly redesigned website. Click here to visit the new site.

We have also moved our blog over to the new website. Click here to visit the new blog.

We will no longer be posting blog posts on this site. Please visit the new website to find out the latest news about Woodville. We hope to see you soon!

Woodville Named One of the Best Historic Sites to Visit in Pittsburgh!

KDKA News recently named Woodville Plantation number two on a list of top historic sites to visit in Pittsburgh. Follow the hyperlink to read more!

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/top-lists/best-historic-sites-to-see-in-pittsburgh/

Military Encampment - 5/14 & 5/15

Cookery Made Plain and Easy

There are still spaces available in this Sunday's cooking class. If you are interested in attending, please call (412) 221-0348 to pre-register.

Legion Drill Day - Sunday, April 3

Woodville to Display Rare Flag From the Whiskey Rebellion at Holidays at the House Celebration

Wayne's Fourth Sub-Legion Encampment

CLICK ON THE FLYER FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Stoolball - America's Forgotten Pastime

If you are looking to turn an ordinary conversation into an argument, conventional wisdom suggests that you look to the topics of politics and religion. While these topics certainly will do the job, it is the topic of sports that will transform a cordial dialogue into vitriolic discord more quickly than any other subject matter. Behold the numerous radio stations, both national and local, that routinely capitalize on this paradigm. Listen as callers repeatedly change themselves into frenzied and hysterical madmen over a fumbled football or a misplayed fly ball.

Interestingly, the history of sport often evokes a similar passion, with heated debate accompanying the study of the evolution and origin of specific games. A sport whose origins are often contentiously debated is stoolball. If you suggest to a cricket fan that stoolball evolved into baseball, you may find yourself the recipient of the flat end of a cricket bat. If you suggest to a baseball fan that stoolball evolved into cricket, you may find yourself connecting with a Louisville Slugger. Regardless of its evolution, stoolball (in all of its varieties and forms), was a very popular and competitive sport in early America.

(To read the full article about the history of stoolball in early America, go to the latest issue of Woodville Plantation's newsletter, Window on Woodville.)

Claude Harkins to Speak at Fundraiser Dinner for Woodville Plantation

Claude Harkins is a man of American treasures and a treasure of an American man. His home is a veritable museum of Revolutionary era artifacts, much of it related to George Washington. He has a bronze of the Washington bust by Jean-Antoine Houdon. He owns china dishes and wine glasses that the General used. Then there’s the locket of Washington’s light reddish hair, the long strands valued at more than $200,000.

Whenever Mr. Harkins is not collecting, the retired CEO is either researching or writing. When he makes a presentation to school children, assisted-living facilities or patriotic groups, he does so with authority. This year alone, he’s spoken to 1,500 students.

On Sunday, October 3, 2010, this winner of the DAR’s Medal of Honor will be giving a lecture titled, “George Washington, Was He Predestined to Become the Father of Our Country?” Starting at 6:00 pm, the lecture will be held at the Allegheny Country Club in Sewickley Heights. A dinner and cash bar will also be included in the evening.

Presented by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, this event will benefit historic Woodville Plantation. Built in 1775, Woodville was the home of John and Presley Neville and a Whiskey Rebellion site. The oldest residence in Allegheny County open to the public, Woodville is also a National Historic Landmark.

Using colorful slides of historical paintings and engravings, Claude Harkins will present an interesting account of the life of George Washington, highlighting incidents not usually found in history books. “During his lifetime,” Harkins states, “there were many times when he could have and should have been killed – but he was never harmed.” Harkins points out several of these instances in his lecture, including the shots Washington took at Braddock’s Defeat, and the close proximity to which he approached the British line at the Battle of Princeton without even being grazed by musket fire.

Mr. Harkins will also bring with him a wonderful display of personally owned artifacts, including a flag from the Whiskey Rebellion and personal items once belonging to George and Martha Washington. The evening will end with a special surprise and a salute to the American flag.

Tickets for the lecture are $60.00 per person ($15.00 is tax deductible). To R.S.V.P., please contact Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation (PHLF) at (412) 471-5808, and reference event #527.

Legion Drill Day at Woodville Plantation

Wayne's Fourth Sub-Legion on tv!

Don't Forget - Whiskey Rebellion Weekend is Coming!

Living History Programs at Woodville Plantation Featured on the Front Cover of Suburban Living

To read the article, click here.

Whiskey Rebellion Weekend - July 17 & 18

It's laundry day at Woodville Plantation!

St. Tammany's Day - The Forgotten Holiday

Throughout history, the world’s population has anxiously awaited the warm and energizing advent of the growing season. They mark its arrival with celebrations that are as numerous as they are varied. To a citizen of Pennsylvania in the 18th century, having endured and survived a “mini ice age” which gripped the northern hemisphere throughout the 1700s, the commencement of summer would have also been observed as a milestone of survival.

May Day celebrations, which were prolific throughout Europe, traveled to America in many forms as European populations crossed the Atlantic Ocean. As they reached the shores of North America, these customs began to take on uniquely American qualities and traditions.

The St. Tammany Day celebrations were an excellent regional example of this adaptation. Tammanend or Tammany (loosely translated as “The Affable One”), was a Native American chief of the Lenni-Lenape tribe which resided in the Delaware Valley during the 17th century. It was Tammany who first met with William Penn in 1683 (under the branches of an enormous elm just north of present-day Philadelphia) and agreed to a peace with Pennsylvania’s original Quaker settlers that would last for over a century...

To continue reading about the forgotten tradition of St. Tammany's Day, click here to go to the latest issue of Woodville Plantation's newsletter, Window on Woodville.

Wayne's Fourth Sub-Legion Encampment at Woodville Plantation

Colonial Fair at Heinz History Center

The re-enactors of Wayne's Fourth Sub-Legion, based at Woodville Plantation, will be appearing this weekend at the Heinz History Center as part of a Colonial Fair celebrating the re-opening of the Fort Pitt Museum.

Please support your local museums by joining us for a day of local history and fun at the Heinz History Center and the Fort Pitt Museum.

Click here for a list of participants and activities.

From the Heinz History Center's website:

"The Fort Pitt Museum Grand Opening and Colonial Fair

Saturday, April 17
10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 18
Noon - 4:00 p.m.

The Senator John Heinz History Center will re-open the Fort Pitt Museum this Saturday, April 17 with a weekend-long "Colonial Fair" celebration that will include free shuttle service between both museums.

Throughout the Colonial Fair weekend, visitors will enjoy activities for all ages at both the History Center and Fort Pitt Museum, including:

*Dance groups and musicians playing 18th century music.

*A variety of historical re-enactors, including George and Martha Washington.

*Arts and crafts workshops for children and adults, featuring hands-on take-home craft activities.

*Short historian talks on topics such as George Washington’s experiences in Western Pennsylvania and the history of the Fort Pitt Blockhouse (operated by the Fort Pitt Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution).

*American Indian storytellers and dance groups.

*Martha Washington (Saturday only) and Young George Washington will also be on hand for a special meet-and-greet and photo opportunity.

Visitors to the History Center can enjoy the new exhibition, Discover the Real George Washington: New Views from Mount Vernon, before taking a free trolley ride every 15 minutes to the Fort Pitt Museum. Throughout the weekend, History Center admission will include entrance to the Fort Pitt Museum.

For questions, please contact 412-454-6373 or educationprograms@hswp.org. Continue to check back to www.heinzhistorycenter.org for more information as it becomes available."

Cherry Bounce

Cherry Bounce, a liqueur made by steeping cherries and sugar in brandy, rum or whiskey, was one of the 18th century recipes enjoyed during Woodville Plantation’s recent Day with the Nevilles event.

We know that General George Washington himself was a fan of Cherry Bounce. In the years after the American Revolution and before taking on the presidency, the general embarked upon a journey looking for a westward commercial waterway. General Washington hoped to find, “a largely navigable route from the Atlantic to the Mississippi Valley through the riverbeds of the Potomac and the Ohio,” as Joel Achenbach states in his book about the venture, The Grand Idea.

General Washington began his adventure the morning of Sept. 1, 1784, well-prepared. He took with him a couple of casks of rum for trading. According to General Washington’s journal of the trip, with his own table in mind, he had also loaded up his “equipage Trunk and the Canteens” with “Madeira and Port Wine” and “Cherry Bounce.”

Thanks to Martha Washington, we actually know what that Cherry Bounce tasted like. Mrs. Washington’s memorandum book included a recipe, written on General Washington’s stationery, with the heading “To Make Excellent Cherry Bounce.”

Martha Washington’s Cherry Bounce Recipe:

“Extract the Juice of 20 pounds of well ripend Morrella Cherrys Add to this 10 quarts of Old French brandy and sweeten it with White Sugar to your taste—To 5 Gallons of this mixture add one ounce of Spice Such as Cinnamon, Cloves and Nutmegs of each an Equal quantity Slightly bruis’d and a pint and half of Cherry kernels that have been gently broken in a mortar—After the liquor has fermented let it Stand Close-Stoped for a month or Six weeks—then bottle it remembering to put a lump of Loaf Sugar into each bottle.”

Cherry Bounce wasn’t just for General Washington's journeys. As the first first lady, Mrs. Washington served Cherry Bounce in the president’s house. Abigail Adams wrote to her sister about “Mrs. W’s publick day” party on New Year’s Day, 1790, and mentions that the two delicacies of the season were “a kind of cake in fashion upon this day call’d New Year’s Cooky. This & Cherry Bounce.” Both were customary treats of the holiday.

In Edith Wharton’s 1913 novel The Custom of the Country, a temperance preacher offers a another version of the legend of young Washington’s encounter with the cherry tree, “in which the infant patriot was depicted as having cut down the tree to check the deleterious spread of cherry bounce.”

Knowing any version of this legend to be nothing more than a tall tale, the cooks at Woodville made their own version of Martha Washington’s Cherry Bounce recipe:

Take one 2lb bag of cherries (frozen or fresh pitted) and mix with one cup of water in a saucepan. Reduce the mixture over medium heat to release the flavor for about 15 minutes. Do not boil. Put the cherry mixture into a 2 quart sealable mason jar. Add 1 bottle of French brandy, rye whiskey, or bourbon. Allow to ferment in sealed container for 3 weeks to 6 months. Strain and decant into a bottle.

A bottle of Cherry Bounce was made with rye whiskey and another bottle was made with brandy. The Cherry Bounce made with brandy was the overwhelming favorite. The leftover cherries strained from the liquid are also quite tasty and go well with dessert.