Shrewsbury Press

17/04/2025

April 1775 - the Gunpowder Incident is a turning point in Virginia's move toward Revolution. For a kid's eye view, it's featured in "Mystery at the Raleigh Tavern." (Link in Comments.)

You’re invited to meet the people who bring history to life. Plan your visit to our 18th-century city, where your admission ticket is the key to sites, tours, events, and more.

15/11/2024

Book signing coming up at the Colonial Williamsburg Visitor's Center! Give your friends and family uniquely personalized gifts. Look for it Sunday, November 24, 12 - 3. The two mysteries and 4 children's books will be available

04/06/2024

Book signing Memorial Day weekend at Colonial Williamsburg's new bookstore. It's a little bit hard to find - down the alley and up the stairs, 440 W DOG Street in Merchant Square, but a great space with great books - not only CW publications!

15/02/2024

So much interesting research for the next mystery - like this article on paper.

Paper conservation fellow Leonie Müller guides readers in an examination of paper’s material qualities and explains how its structures reflect the process of how it’s made.

26/01/2024

Weber's book (research for mystery #3) is a deep dive into the use of codes by the founding fathers, which often seems a comedy of errors. Jefferson in Paris couldn't decipher his letters from Monroe, saying "by some unfortunate mistake, probably in the young gentleman who wrote the cypher, it will not explain a single syllable." Jefferson was no slouch when it came to such things, but Adams was a different story altogether. As Abigail put it, "my Friend is no adept in investigating ciphers and hates to be puzzeld for a meaning."

(Book best purchased used from ABEbooks.com, if you're interested.)

06/01/2024

For Epiphany, a little research article from Colonial Williamsburg -

Colonial Williamsburg - Experience life in the 18th century at America's largest outdoor history museum.

21/12/2023

A little cooking project for the holidays.
Cheers to you!

Eating Christmas Pie at Mount Vernon was customary in the Washington household.

In 1786, George Washington described the holiday meal as "the Attack of Christmas Pyes." He elaborated, "We had one yesterday on which all the company (and pretty numerous it was) were hardly able to make an impression."⁣

Standing pies (pies that stand up without the aid of pie tins, moulds or hoops) required a tremendous amount of coordination and preparation amongst the enslaved cooks of Mansion House, at that time led by Hercules Posey. Given the poultry boning and other preliminary steps involved, it could take at least two days to put together.

Try this modern adaptation of an 18th-century recipe: https://bit.ly/3EfsArx

(Image Credits)
Yorkshire Christmas Pie in "Dining with the Washingtons: Historic Recipes, Entertaining, and Hospitality from Mount Vernon," Nancy Carter Crump, c. 2011. George Washington's Mount Vernon.

06/12/2023

Interested in Colonial American Christmas customs? Then you might like this newsletter. https://mailchi.mp/ab583fade6ac/christmas-newsletter-794581

PS, books make great presents!