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#WalkNPT, 1820s, 19th century, 19th century clothing, common people, Costume, dress, Events, Kitty Smith, living history, millinery shop, Nathaniel Sweet, Newport, Newport Historical Society, Rhode Island history, Whitehorne House
New coat!
I set off for Newport yesterday to spend the day at Whitehorne House with Sew 18th Century. I was pleased to have my coat, and pleased as well to see the ads for “lead colored pelisse cloths” at Nathaniel Sweet’s shop at 112 Cheapside in N’port. Everything fits better when you have some documentation.
We occupied the kitchen at Whitehorne House, interpreting the lives of mythical maids and cousins Eliza and Kitty Smith.
The Whitehorne Kitchen
We hope to save enough to reopen our millinery shop, which flourished once in Salem just a few years ago. Times are hard in Newport, but there are some promising lotteries–a $10,000 prize in the Kennebec Bridge lottery and an incredible $25,000 prize in the New York Literature Lottery! We will have to save our wages to buy even one ticket– difficult to do with so many tempting’ wares in the shop–but the rewards would well worth our efforts.
A shop on Thames Street is to let not far from the Great Friends Meeting House. We think ’tis a fine location, for while Friends may be plain, they are well dress’d. One of our visitors offered to spread the rumor that the shop is haunted, so no one else will rent it, but I worry that such a tale might drive off custom.
Gingerbread, bread-and-cheese and apples form’d our repast
Visitors called from as far away as New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, but found Mr Whitehorne at the Coffee House and Mrs Whitehorne out makin’ calls. As prominent citizens, they are busy about the town. Mrs Whitehorne is well-known for her receipts, and we were pleased to offer callers a sample of her fruited gingerbread. Indeed, ’tis delicious, though not as sticky as the late Mr S preferred.
Some visitors thought our plan to invest in woolen mills was a fine idea, and in addition to the mills on the island (there is one in Portsmouth), we hear there are several in Hartford. Providence has not the monopoly on industry she imagines.
There is much washin’ and mendin’
The laundry does pile up in a household of seven children, and since we have run out of wood, I suspect the laundress has as well. The island is short of lumber now, and wood must come from Swansea. Still, there is always mending’ to be done.
Perhaps if we had known how many visitors would call, I might have taken more care in tidyin’ up the kitchen. ‘Twas a surprise to see so many, from so far away, but we do think N’port is due for a revival. ‘Tis a busier day of visitin’ than I was accustomed to in winter at the farm on Poppasquash Neck, but with Mr Smith now dead, and our lad on a brig in the coastal trade, we could not keep the lease. I am grateful to my cousin for helpin’ me find work in such a lovely house.
Kitty Calash 
I so admire your attention to detail and authenticity in your clothing and accoutrements, but I was wondering how the visitors reacted and interacted with you and “Sew 18th Century” at this event? Were they guided through the house ? If so, were they given any prompts of questions to ask, or any introduction to why you were there? Did you just depend on them being able to think of questions, or did you start the “hospitable conversation” yourself? The museum’s website called the event “family friendly” . . .what did you do to specifically engage the youngsters? (Apologies for all the questions: I’m snowbound and dreaming about summer events at my site!)
The museum adapted a sheet that we used for What Cheer Day visitors. It explains what is happening in the house, and which rooms are interpreted in what way. It also included suggested questions for us, and warned that we might ask questions.
They were, roughly:
What are you wearing, and where did you get it?
How do you travel around the island, and off the island?
How/why did you become a maid?
What kind of work do you do?
How do you celebrate Valentine’s Day?
Sew 18th Century has an amazing gift and more practice than I, so she starts with greeting people (well, we both say, “Good Day!) and then asks of the visitors are here to see Mr Whitehorne or Mrs Whitehorne. She also asks if people have traveled far, and did they come by coach or ferry?
From there, we are able to start a conversation that brings in modes of transportation, Mrs Whitehorne making calls, the ginger bread, our need for work since our husbands are dead and my son is at sea, our hopes– if they won’t tell Mrs Whitehorne– to win the lottery and re-open a millinery shop, and whatever else comes to mind. When they ask about Valentine’s Day, we tell them a boy has just brought a message for Miss Whitehorne, and if they promise not to tell, they can read it. Then we hand them the recreated Valentine you can see in Sew 18th Century’s post.
Visitors enjoy reading someone else’s mail, struggling with the handwriting, and trying to put the puzzle back together. It would definitely be worth recreating more of these.
You can check whatcheerday.com to see if the handout for WCD is posted there– I think it might be– as we found it really helpful for our visitors.
And now I can see that this reply oughta be a blog post. Thank you, once again, for asking awesome questions!
Kitty
Thank you, thank you so very much! (And yes, there was a pdf of the visitor guide at the whatcheerday.com site). This is all quite the food for thought I needed on this too chilly, cloudy day . . . thank you again. (PS: Sometimes to draw in the shy youngsters, I whisper just to them that I am just pretending but that I need their help so the gown ups will ask better questions in my pretend world. Mostly all I get is a giggle, but I often get more attention and sometimes a lot more involvement.)
youngsters: Ok, trickier.
In the morning, we had a 13-year-old with us, portraying Miss Whitehorne. We asked the children questions about school, remarked that Miss W had to return to school in a week, and was reading in the break. It wasn’t brilliant, but it got us through.
Kids are so shy, that I feel like they need a special kid-focused orientation that doesn’t talk down to them– but I haven’t yet found one I love enough to copy, but I have some sites I want to visit to learn more. (Morris-Jumel mansion in NYC, for one, for their tour for autism-spectrum diagnosed individuals. )
Kitty