Burwell School Spring 2008

This past Saturday we had the opportunity for another Civil War re-enactment.... well, this was pre-Civil War! We went to the Burwell School in Hillsborough. This event was for the girls only (Burwell being a girl's school and we were not doing any first person portrayals or the boys might have been Burwell children).
Amelia and her friend Hope were students. I was just a 'period dressed' woman and stayed upstairs in the home to talk to spectators about sewing and the difficulty of clothing a family. I had little Kaylee with me for her very first re-enactment in a borrowed dress! We slicked her hair down with pomade and parted it in the middle! (Girls parted their hair in the middle, boys on the side.) So with such a beauty in my arms, most questions were directed about her.... I actually planned it that way because I am in need of so much more education before I am very comfortable 'teaching' spectators! I knew she would 'steal the show' and she did. To see our pictures, look at the very lengthy slide show on the side bar. I do want to individually post a couple favorites of the day....

There was a little, very little room at the top of the stairs in the old house. We speculated at what it might have been used for... I guessed a sewing or work room, others a child's room or sick room.... I even thought of a 'birthing' room, hey the woman had 12 kids! Anyway, a spectator who had obviously been there before on tour was telling her friends that "this is the little room that Mrs. Burwell would lock herself in to get away from it all'! Then it made sense... the woman was known to be prone to depression and sickness... so I can see her need for solitude. Well, look at this view from the window... wouldn't you find this peaceful and a good place for reflection?

Another picture I adore is, of course, one of Kaylee in the school room......