March is Women's History Month, and this year we have a special anniversary to celebrate with the Centennial of the 19th Amendment and Women's Suffrage! In commemoration of this event, the Spring 2020 Camden County Heritagemagazine will feature "Women of Camden County," available at local historical societies at the end of the month. Then the first weekend of May we will be celebrating our first "Women in History" Heritage Trails Day, with events at multiple sites across the county. We hope you enjoy some of these wonderful presentations, exhibits, and other activities that remember the women who shaped our past!
Yesterday, a friend and I attended the Gloucester County Historical Society Museum after delicious vegan lunches at the Colonial Diner in Woodbury. On display were half a dozen beautiful dresses from the 1800's which was of great interest to me as lately I have been studying dressmaking and seamstress work. My interest was renewed after I attended Barbara Johns WONDERFUL Presentation Straw into Gold at the Lyceum in Burlington a week or two ago. it was about flax into linen production and as always Ms. Johns did a great presentation and showed many fascinating tools for this most Colonial and Woman connected enterprise. Think what an ubiquitous presence the spinning wheel has had in our folklore and our image of women of the past and in the daily lives of women before the Industrial Revolution. Even our language has so many references as in "spinning a yarn" and even modern uses as in "putting a spin on the news."
Today I will be at Red Bank Battlefield, James and Ann Whitall House for Herbal Healing lecture and very interested in this extension from plant fibers to cloth into plant fibers into medicine. I still rely a lot on herbal teas for a variety of minor ailments that I may find myself afflicted with, especial in the digestive area. Slippery elm tea is excellent for that.
The Herbal Healing lecture begins at 11:00. Also, I just remembered how in the neighborhood where I grew up in South Philadelphia, the Italian neighbors often brewed dandelion wine which was said to have therapeutic effects. Although where we lived I don't know where you could find many dandelions! I still love the hardy little yellow flowers and I hate to hear people talk about poisoning them for a more uniform and boring lawn.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
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