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Red Barn ablaze, October 20, 1968 I know that this is outside of the normal range for this blog, and that I don't usually write about topics this modern, but I couldn't help myself. Recent comments from Jack Walker in the Nostalgia Forum about the Red Barn Restaurant got me thinking about it, and I came up with a few things I wanted to share, without the chance of them getting buried in another page. For anyone who is not familiar with it, the Red Barn was a restaurant and cocktail lounge in the 1960's and 70's, located on Kirkwood Highway where the Best Buy is now. Actually, it was two restaurants, each one destined for ruin, the first one spectacularly so. The destruction of the first restaurant is probably what most people remember about the Red Barn today. The original Red Barn was a dining establishment housed in....a big red barn. (Fortunate naming, huh?) It opened sometime in the early 1960's, but after 1961 (anyone know any more specific than that?). The aer...

Revolutionary War uniform of John Boggs A few weeks back a very interesting comment was left on an old post, a comment that referenced a Revolutionary War-era anecdote and a family that I had not come across before. I didn't have the chance to write about it at the time, but there was some behind-the-scenes communication and research going on relating to it. My contribution was not much more than pulling it all together. Most of the information came from Bonnie Boggs (descendant of the original settlers) and Walt C. (who deciphered the deed and pinpointed the location of the property). What we uncovered shed light on a family prominent in the early development of Mill Creek Hundred, as well as the new country as a whole. It also provided another piece of the MCH history puzzle, giving information about a house that may have stood for over two hundred years, disappearing at the dawn of the new, suburban MCH. The clan in question is the Boggs family, and they're one of those th...

For my post this week, I had the treat and privilege of interviewing a good friend and wonderful writer, Andrea Penrose , who writes the Lady Arianna Regency mystery series (Andrea also writes historical romance as Cara Elliott). Arianna is a fabulous and intrepid heroine. Forced by circumstances to seek her fortune and hide her identity, she puts her talents to use and finds employment as a chef (with a particular affinity for chocolate). Arianna is tough and resourceful, with an outsider's take on Regency society. Throw in mystery in her background and her evolving relationship with her fellow investigator (now her husband), Lord Saybrook, and you have my favorite ingredients for a great mystery series. Andrea and I sat down to chat about the series and recently published third book, Recipe for Treason . I know we both love the Regency era and you have found such a fresh take on it. How did you get the idea to make Arianna a chef? Was Arianna's character and her cooking the g...

The former Biedermann property, 1933 If you'll recall, back in October I published a post about the Spring Hill Brewery , which was located on Barley Mill Road, between Red Clay Creek and the Hoopes Reservoir dam (which of course was not there at the time). I was able to piece together a fair amount of information about the brewery and its owners, frankly far more than I thought I would. One glaring hole in the story, though, was the circumstances and timing of the demise of the brewery. Since publishing that post I've figured out a little more regarding that issue (as well as a few other things), so I wanted to document all that here. The original post has already been updated to reflect the new findings. Also, how I found it is kind of an amusing and "Duh" sort of story that I'm sure anyone who's done research can relate to (or is it just me?). I don't even remember what I was originally searching for that day (something else relating to the WW Railroad)...

When I see a book about the ruin of a Georgian marriage, I can’t resist adding it to my shelves, not because I enjoy reading about unhappy people, but because those real life disasters inspire me to create alternate fictional endings. I’m a sucker for second chances (as you may well have guessed if you’ve read my books, since at least one of the two main characters in every book is getting one). My current release, RIPE FOR SEDUCTION, was inspired by a snippet of a story in A. Calder-Marshall’s The Grand Century of the Lady . Poor Lady Mary Coke married a rake and almost immediately repented it. Their marriage was violent. When she ran away, he dragged her back and imprisoned her. Eventually, her family managed to secure a legal separation for her, and then her husband did her the curtsey of dying young. But of course such an infamous young woman would inspire men very like her unlamented husband to see if they could seduce her. One such young rake, was fool enough to put his offer in...

OK, yes. I'm finally getting around to this. This is an idea that has been suggested to me by a number of people over the past couple years --and I've agreed it's a good idea -- but I've never gone so far as to act on it before. The idea is this: Over the past couple years, this blog has drawn together a group of people who share an interest in local history. I didn't create this interest -- just a place to share information and gather the like-minded. So if all of us enjoy sharing our mutual interest, as well as sharing information (swapping stories and asking questions), why not get together and do it in person? Several people have expressed a desire to see if anyone would be interested in getting together and meeting in person sometime. No set agenda or anything. Less of a Meeting than just a meeting. Just an opportunity, for those who want to, to hang out with other people who share an interest, and maybe put a face with a name for those who’ve been hanging out ...

A few years ago, while researching a book whose first three chapters are currently under my bed, I stumbled across something that reminded me of an important point about writing historical fiction. Researching, I think, In for a Penny,  I had come across this quote by William Hazlitt (from a series of lectures he gave in 1818): "I am a great admirer of the female writers of the present day; they appear to me like so many modern Muses." What a patronizing jerk! I thought. Those women aren't there to inspire YOU, they're artists who do their own creating! Then, while reading the essay "Representing Culture: 'The Nine Living Muses'" by Elizabeth Eger in Women, Writing, and the Public Sphere, 1700-1830 , which discusses the 1779 painting this engraving is based on: (via Wikimedia Commons ) by Richard Samuel ( this link takes you to a large version of the painting at the National Portrait Gallery website , and  this link takes you to an explanation of e...

Front of the George Springer House In the first post , we traced the old Swedish family from the kidnapped indentured servant Charles Springer, down to his grandson Nicholas. Through that whole story, though, we only focused on one house -- the Springer-Yeatman House tucked away just below the state line on Limestone Road. In this post, we'll look at four houses -- two built by Nicholas' sons, and two by their sons. Thankfully, like Nicholas' house, all four are still standing, although one has taken a short trip down the road. The first of these second-generation Springer houses in the area was built (or at least part of it was) by George Springer (1779-1835), the eldest surviving son. George married Esther Johnson of Chester County sometime around 1800, and it's logical to assume that he moved out of his mother's house soon thereafter. He did not, however, move off of the property. Instead, he took his new family and moved into a pre-existing log house situated a...