Date: Fri 14-Mar-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Location: A13

Quick Words:

Historical-Society-Kampmeier

Full Text:

(Newtown Historical Scty's 1997 Open House, 3/14/97)

Historical Society's Doors Opened To The Past

(with photos)

BY SHANNON HICKS

Eleven year old Megan Heithaus sat in her chair, her back bent in a sharp "C"

as she studied the fabric in her needleworking hoop and ran a needle and

thread carefully back and forth. Situated in front of a cold fireplace in the

kitchen of a circa 18th century saltbox on Newtown's Main Street, Megan was

sitting in a ladderback chair next to a wooden table where three similar

chairs sat empty.

In the dim light of a lantern, the young girl was working on a sampler she

later admitted should have been done much earlier. Megan's sampler would be

added to her dowery, which would go with her to her new home when she is

married. She was wearing a beautiful green party dress, floor length, with a

matching ribbon in her long brown hair.

When visitors entered the kitchen where Megan was working on her sampler, she

patiently laid down her work and began extolling the toils of life in the home

where she was spending the afternoon. Explaining the ins and outs of life of

the 1700s, Megan was one of the docents who welcomed visitors to the Matthew

Curtiss House in Newtown last Sunday afternoon. The Newtown Historical

Society, headquartered at the Curtiss House, was presenting its annual open

house.

Across the street at Edmond Town Hall, the historical society was also hosting

its yearly antiques show, a major fundraiser for the group. Showgoers had

begun lining up for the show's 10 am opening an hour ahead of time. Sallie

Meffert and John Rohmer, historical society members working at the gate,

finally decided to open the show at ten minutes before the hour.

Business at the doors to the town hall's gymnasium was brisk all day, with a

gate of over 900 reported by mid-afternoon.

This year, Fred Kampmeier had tried a different tactic with the show's

advertising - trying a few new outlets, while dropping others that did not

seem to be pulling in any business to the event - and it seemed to be helping

the 25 assembled dealers.

Admission charged to get into the show would go into the historical society's

pocket for future events, and general upkeep on the Matthew Curtiss House.

Megan was one of four docents at the Curtiss House on Sundays, and is one of

the society's youngest members. An avid history buff, she held visitors

spellbound with her detailed knowledge of the Curtiss House, its history and

life in general during the 1700s.

The 11-year old, a fifth grader at St. Rose School in Newtown, has been a

member of the society for just over a year. Her family purchased a family

membership in 1996.

Upstairs

Upstairs, Sally O'Neil welcomed visitors to the Curtiss House's second floor,

which is home to two bedrooms, a walkway, storage space, and the building's

immense center chimney. A stairway also leads to the attic, but is roped off

to casual visitors for safety's sake. Within arm's reach, though, is the

central chimney that runs from the kitchen's oven, up through the center of

the house.

Mrs O'Neil was showing off the upstairs living quarters, which includes two

bedrooms, a children's play area and a small sitting area. There were no

closets to speak of, she pointed out.

Colonial homes never had "closets" because assessors would consider those

spaces - anything large enough for a person to stand up in - as taxable rooms,

which would only add to a homeowner's tax bill.

Instead of closets, homes used any available space - notably the areas beneath

stairways - and innumerable blanket chests in which to store clothing, quilts,

silver... anything of value to a family.

In the front rooms of the home's main level, Sheila and Cosmo Civale presided

at a long table in the room to the left of the street entrance. While

welcoming the steady stream of visitors to the Matthew Curtiss House all

afternoon and answering questions posed by their guests, the Civales were

working on their own projects. The couple has participated in re-enactments at

the Matthew Curtiss House before.

Mrs Civale wore a handmade circa 1785 navy English polonaise, a "dressier"

gown of the Revolutionary War era, she explained. The dress was a coarse blue

cotton, with boning that curves slightly outward in the front. Underneath the

polonaise she wore a chemise and a petticoat.

Hidden pockets beneath the polonaise would hold keys for a family larder.

People carried the keys with them at all times, Mrs Civale said, because

others would break into a family's barn or larder to steal food.

Mrs Civale worked at needlepoint on a commemorative scrap quilt in the

sunlight streaming in through the front windows. Her quilt was a mostly green

Tree of Life scrap quilt (contemporary quilt makers have renamed the pattern

Pine Tree Quilt).

"Nothing was ever wasted," Mrs Civale said, pointing out that fabrics came

from different sources - a scrap of a shirt here, a piece from a bolt from

England there, all dyed using water left over from cooking vegetables. Water

from boiling beets would create fabric in shades of red to maroon, green

vegetables would create green fabrics, and tea bags would be used for tan to

brown shades.

Cosmo Civale, sitting opposite his wife, was working on a leather folder, a

design he had created himself. A woodblock with myriad leatherworking tools

sat on the table to his right, while on the left was a hand-tooled leather

notebook cover Mr Civale had crafted.

Men In Flowers

Like that of his wife, Mr Civale's outfit was handmade. A long cotton shirt

that would have doubled as a nightshirt had ruffles and pewter buttons at the

cuff. The soft yellow vest was decorated with a reproduction of embroidery

found in Williamsburg, featuring a number of tiny flowers.

"Men wore a lot of garments with flowers," Mrs Civale said. She also pointed

out that men had pewter buttons, usually decorated, while women's clothing

never did. "They actually wore more flowers than women, at one time."

In the background, Megan Heithaus' voice drifted in from the kitchen.

"A woman mostly stayed in the kitchen, always cooking and cleaning," Megan

could be heard saying. "The only time she might be able to get outdoors would

be to work on the spinning wheel, and even then she would be keeping an eye on

her children."

Megan took visitors step by step through a typical day in a Colonial kitchen,

beginning with breakfast preparations at five o'clock in the morning, on until

the last supper dish was dried and put away at night and food was prepared for

the next morning's meal. She pointed out the five small oven areas within the

kitchen's huge oven, each kept at varying temperatures in order to cook

various foods for differing lengths of time, and the birthing/sick room that

adjoined the kitchen ("If a woman was sick, or giving birth, she was still

able to direct the house from this room," the young historian said).

By the time they were Megan's age, Colonial daughters were experts at

needlework. Back then, girls were required to have 12 quilts completed before

they would be allowed to be married. In between her discussions of life in the

Colonial era, Megan was also working on her own project - a needlework for her

dowery.

As Megan returned to her sampler, another group of visitors entered her

kitchen. This time it was a mother with her two daughters and one of the

daughters' friends, all school-age girls. As Megan put down needle and thread,

she began speaking once again:

"The kitchen used to be the main room of the house in Colonial times..."

(Regular docent tours of the Matthew Curtiss House will begin in late

March-early April. The tours will continue through Labor Day weekend. Tours

are offered Sunday afternoons, from 1-4 pm, and are free of charge. Related

children's events are being planned for this summer.)