UNDERWATER DANCING

By Mary Davis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRqcZcrgPaU

Not that kind of of underwater dancing—the kind in fancy dresses . . . but under water.
 
Sounds pretty strange.
 
Well, it is strange but possible.
 
I love eccentric people because they do and create the oddest things.
 
Out side of London in 1890, Whitaker Wright purchased the Manor of Witley and several other adjoining properties to form what came to be known as Witley Park, a 1,400 acre estate. The Manor of Witley dated back to before 1066 and was occupied by a variety of owners, including kings, queens, earls, lords, and baronets.

Wright built a lavish mansion with thirty-two bedrooms, eleven bathrooms, a drawing room, two dining rooms, a library, a theater, a palm court, an observatory, a velodrome (a cycle-racing track), a stable for fifty horses, and a private hospital. What more could a person want? Apparently, he felt he was missing something. One of his final projects was having three man-made lakes constructed. That’s one way to get lakefront property. One of the lakes has what appears to be a floating statue of Neptune rising out of the water. But Neptune guards a secret.

This looks like something from a Harry Potter movie. What lies beneath does as well.
 
Under Neptune’s feet sits a secret room. In then woods, if you go along the low stonewall to a small stone building with an arched doorway, descend a spiral staircase, traverse the subterranean tunnel, you will enter the “ballroom” bathed in muted light beneath one of these created lakes. The domed ceiling is made up of nearly 200 panes of algae-covered glass. No one is quite sure what Wright used this room for. It could have been a unique ballroom, or a billiard room, or a smoking room. Whatever its intended purpose, it has been dubbed the underwater ballroom.
 
I wasn’t able to obtain public domain or royalty free photos of the underwater chamber, but there are some good images at https://www.messynessychic.com/2014/12/11/the-rotting-underwater-ballroom-of-a-victorian-bernie-madoff/
 
Wright made his money the old-fashion way—by swindling people. He was eventually caught, tried in 1904, and sentenced to seven years in prison. Unable to face that future, he swallowed a cyanide pill and died in the courthouse.
The estate again passed through various people and was parceled off. In 1952, the house burned down, but the underwater ballroom was spared.

Here is one of the surviving buildings, Thursley Lodge.

Today, the portion of the estate with the underwater ballroom is privately owned. The owner very rarely allows anyone to go inside it, but people have trespassed and taken pictures.

THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (The Quilting Circle Book 3) #TheDamselsIntent #HistoricalRomance #FreeKU #KU #ChristianRomance
Can Nicole learn to be enough of a lady to snag the handsome rancher?
   Nicole Waterby heads down the mountain to fetch herself a husband, not realizing women don’t wear trousers or carry a gun. She has a lot to learn. Rancher Shane Keegan has drifted from one location to another to find a place to belong. When Nicole crosses his path, he wonders if he can have love, but he soon realizes she’s destined for someone better than a saddle tramp. Will love stand a chance while both Nicole and Shane try to be people they’re not?

Free on Kindle Unlimited, or $2.99 to buy ebook.

Get it here: https://www.amazon.com/Damsels-Intent-Quilting-Circle-Book-ebook/dp/B089DTXDCN/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=The+Damsel%27s+Intent&qid=1590863747&s=books&sr=1-2

MARY DAVIS s a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. Her 2018 titles include; "Holly and Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection, Courting Her Amish Heart, The Widow’s Plight, Courting Her Secret Heart , “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection , and Courting Her Prodigal Heart . 2019 titles include The Daughter's Predicament and "Bygones" in Thimbles and Threads. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-five years and two cats. She has three adult children and two incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at:

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SWEDISH CEMETERY 1893

For the past year and half, I’ve walked or driven by this simple sign tucked along the side of the road between the grocery store and residential houses. Behind this sign grows a thicket of trees.

Ever since I first saw this sign, I wanted to explore this cemetery. This may sound morbid, but I find historic graveyards fascinating. Reading the names of people who passed this way in a bygone era. People who lived lives just like me and you. This cemetery is on the national historical society registry.

I could imagine the history it must hold. I love to look at headstones and read what is carved there. My husband also expressed an interest in perusing this historical treasure. We finally stopped talking about it and went exploring.

We entered this hallowed ground and immediately went to the right, which was sort of straight ahead. I couldn’t wait to discover the first headstone or marker to see who had passed this way. I looked to the left and right of the path. Bushes, trees, vines, and grass. Where were all the headstones?

Much to my dismay, the cemetery wasn’t much bigger than a house lot camouflaged by trees. More disappointing was walking two-thirds of the way around the central clump of trees without spying nary one gravesite. How can a place be called a cemetery with no dead people? That is kind of the definition and purpose of a cemetery. It marks people who have lived before for future generations to appreciate.

Just when I thought this to be a grave-less cemetery, we happened upon two moss-covered cement markers.

How exciting. Who were these people? The markers were so weathered that the names could no longer be read. I could tell that the indentations on the top had once formed letters, but what letters, I couldn’t tell.

I could make out what could possibly be a T or E or B? But on the lower ledge “AT REST” could clearly be read. How sad that these people’s names had been weathered away. Almost as though they had never existed. Because of their position, I’d guess that they were a husband and wife.

A little farther on (and almost to the end of the loop) were four more markers.

All too worn to read anything except one that had a name engraved on the side where the weather hadn’t beaten it into unreadable depressions. The name, clear and easy to distinguish, JOHNSON. 

We looked among the trees and bushes, as best as we could from the path, to see if we could spot any other gravestones without any luck.

I wondered if there weren’t many more graves there than the headstones that remained revealed. Perhaps many wooden crosses or board markers had decayed over time, taking the secret of who lay beneath with them. Possibly other markers are buried under a layer of dirt or grown over by underbrush.

So, when I got home, I did a little research to find out more about this little piece of history.

In 1893, Johannes (St. John’s) Swedish Lutheran Church was founded in Bothell, WA. Two years later, a church building went up. Charles Erickson, a charter church member, donated one acre of land from his homestead for a cemetery. Johannes Johnson was the first to be buried there in 1901. Alfred Pearson and Eric Jacobson, other charter members of St. John’s Church, granted permission for transients to be buried in the cemetery; their graves usually went unmarked. The Swedish Cemetery contains the graves of important pioneers who came to Bothell prior to 1885. In 1927, the Swedish Lutheran Church disbanded. Bethany Lutheran Church received the title to the cemetery and then the title passed to Augustana Lutheran Retirement Home, now called the Columbia Lutheran Home in Seattle. As of 1982, the city of Bothell holds the title to this cemetery.

I never really thought about cemetery ownership, especially for these really old, historic graveyards. I found this quite interesting. 

Back to the cemetery’s occupants. Thirty-nine known graves reside there and are listed by name on the nomination form to make this a historical landmark. However, those might not include graves with lost records or any unmarked graves of transients buried there. 

 

Of the thirty-nine listed people, nearly one-third (twelve) are children. These are unnamed children. The list has them as “Johnson child” or “Blumberg child”. So sad; not even a name. I wonder if they died in infancy.

 

Thirteen Johnsons occupy space somewhere in that cemetery. Half of the twelve children had the surname Johnson. The poor family.

I am so glad that people saw fit to preserve what is left of this historic sight. Even though most of the grave markers are gone or weathered away, at least a partial list of the people who passed this way is recorded for future generations. 

NEW!

THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT ~ A sweet historical romance that will tug at your heart. This is book 1 in the Quilting Circle series.
Washington State, 1893
     When Lily Lexington Bremmer arrives in Kamola with her young son, she’s reluctant to join the social center of her new community, the quilting circle, but the friendly ladies pull her in. She begins piecing a sunshine and shadows quilt because it mirrors her life. She has a secret that lurks in the shadows and hopes it doesn’t come out into the light. Dark places in her past are best forgotten, but her new life is full of sunshine. Will her secrets cast shadows on her bright future?
     Widower Edric Hammond and his father are doing their best to raise his two young daughters. He meets Lily and her son when they arrive in town and helps her find a job and a place to live. Lily resists Edric’s charms at first but finds herself falling in love with this kind, gentle man and his two darling daughters. Lily has stolen his heart with her first warm smile, but he’s cautious about bringing another woman into his girls’ lives due to the harshness of their own mother.
     Can Edric forgive Lily her past to take hold of a promising chance at love?

#ChristianRomance #HistoricalRomance #Romance

MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. She has five titles releasing in 2018; "Holly & Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection in January, Courting Her Amish Heart in March, The Widow’s Plight in July, Courting Her Secret Heart in September, & “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection in December. Coming in January 2019, Courting Her Prodigal Heart (Book 3 in the Prodigal Daughter's series). She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-four years and two cats. She has three adult children and one incredibly adorable grandchild. Find her online at:
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The Great Manure Crisis of 1894

Hello there. My name is Cara Grandle. I'm honored to be included here on HHH. I'm looking forward to getting to know you extra-cool, history-lovin’, fiction-reading folks.

But even more I'm looking forward to having a place to share all the random historical facts that are so intriguing, enlightening, and entertaining. My children will thank you for sparing them.

And when I say random, I mean random.

So, let's start with manure. Picture me laughing. Why on earth would my first post be about this?

Did you know that in 1894 The Times predicted, "In fifty years London will be buried under nine feet of manure"? The same was said to be true of New York City.

All those horse-drawn carts, buggies, busses, hansom cabs that we like to write about in our books produced a staggering amount of waste.

It is estimated that in the late 19th century horses transported 120,000 passengers each day, utilizing New York's horse population of 100,000.

There were empty lots of land used to put all the muck piled forty feet high. Head shaking.

Add to that the working drays pulling delivery trucks and other work related horse-powered operation and you have a huge stinking problem.

Yes, I said stinking.

Can you imagine? Each horse produces between fifteen and thirty-five pounds of manure EACH day.

That's a pile heavier than most one-year-olds. For each horse. Every. Single. Day.

This historical tidbit makes me think differently about all our beautifully clad heroines holding their skirts out of the dirt to keep from soiling the hems of their dresses or being careful to not ruin their slippers.

It wasn't mud folks. 

The manure problem lead to the first international urban planning conference in New York in 1898. The conference was supposed to last a week but it was cancelled after three days when no solution could be found.

How was the problem solved? It wasn't really. A man named Henry Ford came along with a form of motorized transport sold at an affordable price.

The first car was marketed as being a solution to the manure pollution problem. Ironic, eh?

In fourteen years’ time, horses were replaced and motorized vehicles were the main source of transportation and carriage, effectively ending The Great Manure Crisis.

For some time after, people were known to quote 'The Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894', to inspire hope in urging people not to despair when facing insurmountable problems, because something will inevitably turn up.

But can you imagine? A city buried under nine feet of manure? Another reason to be glad we live in this day and age. Is there anything you are grateful for about living in 2017 versus another time?

I can’t wait to hear your answers.

CaraGrandle is a Historical Romance Novelist who prefers to write about the early settlers of the Pacific Northwest. She is represented by the Steve Laube Agency. Cara leads the author4TheAuthor writers group on Facebook, home to 185 writers. Together they're pressing back on busy and making a space for their dreams. Cara hosts a Writers Encouragement show weekly on Periscope. The show is on Tuesday mornings at 9:00am PST. Cara's Periscope show includes live, interactive author-interviews with leading Christian fiction novelists, editors, publicist and agents under the handle @CaraGrandle.

Cara is currently out on submission. Follower her journey on her Facebook author page. 

Late 19th Century Toys - and a Giveaway

The books and TV shows which most often draw my attention portray settlers and people in transition. Characters who have more love than money, and where essential necessities came first. Toys made with whatever was on hand, such as a doll made with leftover fabric scraps, or a pair of stilts made with wood salvaged from the woodpile.

Two boys playing on stilts, ca. 1890-1916. Source: Glenbow Archives NC-39-293

In some of those stories, children with toys were usually from affluent families where children had time on their hands and more often than not, were spoiled. In my own childhood, we were raised with the ridiculous notion that your bank account dictated your character. I could write a sermon on that point of view, but I'd rather talk about toys.

In 1890, trains were crossing North America with rapid regularity and towns with amenities were springing up every 10 miles or so along the railroad tracks. Although the land was still being settled, a settler could find almost anything in a nearby town, including toys, and what wasn't readily available could be ordered by catalog.

Because I've already mentioned dolls, I wanted to show you an assortment of dolls ca. 1890s with a photograph held at the Glenbow Archives in Calgary, Alberta. There is no mention of what type of dolls, nor their age, but to my untrained eye, some of them look like ones you'd buy in a store due to their porcelain/bisque heads and hands.

Group of Dolls, ca. 1890s. Source: Glenbow Archives NC-22-43

Doll houses have been fashionable for centuries with females of all ages, with its size and construction dependent on materials and ability to create and furnish. A quick search on the internet shows doll houses in many museums built for noble and royal women with stunningly exquisite pieces. 

The following photograph is from the McCord Museum with the following information: "Special toys represent a microcosm of daily life. This doll's house, photographed for Captain Howard around 1873-74, is divided into four main rooms: the kitchen, dining room, parlour and bedroom or play room. The open front has four windows decorated with lace-like curtains, similar to those in the music room seen earlier. There are miniature mirrors on the sideboard and dresser, metal kitchen implements hanging on the wall and centrally suspended lights. Doll's houses give children ideas about how the domestic interior should be arranged and decorated, but are also owned as adult amusements."

Doll house, photographed for Captain Howard, Montreal, QC, 1873-74. I-96789.1 © McCord Museum

The Ladies' Home Journal included detailed instructions on making a doll house in the article, A Little Girl's Play-House. The article is too long to paste here, but it's available as part of a free eBook on GooglePlay. After downloading, find page 7 of the December 1887 issue. 

With thoughts of little girls in mind, I searched for one of my favorite childhood toys, the tea set, and chose this next modern photo of a tea set dated 1890-1920 which was gifted to the McCord Museum by Mrs. Raymond Caron.

Tea set, doll, 1890-1920, 19th century or 20th century, Gift of Mrs. Raymond Caron

Doll house, photographed for Captain Howard, Montreal, QC, 1873-74. I-96789.1 © McCord Museum

I love everything about this tea set, from its dainty design to its hexagon cups and saucers. 

The boy is this next photo has an assortment of books and toys, including what looks like lithographed blocks. I thought perhaps he'd be a good representative of a family with a little extra money to spend on toys until I realized he was the son of Charles Selby Haultain, Assistant-Surgeon for the North-West Mounted Police depot in Regina, Saskatchewan. As such, his father would have been higher on the pay scale than the average man, whether lawman, settler, or somewhere in between.

Robert Mitchell "Robin" Haultain with his blocks and other toys, Regina, Saskatchewan, ca. 1891-1894. Source: Glenbow Archives ND-37-3

My search for outdoor fun toys led me to look for photographs of kids and wagons which were difficult to make at home due to the metal parts. I thought perhaps I'd find metal wheels and a wood body, like the adult-size versions, but it seems the ones I found were all-metal construction except possibly for the handle. This particular one has the information that it was probably photographed in Montana.

Herbert and Phoebe Kimball hauling wood in their wagon, ca. 1890-1905. Source: Glenbow Archives NC-39-301

Of course, when you digest the content of the above image, you see that the children are doing chores with their wagon. If that's a doll on the wood pile beside the little girl though, perhaps she was able to give it a ride as they went along, or afterward. 

Portrait of Arthur Patterson blowing bubbles, Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, ca. 1897-1900. Source: Glenbow Archives NA-5733-10

I was surprised to find an image of a boy blowing bubbles dated ca. 1897-1900, probably because I associate bubble-blowing with dish-washing liquid and that doesn't strike me as something you'd find at the turn of the century. Location-wise, the Maple Creek area is across the border from Fort Benton, Montana which makes me wonder if they were blowing bubbles down there at that time, too. Would his bubble-making pipe be store-bought? 

Which brings us to a toy I always wanted, but never received as a child . . . the regal rocking horse. Like a doll house, expense depended on size, materials, and workmanship, although it required a skilled craftsman to carve it.

Master Thomas Crathern and rocking horse, Montreal, 1862, William Notman (1826-1891). Purchase from Associated Screen News Ltd. I-3702 © McCord Museum

There are many images of children and their rocking horses, most of them studio images like the glass negative shown here. I chose this one from the McCord Museum however, because it includes this tidbit of photographic history:
"If you look behind Thomas Crathern's feet, you can see a pole. In Miss Pominville's picture, did you notice a curtain draped behind her feet? That was to hide the base of the posing stand, against which both of them are leaning, to help them stay still for the photograph. Master Thomas must have had a harder time of it than Miss Pominville, because he is sitting on a rocking horse, which is made to move. The photographer has jammed one of the feet of the posing stand under the rocker on the far side, so Thomas has a hope of staying still." Source : In the Eye of the Camera [Web tour], by Nora Hague, McCord Museum

For the last image we have a rocking horse suitable for younger children. Although we don't use these any longer due to the safety aspect, I thought this type of rocking horse was more of a vintage style, rather than an antique. 

Lawrence and Watson Dunbar, west of Fort Macleod, Alberta, ca. 1893. Source: Glenbow Archives NA-2033-3

The images in this post are representative of items a person might find in a general store, mercantile, and emporium in the Old West. If not physically in the store, they could be ordered through a catalog.

In my novella, Love in Store, my hero has set up a toy corner in his Emporium where a person might find any or all of the items on this page, and then he has to defend his position of why he's selling them.

Other posts here on HHH that show more images pertaining to my Love in Store novella are:
- General Stores, Mercantiles & Emporiums
- Early Typists at Work

#Giveaway - If you'd like a chance to win a copy of The Secret Admirer Romance Collection which contains nine novellas including, Love in Store, leave a comment on this post before midnight, Sunday June 11, 2017. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anita Mae Draper writes her historical romances under the western skies of the Saskatchewan prairie where her love of research and genealogy yield fascinating truths that layer her stories with rich historical details. Her Christian faith is reflected in her stories of forgiveness and redemption as her characters struggle to find their way to that place we call home. Anita loves to correspond with her readers through any of the social media links found at

www.anitamaedraper.com.

Readers can enrich their reading experience by checking out Anita's Pinterest boards for a visual idea of her stories at www.pinterest.com/anitamaedraper.