The historic town of Circleville, Ohio recovered from the Great Depression and is a town with over 13,000 residents. Each year the annual pumpkin festival hosts over 400,000 visitors. See vintage photographs of 1938 Circleville, Ohio. See larger image RIBBON OF LOVE: 2nd edition – A Novel of Colonial America (Tapestry of Love Book 1): […]
Tag: history
This is one Immigrant’s Legacy and a story of friendship
A true, personal story by Author Carmela Cattuti. One Immigrant’s Legacy By Carmela Cattuti Growing up in a small city along the Hudson River gave me easy access to New York culture. The hour’s train ride to Grand Central Station gave me ample time to plot my day’s activity. My uncle lived on east 57th […]
DYK: Don’t buy a pig in a poke. Where did the saying come from?
Pig in a poke means an offering or deal that is foolishly accepted without being examined first. A poke is a sack or bag. It has a French origin as ‘poque’ and, like several other French words, its diminutive is formed by adding ‘ette’ or ‘et’ – hence ‘pocket’ began life with the meaning ‘small […]
Can you guess the name of a coal miner who influenced millions?
He was born in a coal mining town in Shropshire, England and one of his neighbors prophesied that he would grow up to be a thief because when he was a baby, his mother cut his finger nails instead of biting them off. Worked in a coal mine at eleven years of age When he […]
DYK: Handle with kid gloves – what does it really mean?
Handle with kid gloves means to handle a situation, or a person or an object, delicately and gingerly. The phrase comes from the 1730’s when kid gloves were made from the skin of a young goat. They were not intended for use when you were working and wearing kid gloves usually indicated that the wearer […]
He boasted that he had over 500 children. – Do you know his name?
He was a trifle fat but he had a way with women, and this French novelist loved to boast that he had over 500 children. French Nobleman His grandfather was a French nobleman and his grandmother was an enslaved African woman. Thomas, his father was taken to France where he was educated in a military […]
He was one of the richest men in Europe when he was herded into a dirty cellar and shot. Do you know who he was?
In 1917, after the death of 3.3 million of his people, this leader’s armies revolted and refused to fight. A few minutes before midnight on March 14, 1917, a committee of generals met with him in the drawing-room of a private train and told him he would have to renounce his power and give up […]
Do you remember the first Shell Homes – They were much better than two room shacks [photographs]
Alabama Contributing Author, Dorothy Graham Gast, provides another interesting story about Shell Homes in Alabama. Do you remember them? SHELL HOMES by Dorothy Gast During the years after World War II, rural families in the South were still living in substandard housing. Many homes were no more than two-room shacks with lean-to areas that had […]
He often wore disguises to escape arrest – Do you know his name?
As a child, it is reported that he was serious and never took part in athletic games. He studied law and spoke four languages—French, German, Russian, and English. For years he was hounded and driven from one country to another, living at various times in Germany, Austria, France, Poland, Switzerland and England. Disguised as a […]
Vacation plans in 1943 included the possibility of not being able to return home
Are you planning a vacation? This is what you would have to deal with when traveling by car in 1943 in America. EASING OF GAS BRINGS TROUBLES Easterners Want To Make Short Trips (Article from The Tuscaloosa News July 7, 1943) WASHINGTON, July 7, 1943 – (AP) – The Office of Price Administration (OPA) headed […]