Road Trip Through History: Gettysburg National Military Park

Our recent trip to Gettysburg was a blast, and not just because I love to stand up in front of a crowd and talk about something I’m interested in. If you get a chance to visit Gettysburg National Military Park during the annual Sacred Trust event,* take it. The event is well-organized. Speakers start and…

Read More

Word With a Past: Shoddy

In the early nineteenth century  British textile manufacturers began to recycle woolen rags into a an inexpensive woolen cloth.  The rags were shredded into fibers, mixed with new wood, and then spun and woven into the cloth, which was known as “shoddy”–a term that may have come from an old word meaning divide.*  The process…

Read More

From the Archives: Walking Hallowed Ground

When this post goes live, I’ll be on my way to Gettysburg for the 2016 Sacred Trust program. Instead of trying to write a new post while my brain is full of Gettysburg, I’d like to share this post from June, 2011, on the question of battlefield visits in general and one special battlefield visit…

Read More