A bit of beadwork...

From time to time, I make a bit of beadwork to go along with my impression, to show off as examples of trade beads to the public, or just to throw out on the trade blanket.  Here are two pieces I made last summer for fun, just to show them off...

I flatter myself that they came out decently...

Hoff-Vannatta House Added to Calendar April 29th

For years now, the Frontier Guard has supported the Hoff-Vannatta House by appearing at its spring and fall open house events.  Truth be told, the biggest reason we keep attending is that it's a lot of fun - a nice setting, an interesting historic structure, and great people.  April 29th will be the spring open house; come see the progress the historical society has made since last fall, and stop by and see us!

Join us at the State History Fair May 13th!

The Frontier Guard will be one of the exhibiting groups at this year's Spirit of the Jerseys State History Fair on May 13th.  As in the past two years, the Fair will be held at Monmouth Battlefield State Park.  There will be, as usual, a large number of demonstrations and historic preservation associations.  Check out the Fair's website here: 2017 Spirit of the Jerseys Fair

A Warmer Van Campen Day

This is a post that I started in October, but the end of the year was so hectic that I couldn't finish it up.  Therefore, with apologies
for being late, Here it is...

Last October we had snow flakes at the Van Campen Inn.  This year the weather, although cool, was seasonable and far more pleasant.  I brought our junior members along, and once again they did a nice job showing off colonial toys and fire starting.

The Colonial Musketeers Senior Corps was in attendance, providing fife & drum music for the steady stream of visitors.  The Walpack Historical Society also had a number of other artisans, demonstrating skills from blade smithing to cider-making and corn-grinding, as well as spinning/ weaving and chair caning inside the Van Campen house.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Join us tomorrow in Belvidere

Historic Farmstead Open House November 5, 2016 - 10AM - 4PM Come and Celebrate the Harvest - Live Demonstrations - Open Hearth Cooking in the Summer Kitchen - War Re-Enactors - Admission is Free! - Listed in the National Register of Historic Places - Recognized by The Scenic, Wild Delaware River Geotourism Program Visit us online at www.HoffVannattaFarm.org Our mailing address is: Historic Preservation Commission of Harmony Township 3003 Belvidere Road Harmony Township, NJ  08865

A Few Pictures from Quiet Valley

Last weekend at Quiet Valley's Harvest Festival, the Frontier Guard put up our usual display of  French & Indian War-era items, depicting aspects of the material culture of both New Jersey soldiers and settlers, as well as items from the Indian inhabitants of the Eastern Woodlands, such as the Lenape and the Iroquois.

We had a steady stream of visitors throughout the day.  I have only a few photographs, taken at one of the few points in the day when we were not actively engaged talking to the public and demonstrating our items.

Quiet Valley is always notable for very nice displays of eighteenth and nineteenth century material culture, and this fall was no exception.  There were samples of delicious scrapple and sausage, made from pigs raised on the farm, demonstrations of linen production from flax - I picked up a bundle of waste tow and boon to use in starting fires - hat-making from rye straw, dyeing using natural vegetable dyes, and many other demonstrations of local history and farm life in centuries past.  Oh, yes, there was food galore - and very good food, too: sausage, Welsh cakes, pies, barbecued beef, and a host of other food. 

Van Campen Inn this Sunday

This Sunday the Frontier Guard will be at the Van Campen Inn on Old Mine Road near Walpack, part of Walpack Day.  Come join us as we celebrate history -along with other presentations - at the site of our Headquarters Fort during the French and Indian War.

Trailside Museum on Sunday

Join the Frontier Guard at the Trailside Museum in Mountainside on Sunday!

The Coinage of Colonial America

 A 1745 British silver shilling, with a bust of George II and the stamp "LIMA" (Peru) under the bust.  Why would a British coin have a Spanish possession stamped on it? Keep reading to find out...

The reverse of the coin, with the crown-and-roses design of possessions England claimed - England, Scotland, Ireland, and France (yes, English monarchs claimed to rule France until 1801).




Coinage was scarce in colonial America.  Many colonies in the seventeenth century even accepted quahog wampum as currency, at a rate as high as 2 to the pence for the lustrous purple ones in the early 17th century.  This practice died out by the 18th century, however, as copper coinage and paper currency became more widespread.  Hard money remained scarce, nonetheless, and the value of colonial paper issues fluctuated with a colony's solvency and the distance from the place of issue.

Coins of several European countries circulated throughout the colonies as well - British, French, Spanish, and Dutch in particular.  Values were fixed by colonial legislatures, often at different rates, but the real value was generally based on weight and purity of the metal and was subject to negotiation between buyer and seller.

The University of Notre Dame has a great website for colonial coinage and currency, for those who are interested, with overviews and illustrations of coins and currency from most colonies, as well as European coins that circulated.

See: Colonial Currency at Notre Dame
See: The Coins of Colonial and Early America at Notre Dame

Oh, and why is the silver shilling marked "LIMA"?  In 1743, at the height of the War of the Austrtian Succession, or King George's War, as it was known in the American Colonies, a British fleet under Admiral Anson captured the entire Spanish treasure fleet from New Spain and Peru.  Much of the British silver coinage of 1745 and 1746 was minted using this silver, and to mark its origin, and probably as an "in your face" taunt, the British Crown had these coins stamped "LIMA" in commemoration.