Firing Demonstrations at the Hoff Vannatta House

One of the most popular demonstrations that the Frontier Guard does is firing volleys, or in this case rolling volleys.  Many visitors are unfamiliar with flintlocks, and the noise, flame, and smoke are always a crowd-pleaser.

A Busy Week

The members of the Frontier Guard had a busy week, with presentations on both Friday and Saturday.  On Friday, Capt. Doug Pitchell gave a presentation to elementary school children at the Oak Street School in Basking Ridge.

   

 The Frontier Guard has been doing presentations at the Oak Street School for several years now, as part of the school's Colonial Day activities, and it has been a hit with students and faculty alike.

Saturday was the Spring Open House at the Hoff Vannatta Farmstead in Harmony.  The Guard set up an extensive display, and members were busy with large numbers of visitors all day.

Our newest member, Ron, joined us with his kit and gear already assembled. He looks great.

 

Eric, Bobby, and Doug kept a steady stream of visitors both entertained and informed, while I gave long-winded discourses on topics that I found interesting; I hope one or two visitors did as well.

 

Hoff Vannatta Farmstead this Saturday

We will be at the Hoff Vannatta Farmstead in Harmony, NJ this Saturday, 10AM - 4PM for their spring Open House.

This historic farmstead is located on Route 519 in Harmony, NJ, near Belvedere.  For directions see here: Google Map

For the Hoff Vannatta website and for more information, click here!

Hope to see you there!

Pictures from the Lehigh Valley Museum

The New Campaign Season Starts!

Join the New Jersey Frontier Guard Saturday, March 28, 2015 at the Lehigh Valley Museum in Allentown.  

Voyageur's cap

Liz has also been busy over the winter.  Here's an example of the Voyageur's cap she just finished.

These caps are often associated with French Canadian voyageurs, but various knit caps, such as the Monmouth cap, were popular in the British colonies as well.  By the time of the American Revolution (about 20 years after the NJ Frontier Guard), these caps were known as Liberty Caps, after the Greek or Roman Phrygian caps worn by freed slaves.  

Of course, it looks better on Liz than it does on me.  If anyone has more information about these caps and their use - or lack of it - in the F&I War, please comment and let me know.

By the way, we have some of these caps on our "for sale" page, if you're interested.  At $20, they're pretty reasonable for handmade wool hats.

2015 Calendar Now Online

While a few dates are still tentative, you can now find out where to find us in the 2015 campaign season.   Please stop by and say hello.  Mention that you saw us online here.

Welsh Cakes

Today we made Welsh cakes from a mixture/recipe we picked up at Quiet Valley this fall.  This variation uses baking powder, which was not available until the mid-nineteenth century, but then again, I'm all out of salts of Hartshorn (ammonium carbonate, made from ground red deer antlers), so since we were at home, I'll allow ourselves the "cheat."

They came out nicely - flour, sugar, salt, nutmeg, dried currants, butter, an egg, a little milk, dried currants, and that anachronistic baking powder...

This is certainly a recipe that'll get added to the list of camp foods. It was easy to prepare; in fact, I'm sure the dough (or dry ingredients) could be prepared in advance, and then it needs very little to cook - just a fire and a pan.  I got the pan a little too hot, as you can see from the picture, but they still tasted really good.

Here's a link to a different recipe.  This one uses raisins, but I like the dried currants, if you can get them. Welsh Cakes

Merry Christmas!

Joys of the Nativity to you, and God bless His Majesty, George II!

John Singleton Copley, The Nativity, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Video From Kinnelon Military Timeline

The French & Indian War and the Colonial Frontier

This video comes from a show-and-tell display that the Frontier Guard set up as part of a military timeline event at Kinnelon for the New Jersey Arms Collectors in early November.