Tiny Island, Big History

By Tiffany Amber Stockton

So, as if my life didn't have enough happening, I decided it was a good idea to sign on with a monthly challenge with a few other authors who are part of my local writer's chapter. Although I've remained consistent with article writing, copywriting and copyediting, it has been a few years since I last had a fiction novel release. This challenge is helping me flex those story muscles and form a daily habit that will lead to me finishing this book that has been sitting on my computer for far too long.

Although the research is already done, today I'm sharing a little background of unique facts about this little island called Chincoteague, just off the Eastern Shore of Virginia and to the east of the Delmarva Peninsula.

CHINCOTEAGUE ISLAND

The history of human activity in Chincoteague, on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, begins with the Native Americans. Settlers from Europe swooped in and overtook the land in the late 17th century, but until then, the Chincoteague Indians used it as a place to gather shellfish. They aren't known to have lived there, though, as the island lacked suitable soil for their agriculture. Marshland doesn't typically grow much of anything except reeds.

Picturesque view of Chincoteague away from the populated
portion of the island (looking toward Assateague)

Once the European settlers inhabited the island, a series of disputes over who would own the island ensued. That led to patents being issued and a final resolution of an even split between two gentleman. With ownership of the island settled, it mostly existed as a place to house livestock, since they could feed off the marsh grasses. No need for fences or other enclosures to prevent the animals from straying either. How far could the animals go when they're on an island surrounded by water? (grins)

This led to the origin of the ponies on Assateague, though legends reported a Spanish shipwreck which left the ponies as cargo to swim to the nearest island. Historians believe the legend of the shipwreck simply became entwined with the history of the ponies until it was accepted as "truth." Funny how history does that from time to time. Makes me wonder just how much of unrecorded history is truly fact or merely embellished truths spoken from generation to generation until the truth and the embellishment can no longer be separated. Have you ever come across details like this?

Anyway, back to Chincoteague.

Stanley Jester (a distant cousin) harvests oysters by hand at low
tide in his oyster bed in the shallows of Chincoteague Bay

For the next hundred years or so, the island remained a place to house livestock for owners living on the mainland of Virginia. Following the Revolutionary War, residents realized the potential of business and industry through the abundance of shellfish in the area. This industry became so big, shipments went as far north as New England to the cities steadily growing there, and as I mentioned last month, my grandfather's family lived here. It was shellfish being provided to the White House under President Woodrow Wilson which led to my great-grandfather's cousin marrying the president while he was in office, leaving me with a family connection to "American royalty."

Throughout these years of shellfish and seafood industry, Chincoteague thrived. In 1876, a rail line completed a stop just 5 miles from the island with a steamship completing the distance. This gave oystermen an efficient means of getting their shellfish to market and began the wave of tourists escaping the city heat in the summer. Tourism hasn't slowed since.

NOW IT'S YOUR TURN:

* If you had an island similar to Chincoteague just a short distance across a narrow channel from where you lived, what would you do with it?

* Are you a fan of shellfish or seafood? What's your favorite?

* What recounting of an event do you know where the real truth has been fused with legend or unrecorded history? How much is true and what is legend?

Leave answers to these questions or any comments on the post below.

** This note is for our email readers. Please do not reply via email with any comments. View the blog online and scroll down to the comments section.

Come back on the 9th of each month for my next foray into historical tidbits to share.

---

BIO

Tiffany Amber Stockton has embellished stories since childhood, thanks to a very active imagination and notations of talking entirely too much. Honing those skills led her to careers as an award-winning and best-selling author and speaker, while also working as a professional copywriter/copyeditor. She loves to share life-changing products and ideas with others to help improve their lives in a variety of ways, but especially from the inside out.

Currently, she lives with her husband and fellow author, Stuart Vaughn Stockton, along with their two children, three dogs, and three cats in southeastern Kentucky. In her 20+ years as a professional writer, she has sold twenty-six (26) books so far and has agent representation with Tamela Murray of the Steve Laube Agency. You can find her on Facebook and GoodReads.

The Last Visit to Maihaugen

During the 1700s in Norway, large farms could contain thirty buildings. In other parts of Europe, many structures in one space could have been feudal systems which consisted of a baron's property where serfs farmed the land. These Norwegian farms ran similarly but not under serfdom. Proprietors owned the land and had tenants. After reading information on this design, this seems it was a better situation overall. Yet the proprietor in Norway often retained the best land for himself and offered the more challenging locations to his tenants. Portions at high elevations where frost risk was common or low in the valley where the farming was less favorable were the areas inhabited and worked on by tenants.

The prior two posts showed many of the buildings that existed on the Norwegian farm of that era. These structures preserved by Anders Sandvig allow visitors to experience a slice of Norwegian life of the past. Read Maihaugen: Open Air Museum and Maihaugen: Open Air Museum: Inside Out for a recap.

A farm could have consisted of many of these buildings: winter house, summer house, schoolhouse, sheds, stables, barns, threshing structures, other houses, cookhouse, barn for drying grain, smithy, woodshed, mill, and many more. Farms might have had water systems in the dryer areas. Farmers created these tools to bring water to the valleys using soil or wood. They could have been kilometers long to bring water from the mountains to the locations where it was needed.

Guest houses were needed on the farms for craftsmen staying extended periods of time, family, or other visitors. One such structure at Maihaugen is the Lieutenant’s house. It was named such because a lieutenant inhabited the space for a long time. 

This building was used to store food in the cellar. It had a bedroom and living area on the first floor. The upper floor was used to store wool. It was commonly referred to as “The Wool House.”

Venturing out of the farm areas of the Open Air Museum will deliver you past the fishermen’s camp complete with chapel and into the more modern area. The Town is the latest installment. It features multiple buildings representative of the 1900s.

Stores, a post office, and a chemist’s office with  laboratory are a few of the spots that adorn the streets. There are homes that display building techniques and variations of contents from the early 19th century through the 20th century. You can literally walk through the ages.

           

       

          

I would like to leave you with a tour of doors so to speak. I am fascinated by doors in my travels. Perhaps it is the possibility of what could be behind the doors. Then again, maybe it is the fact that so many people have passed through those doors over millennia. 

Whatever the reason for my interest, it should be noted that the doors at Maihaugen are fantastic! I wonder if these individuals invested copious time to create these portals because it was an opportunity to display their artistic talent or even personality. The house floor plans themselves for most of the structures were simple boxes. Not a lot of variety existed in the buildings. While furniture allowed individuality inside, the door held weight as a first impression for any passerby. Take a gander at these beauties. Leave a comment with your favorite. Does your door at home reflect your style?


   

And a gate for good measure...

As a child, Rebecca loved to write. She nurtured this skill as an educator and later as an editor for an online magazine. Rebecca then joined the Cru Ministry - NBS2GO/Neighbor Bible Studies 2GO, at its inception. She serves as the YouVersion Content Creator, with over 90 Plans on the Bible.com app.

Rebecca lives near the mountains with her husband and a rescued dog named Ranger. If it were up to her, she would be traveling - right now. As a member of ACFW and FHLCW, Rebecca learns the craft of fiction while networking with a host of generous writers. She is working on her first fiction novel. This story unfolds from the 1830s in Northern Georgia.

Rebecca and fellow blogger, Cindy Stewart, traveled to Europe on a writing research trip. They met many people and interesting characters during their journey. The photos shared within this post were captured by Rebecca. The troll of course was elusive.

Connect with Rebecca:
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Maihaugen - Open Air Museum: Inside Out

Beauty and wonder exist inside the structures of the Open Air Museum just as they do outside. Peering into the main rooms and lofts of these 190 buildings gives visitors a chance to imagine what everyday life was like for Norwegians in the 1700s and 1800s. More than 50,000 items are catalogued at Maihaugen. They also give a glimpse into how the lives of these individuals unfolded. In the image above the washboard indicates 1864. Washing clothes was a chore, literally and figuratively without our modern conveniences. How do you suppose they used the other implements shown in that photo?

To consider an upper-class family’s home and lifestyle, peek into the main room of the House from Mytting. Up to date with all the latest of the 19th century, the people who lived here enjoyed furniture from urban craftsmen and from their travels. The interior was divided into rooms, which made cleaning easier. Not to mention the outdoor privy which kept the interior tidy as well. 

If you are thinking this furniture and decor looks a bit fancy for a house with grass growing on its roof, your thoughts are in line. The exterior of this dwelling was first built in 1760 but was erected in Sandvig's garden in 1897. The final placement at Maihaugen occurred in 1904. (You can read about the founder of this museum, Sandvig, in the last post.) The furniture collections evolved over those 137 years and do not reflect the original pieces from 1760. Those would be more in line with what you can see in some of the upcoming houses.

The House from Vigstad has a half-loft. It has building dates of 1709, 1813, and 1904. This “Akershus style” features decorative paintings on its doors and cupboards. These motifs came before carvings of later dates. The paintings are true examples of what existed in the later portions of the 18th century. The main area was a workroom for craftsmen who created bentwood boxes that could hold food and small objects.

Before the days of assisted living or nursing homes, the younger generation took over the farms and moved their parents into adjoining structures so they could care for them. If you read Amish stories, you may recall the “Dawdi Haus.” Similarly, in Norway this “Nystua” or New House was built in 1787. It has a room with a bedroom connected to the main house for this purpose.

In 1860 the New Education Act passed, requiring a permanent school in each township if there were enough children. This was the end of the ambulatory school system. This School House was finished in 1863. Notice the teacher’s quarters attached to the school room. This benefit gives a whole new meaning to commuting to work, doesn’t it?

This Winter House was built at the end of the 17th century. It gained new decorations and was moved in 1785. Less people lived on the farm in the winter. Smaller structures were therefore fitting. Children slept in a half loft. There was a drying cupboard fitted with slate shelves between the fireplace and the wall. A stove from 1758 made by Baerum Ironworks sits in the room. Notice the nifty niches to store dishes near the ceiling and the clock attached to the wall.





The last structure for this post is the Per Gynt Loft. It was built around 1620. Yes, you read that correctly, 1620, and it is still standing where it was re-built. As a frame of reference, the Mayflower left England in August of 1620.

The room you see on the ground floor of the loft stored grain. Upstairs the living room with fireplace served as a guest room for any season of the year. Anders wanted to include the character Peer Gynt inspired by a Norwegian Folk Tale, so he named the loft Per Gynt.

Next month is the last visit to Maihaugen. We will look inside the Lieutenant's House, talk about Norwegian farms of the era, and glance at some glorious doors. Which structure boasted your favorite interior from the post above? Were there any tools or implements you recognized and could share their purposes?

As a child, Rebecca loved to write. She nurtured this skill as an educator and later as an editor for an online magazine. Rebecca then joined the Cru Ministry - NBS2GO/Neighbor Bible Studies 2GO, at its inception. She serves as the YouVersion Content Creator, with over 80 Plans on the Bible.com app.

Rebecca lives near the mountains with her husband and a rescued dog named Ranger. If it were up to her, she would be traveling - right now. As a member of ACFW and FHLCW, Rebecca learns the craft of fiction while networking with a host of generous writers. She is working on her first fiction novel. This story unfolds from the 1830s in Northern Georgia.

Rebecca and fellow blogger, Cindy Stewart, traveled to Europe on a writing research trip. They met many people and interesting characters during their journey. Rebecca captured the images shared in this post, except for the troll... he is still at large.

Connect with Rebecca:

Facebook Goodreads Instagram Pinterest Twitter

Chincoteague - Enchanted Island

 By Tiffany Amber Stockton

This month, it's time for a little background of unique facts about this little island called Chincoteague, just off the Eastern Shore of Virginia and to the east of the Delmarva Peninsula.

CHINCOTEAGUE ISLAND

The history of human activity in Chincoteague, on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, begins with the Native Americans. Settlers from Europe swooped in and overtook the land in the late 17th century, but until then, the Chincoteague Indians used it as a place to gather shellfish. They aren't known to have lived there, though, as the island lacked suitable soil for their agriculture. Marshland isn't usually great for growing much of anything except reeds.

Picturesque view of Chincoteague away from the populated
portion of the island (looking toward Assateague)

Once the European settlers inhabited the island, there was a series of disputes over who would own the island which led to patents being issued and a final resolution of an even split between two gentleman. Once ownership of the island was settled, it was used mostly as a place to house livestock, since they could feed off the marsh grasses and there was no need for fences or other enclosures to prevent the animals from straying. How far could the animals go when they're on an island surrounded by water? (grins)

This was what led to the origin of the ponies on Assateague, though there are legends reported of a Spanish shipwreck which left the ponies as cargo to swim to the nearest island. Historians believe the legend of the shipwreck simply became entwined with the history of the ponies until it was accepted as "truth." Funny how history does that from time to time. Makes me wonder just how much of unrecorded history is truly fact or merely embellished truths spoken from generation to generation until the truth and the embellishment can no longer be separated. Have you ever come across details like this?

Anyway, back to Chincoteague.

Stanley Jester (a distant cousin) harvests oysters by hand at low
tide in his oyster bed in the shallows of Chincoteague Bay

For the next hundred years or so, the island remained a place to house livestock for owners living on the mainland of Virginia. Then, following the Revolutionary War, residents realized the potential of business and industry through the abundance of shellfish in the area. This industry became so big, shipments went as far north as New England to the cities steadily growing there, and as I mentioned last month, my grandfather's family lived here. It was shellfish being provided to the White House under President Woodrow Wilson which led to my great-grandfather's cousin marrying the president while he was in office, leaving me with a family connection to "American royalty."

Throughout these years of shellfish and seafood industry, Chincoteague thrived. In 1876, a rail line completed a stop just 5 miles from the island with a steamship completing the distance. This gave oystermen an efficient means of getting their shellfish to market and began the wave of tourists escaping the city heat in the summer. Tourism hasn't slowed since.

NOW IT'S YOUR TURN:

* If you had an island similar to Chincoteague just a short swim across a narrow channel from where you lived, what would you do with it?

* Are you a fan of shellfish or seafood? What's your favorite?

* What recounting of an event do you know where the real truth has been fused with legend or unrecorded history? How much is true and what is legend?

Leave answers to these questions or any comments on the post below. Don't forget to come back on the 9th of March to find out more about this tiny little island.

---

BIO

Tiffany Amber Stockton has been crafting and embellishing stories since childhood, when she was accused of having a very active imagination and cited with talking entirely too much. Today, she has honed those childhood skills to become an award-winning and best-selling author and speaker who is also an advocate for literacy as an educational consultant with Usborne Books. She loves to share life-changing products and ideas with others to help better their lives.

She lives with her husband and fellow author, Stuart Vaughn Stockton, along with their two children, two dogs, and two cats in Colorado. She has sold twenty (24) books so far and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency. You can find her on Facebook and GoodReads.

The King's daughters - Filles du Roi!

I came across this little interesting fact when I was doing research for my novel, The Raven Saint. It's about a group of young women who were rounded up by King Louis XIV and sent to the Americas to become wives. (Would make an interesting book!)

In order for New France to prosper, people were needed. Thus the King decided to send women to the french colonies. Between 1663 and 1673, the King of France sent at his expense, several thousand young women to the New World, and in particular, New France, which was in Canada. Most of these women came from the Paris area or the diocese of Rouen. They were poor, abandoned, with no future in France, and often orphans. The King bestowed upon them a dowry of between 50 and 300 livres and named them filles du roi.

"The 100 girls sent over by the king this year have only just arrived," wrote Mother Marie de l'Incarnation, on October 29, 1665, " and already they are almost all accommodated. He will send another 200 next year, and even more in the years following, in proportion to the need. He will also send men to marry withstanding those who are in the army. Truly, it is an amazing thing to see how the country is becoming populated and multiplying."
The recruiting was often carried out by guardians, such as Anne Bourdon, who witnessed thirty marriages.

Almost half of the filles du roi were from the Paris area, 16% from Normandy and 13% from western France. Many were orphans with little or no education who came from the lower classes, but some were from elite families who had lost their fortunes. Those women of higher birth were usually matched with officers or gentlemen living in the colony, sometimes in the hopes that they would marry nobles living in Canada and thereby encourage the nobles to stay in the colony rather than return to France.

There were rumours that some of the girls sent to the colony had been prostitutes in France, but Pierre Boucher defended the honour of his new compatriots.
"It is not true that this sort of women come here and those who say this are

greatly mistaken," he wrote, "if, by chance, it happens that there are a few among those who come who are discovered, or that during the crossing they behaved badly, they are sent back to France." It was hard to live a scandalous life in such a small colony. What these young women had in common was their poverty.

"The girls sent last year are married and almost all of them are with child or have had children already, a sign of the fertility of this country, " wrote Jean Talon to the king, in 1670. Jean Talon actively encouraged their fertility, decreeing in an edict on April 5 1669 that all inhabitants having 10 living children, born of a lawful marriage, "not priests, monks, or nuns, will be paid a pension of 300 livres a year; and for those having 12 (children), 400 livres more; furthermore, all boys who marry at the age of 20 years or less and to girls of 16 years and less, will be paid 20 pounds each on their wedding day.

When the women arrived in New France, the amount of time it took them to find husbands varied greatly. For some, it was as short as a few months, while others took two or three years before finding an appropriate husband. Some even cancelled their marriage contracts; no doubt finding their fiances distasteful.

Interesting stuff, huh? I love the part about being paid to have 12 children!! Egad!

In my novel, The Raven Saint, there is a secondary character who was one of these filles du roi, but who, unable to marry or support herself, was forced into prostitution.  She is a kind woman who rescues the heroine of my story.

 One outstanding novel! MaryLu Tyndall writes the type of romance that you automatically fall in love with. Suzie Houseley Romance Junkies

Buy from Amazon

The Island of California

While California has only been an American state since 1850, California has been known as a place of sunshine, gold, and riches since the early 16th century...in literature, at any rate. 

Map of California, 1650, Johannes Vingboos. Public Domain. The compass rose is pointing to the approximate location of modern day San Diego.

Back in 1510, a Castilian author named Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo wrote a chivalric romance called Las Sergas de Esplandián (which is cited in Don Quixote). The fictional island of California is mentioned, ruled by Queen Calafia, and it's a pretty amazing-sounding place. The land is rugged, but it's inhabited by women only, and there's gold for the taking.

Renaissance-era Europeans were entranced, and believed the account must be true. In 1533, explorer Fortún Ximénez discovered the southern portion of what is now Baja California--a peninsula that was often mistaken for an island for quite some time. He died, but two years later, Hernán Cortés arrived at the bay, attempting to start a colony there. Even though the native population (which included men) weren't dripping with gold jewelry, the idea that this must be the fabled California stuck.

Conquistador Hernán Cortés by Paolo Giovio. Public Domain.

In 1539, however, Cortés sent Francisco de Ulloa northward along the Gulf and Pacific coasts. At the head of the Gulf, Ulloa reached the mouth of the Colorado River, so 16th century maps began to show Baja California as a peninsula. 

Satellite view of Baja California. Public Domain.

Within several years, however, European maps returned to depicting California as an island. The 1602 journal kept by one Father Antonio de la Ascension, sailing up the coast with Sebastian Vizcaino, insisted California was separated from the rest of North America by the "Mediterranean Sea of California." This seemed to be enough evidence for European mapmakers.

It wasn't until almost a hundred years later that a Jesuit missionary and cartographer, Father Eusebius Francisco Kino, set off to find new people and eventually came to the Colorado River, near what is now Yuma, Arizona. He proved California was fixed to the rest of the continent, but the matter was not entirely put to rest until the time of the American Revolutionary War, around 1775, when Juan Bautista de Anza explored the area between Sonora and California coast.

Juan Bautista de Anza, photographic reproduction of an oil painting by Fray Orsi, 1774. Public Domain.

The lure of the California myth was strong, and while it was no longer regarded as an island, myths of California remain. The promise of gold, sunshine, and plenty has drawn millions--and it should be noted that two thirds of all fruits produced in America, and one third of its vegetables, are grown in California. (Click here.)

***




California native Susanne Dietze is a RITA-nominated author who's seen her books on the ECPA and Publisher's Weekly Bestseller lists for inspirational fiction. Her latest novel is The Blizzard Bride. Learn more about her on her website, www.susannedietze.com.

Have You Hugged Your House Lately?

Back in the 80s, I got my first job in an office. We had a word processor that was supposed to make our job easier. We had visions of all this “free” time in our future. Even funnier, I was a big believer in the power of computers: I had a degree in computer science after all.

The sales department gradually moved from hand written invoices to computers and software to spit out invoices with the click of a few buttons. Accounts payable eventually went to software that printed our checks for us. Wow! All we had to do was sit back and watch the checks spit out of the printer. Surely our breaks would be longer and more often because of so much automation.

The purchasing department went from calling vendors and placing orders over the phone, to faxing in orders, then to placing orders via email. Before I left the company after 28 years, many vendors had online options where I could place orders, check status, locate tracking numbers, and a host of other things without ever even contacting a salesperson.

Now that I work from home, it’s the same thing. I have a laptop, phone that’s connected to the world, washing machine, dryer, vacuum cleaner, dish washer, oven, stove, microwave, refrigerator, hot and cold running water, electric heat in the winter and electric A/C in the summer. Other than writing a check (or using automatic payments), I don’t have to do anything except pay for the electricity to run all those appliances and electronics.

Jump back to the 17th century and how people lived. Let’s specifically look at the farmer and the housewife. A household in the countryside was largely self-sufficient. The woman of the house had to bake bread, brew ale (since water wasn’t always safe to drink), cure bacon, salt meat, make jellies and jams, pickles, can vegetables. She had to make candles, sew all the family’s clothes and stuff bedding, tend the garden, the chickens and milk the cow and churn the butter.

The farmer planted the corn that fed his cows that fed his family. He saved seed for the next year. That bread, ale, bacon, and cheese his wife made to sustain them came from the animals and crops they grew on their farm. He chopped wood to cook their food and keep the family warm throughout the winter. He hunted for wild game to supplement their diet. By and large, farm families were self-sufficient and could survive for months, years even, without buying or trading for anything outside of what they could produce on their own.

In a word, they made do.

You’d think that with all these fancy gadgets, computers, phones… goodness, these days we can order our groceries from our phone, pay for them, then drive by the store on the way home from work and pick everything up. And if that’s not fast enough, someone else can prepare our burger and fries, and we just drive thru and eat it on the road.

But here’s the rub. On the surface, many of us seem to be just as busy, or busier, than our counterparts two and three centuries ago. But is that really the case? I’m generalizing of course, but even when we think we’re burning the candle at both ends, or thinking we’ll never get ahead, let’s stop and take a deep breath…

Think about living without electricity (and all the electronics that come with it), running water, an insulated home with a/c in the summer, heat in the winter. Think about either having to walk everywhere or hook up the wagon or saddle a horse. Think about having to lug gallons of water to wash clothes. Think about the worry over a sick child or a farming accident with no doctor or hospital within miles. I could go on and on…

Granted, everything isn’t rosy in 2019, and there are families who are struggling to survive, but I don’t think I want to go back in time to the 17th or 18th century.

Although I do love writing and reading about it. :)

I think I'll hug my house today!

What is the one thing you can’t imagine living without? And by one thing, I mean necessary thing. A loaded pizza from your favorite pizza joint isn’t exactly necessary… even though it does sound yummy! Some ideas of what I’m looking for… Electric lights vs. candles/lanterns? Stove vs. fireplace? Washing machine vs. hand washing? Heat-pump vs. fireplace? Automobile vs. walking/wagon?

Check out this Scavenger Hunt!

Have you heard about the Spring Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt? If not, you're just in time! It ends on the 17th, so hop over to Lisa Bergren's website at Stop #1 and get started. Make sure you enter my giveaway at Stop #21 at pamhillman.com for a chance to win all three books in my Natchez Trace Novel series.

Go to Stop #1 to start your journey on the
Spring Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt, Stop #1