Davenport House Museum Volunteer Newsletter

December 2016 www.davenporthousemuseum.org 912/236-8097 Become a Facebook fan at “Davenport House Museum”

P. RAMSBOTTOM of the gymnasium have become quite Note: Polly Cooper and Laura Lawton Has removed his QUILL and popular and the wise and the simple, the will sign their book Savannah’s Preserva- WAFER Establishment to the great and the small, resort to these schools tion Story for you during the party. Monday, December 5 from 11 a.m. corner of Bay and Drayton-sts of discipline. The epidemic has broken and 3:30 p.m. – FAM tours from where he has also opened a out in our metropolitan cities and has Music School. disturbed the gravity of their national VisitSavannah Savannah Republican. December 4, 1826. inhabitants. The powerful statesmen and Tuesday, December 6 from 6 to 8 proud lawyer climb ladders and dangle p.m. - JI Special Program The Weather. – Fahrenheit’s thermome- by ropes; the orators and speculators ride (Holiday lights and dancing) ter stood in this city last night at 9 o’clock, wooden hobby horses; and all classes find Thursday, December 8 at 1 to 3 p.m. at 23; this morning at 6 o’clock, it ranged their appropriate level and occupations – DAR group in KP between 14 and 15. A piece of ice, the suited to their respective tastes. The ma- - 5:30 p.m. at The Marshall thickness of four and a half inches, has just nia has extended to the females of our House – Savannah Square by been shown to us; 12 o’clock noon. country and we soon shall hear of young Square presentation by Michael Savannah Republican. December 23, 1826. ladies on their high ropes enacting all of Jordan et al and book signing lofty and extravagant gambols. Nat. Ae- Friday, December 9 all day – KP use GYMNASIA -- The following hit at one of gis. Monday, December 12 at 6:30pm – the passions of the day, is taken from the Savannah Republican. December 14, 1826. Harvest Lecture-Slavery in a Ro- National Aegis, printed at Worcester, mantic Age: Mary Telfair’s Sa- Massachusetts, who appears not to ap- Indemnity for Captured Slaves, &c. vannah by Jeffrey Robert Young, prove this resuscitation of the ancient From an authentic source at Washington PhD., Georgia State University gymnastic exercises. st (says the Baltimore American of the 21 Tuesday, December 13 from 6:30 to Gymnasia—A neat little triangular en- ins.) we learn the Convention recently 8 p.m. – DH JI Holiday Celebra- closure in the neighborhood of the vener- arranged at London by our Minister, Mr. tion able seal of New England’s piety and Gallatin, fixes the total amount of com- Wednesday, December 14 at noon – learning at Cambridge, where formerly pensation to be paid by the British Gov- KP use the successive generations of students ernment for slaves, tobacco, &c carried - 3 p.m. in the DH 2nd floor train- urged their sport in an honest pilgrim- off by the British officers subsequent to ing room – DH/KP Evolution like way, is or lately was, degenerate with the treaty of Ghent, at one million two (Exhibits Committee) quaint looking apparatus of much cord- hundred thousand dollars. The amount - 5 p.m. – Dance Rehearsal age, posts, rails, bars, and blocks and the claimed by our citizens exceeds visitors might perceive the ingenious $1,500,000, viz. by those of Maryland, Thursday, December 15 at 5 p.m. - youth of the future generations flaying $580,000; Virginia, $520,000; Louisiana, Planning session of Holiday Even- thereon all sort of fantastic tricks between $150,000; Georgia, $480,000; Alexan- ing Tours by Candlelight heaven and earth. It seems this is the dria [?], $113,000; Maine, $18,000; Missis- Saturday, December 24 – last tour at method prescribed by German Professors, sippi, $6,000; and Delaware, $7,000. 12:30 p.m. and practiced in German Universities, to Savannah Republican. December 29, 1826. Sunday, December 25 – Museum give muscular strength, activity and agil- ______Closed—Merry Christmas ity, to the frames of Monday, December 26 to Friday, DAVENPORT HOUSE CALENDAR those who approach the December 30 – Holiday Even- December 2016 ostentations and proud ing Tours by Candlelight December 1 through 15 – Staff, Volun- sources of all human teers, Friends received 25% off on DH Saturday, December 31 - last tour at science, knowledge and Shop purchases 12:30 p.m. information. Like all Thursday, December 1 at 10 a.m. – Sunday, January 1, 2017 - Happy New other imported fashions, Create DH Wreaths (need helpers) Year—DH Closed! whether salutary or Saturday, December 3 from 5 to pestiferous the exercises 7pm – DH Annual Holiday Party HOLLY JOLLY TROLLEY TOURS: your partner and/or family to see the vannah symposium and wrote a chap- Every night from Friday, November house in its holiday dress. ter in the publication on a similar top- 25 through Thursday, December If you can bring something to add ic, he offers “Historians tend to ap- 25 the DH will be a part of Old to the table (appetizer, dessert or liquid proach larger questions and revisit Town Trolley’s family holiday refreshment) all the better. Know it is them from slightly different angles in lights and seasonal fun trolley tour. your party in beautiful Savannah! numerous talks and essays and books Tickets may be purchased through over multiple years.” So what you will OTT online or by calling 912-233- hear on December 12 will be fresh 0083. insights from a scholar who spends his Many staff members and volunteers time studying the time period we inter- will make the 28 day series work at pret at the Davenport House. the DH. See the schedule on the FOR DH PEOPLE: If you plan to kitchen door. There are a few attend, call to reserve a place – spots which need filling. 912/236-8097. The program is free Thank you to all who are helping with of charge but we need to know how this program. many chairs to set up. HARVEST LECTURE: SPEAKER YOUNG A reception and an opportunity to GROUP TOURS RESERVATIONS: TO DISCUSS SLAVERY AND THE meet the speaker will follow the pro- Friday, December 2 at 3 p.m. – 24p SLAVEHOLDERS’ MIND! gram. Monday, December 5 at 10:15 a.m. DATE: Monday, December 12 at - Thank you to our friends at the - 12p 6:30 p.m. Kehoe Inn for providing lodging for - 10:30 a.m. – 30p (hospitality SPEAKER: Jeffrey Robert Young, our speaker! and tour) Senior Lecturer, Georgia State - 11 a.m. – FAM /German—11p University SHOP NEWS: - 3:30 to 5 p.m. – FAM American PROGRAM: Slavery in a Romantic - Shop local this holiday season. Tour Guide Association/Holiday Age: Mary Telfair’s Savannah. The Davenport House Museum Gift with Dancing DESCRPTION: The presentation Shop is ready for the holidays and has Wednesday, December 7 at 10 a.m. will explore the elaborate Romantic lovely gifts for every taste. No problem – 40p fantasies used by slaveholders in Sa- with parking and no crowds. Our fra- Monday, December 26 at 3 p.m. – vannah to justify their power, even as grant scented wax bowls are a favorite Road Scholars/Holidays with re- their slaves struggled for freedom. gift for family or friends. You do not need to light these or worry about ception – 30 to 40p SPEAKER’S EXPERTISE: His research Friday, December 30 at 10 a.m. – focuses on American slavery and leaving a flame burning. We have new 38p (White Star) Southern politics and merchandise including canapé plates, At 2:30 p.m. – 31p (White Star) culture. He has writ- Parisian footed plates, Parisian vases, Saturday, December 31 at 10 a.m. – ten Domesticating Slav- teapots, tea, coffee and gifts for wine 37p (White Star) ery: The Master Class in lovers. Ask a staff person for help with ______Georgia and South Caro- creating the “perfect” gift for that spe- cial person on your list. DON’T BE TARDY, IT’S YOUR lina (University of - Don’t forget that volunteers, PARTY! DH ANNUAL HOLI- North Carolina Press, 1999) and Pro- slavery and Sectional Thought in the Early friends and staff get 25% off most DAY CELEBRATION! merchandise in the store from De- Saturday, December 3 from 5 to 7 p.m. South: An Anthology (University of cember 1-15. Come “pass a good time” with your South Carolina Press, 2004). - Book signing: Hugh Osborne at DH friends and family. DH folks – FROM THE DIRECTOR: Young was The Marshall House made it possible volunteers, staff, Friends of the Dav- asked to speak on slavery in Savannah for us to have a book signing of Sa- enport House, colleagues and special during the 1820s and he chose a topic vannah Square by Square with a good people will gather for mutual con- which encompasses his research. presentation by Michael Jordan on gratulations and good cheer. Please bring While he gave a presentation for the Telfair’s Slavery and Freedom in Sa- Thursday, December 8 from 5:30 to 7:30. Light refreshments will be taining all the interpretive materials served. This is an outstanding coffee put together over the years on topics table book that can be autographed such as punch, dancing, music, sylla- and personalized by the authors. Take bub and jellies, home fires, festive ap- a stroll down Broughton Street to The parel and the Scottish traditions famil- Marshall House! Buy a book and sup- iar in the early 19th century. You are port the DH. welcome to copies of these to further enliven your tour during the month. This year’s special focus is bread. JUNIOR INTERPRETERS: See new material inside this newsletter! -It is always a thrill to welcome young people into our world of community HOLIDAY EVENING TOURS BY service. The 2016 Savannah Arts CANDLELIGHT: Academy JIs (13 of them) completed Throughout early December the DH eight weeks of training and presented will plan the presentation of Holiday tours to the public on November 25 Evening Tours at the end of the and 26. Thank you to SAA Ameri- month. Our open house style family can History teacher Michael Jordan - At the party: During the DH’ Annu- event has grown over the years and who came both days to see his stu- al Holiday Party, Polly Cooper and has become a popular offering for dents give tours. Thank you to Magee Laura Lawton will sign a copy of Sa- visitors to Savannah the week between Roe for monitoring the program on vannah’s Preservation Story for you. Christmas and New Year’s, 12/26 to November 26. 12/30. Last year the DH saw around DOCENT NEWS 100 guests each night of the five day - Up and Running: Karen Eskew program. As always it takes an army to and Sharla Kicenski completed their put on a successful DH event. We evaluation tours in November! Hur- need docents, one per room, in period ray!! costume or festive dress for the four - No, no, no - One or two handles: first floor rooms and two for the bed- We received a terrific review on room level. We need singers and mu- TripAdvisor, but it contained a weird sicians to perform a traditional holiday statement. It reads in part, “For me, it tune – Auld Lang Seine and another was all about learning . . . for instance, such as Bring a Torch to Jeanette chamber pots only have one handle so Isabella or Silent Night or We Wish as not be confused with soup tureen You a Merry Christmas! – for visi- - SAA JIs: This group will meet on [sic].” Don’t know tors to join in on. We would also love Tuesday, December 6th for a special where that came carolers or those who will provide program. from! While many music in the Kennedy Pharmacy be- - For ALL JIs!: The DH JI Holiday chamber pots have fore and after guests’ house museum Party will be on Wednesday, Decem- one handle, many experience. At the end of the evening, ber 13 from 6:30 to 8pm in the DH. others have two. patrons will view an exhibition of early Hoping all will attend and celebrate 19th dance from the Davenport the season. Pizza, cupcakes, presents END OF YEAR INTERPRETATION: House Dancers. Those wishing to and friendship. The house is in New Year’s mode for participate in any part of the program the month of December. Interpretive should let Jamie or Rebecca know. WORTH MENTIONING: material is available for review. Please There will be a planning session on - Harvest Lecture #1: In the eve of the ask Rebecca for your copy of the basic Thursday, December 15th at 5 p.m. if national election, November 8th, LeeAnn information. If you prefer, the materi- you are curious and/or would like to Caldwell of Augusta University presented a als can be emailed to you. There is participate. Help us share the DH program entitled True Womanhood: also a notebook in the kitchen con- with those looking for a family event! Women in the Early 19th Century South which she customize to include Sarah Dav- - Welcoming our College Folk Home for enport House saw visitors from 38 states enport and her life. It was a capacity crowd the Holidays: Our college students will and 8 nations. Our international guests traveled from Australia, Austria, Canada, in the Kennedy Pharmacy. Thank you to the return for Christmas break and work in the England, France, Germany, Ireland and Kehoe House for providing lodging for DH for regularly scheduled tours, Holly Jolly Scotland. Interesting hometown names Caldwell. She felt well treated. Tours and Holiday Evening Tours by Can- include Higganum, CT; Palatine, IL; Ypsi- lanti, MI; Pearl, MS; Kalispell, MT: Landaff, - Filming at the DH: The television series dlelight. The DH is lucky! NH; Voorheesville, NY; Plandome, NY; Underground (WGN) filmed in Columbia - Davenport Soirée: Please know that a Mocksville, NC; Molacca, OR; Dalzell, SC; Square in late group of hardworking volunteers are reimag- Steilacoom, WA. How They Heard About Us (in de- November ining our annual fundraiser. Instead of an scending order of number of times which necessi- oyster roast, this year we will have the Dav- listed): Internet (Group On, Google, Trip tated the DH enport Soirée at the renown Savannah eat- Advisor); tour guides (Ghost Tour); Trolley th being closed ery Elizabeth on 37 with cabaret singer Tours (Old Town Trolley); Friends; Bro- for three days. Kim Polote performing and an art auction, chures; Concierges (Kehoe House, 17 The series which includes a one-of-a-kind work of Hundred 90 Inn, Hotel Indigo, Marriott follows a sculpture. We need your help selling tickets Riverfront, Planters Inn); Guide Books group of (and to attend) which are $95 each and may (Fodor’s, Lonely Planet, AAA); Visitors slaves who be purchased on the website Center; Walking By; Relatives; Magazines; plan a daring (davenporthousemuseum.org), by check Maps; Books; Posters; Architectural Tour; Local; Repeat Visit. escape from a (mailed to the DH or brought by) or cash What They Had To Say About Us Georgia plantation to cross 600 miles to free- (brought by the shop). We must sell 175 to "Good tour of a nicely restored home." dom. We will keep you posted on when the meet our goal. "Just wonderful." "Our guide Marty was episode featuring the DH’s exterior and Co- The committee is great!" "Loved it. Beautiful!" "Gorgeous." lumbia Square airs. also securing "Beautiful house. Very informative tour." - Good people doing good work: John sponsors, which "Very good. Great guide!" "Great tour Sorel power washed the graffiti off the Ken- is wonderfully guide, Roseann." "John is great!" "Good nedy Pharmacy in November. Bill Gillespie welcomed. So job. Well done." "Thankful for the preser- painted and plastered areas in the Kennedy please know that vation." "Fabulous docent!" "Great story!" Apartment repairing storm damage, etc. the DH needs "Beautifully restored!" "Happy you saved it." "Wow!" "Great tour. John was very - Dinner in the attic: Jan Vach and Linda volunteer support knowledgeable." "What a wonderful and Meyer led the creative team that put on a to sell tickets and informative tour. Thank you so much!" fundraising dinner in the house on Novem- attend!!!! "Fabulous, informative tour!" "Mary ber 17. The affair was a redemption from a - Friends Letter: Thank you to Archie rocks!" "Thank you to the ladies of Savan- 2015 Oyster Roast auction high bid. Chef Davis, Cornelia Groves, John Leonti, nah for preservation." "Lovely home. Sa- Catie Campbell of Catie’s Creations out of Bonnie Buckner, Dottie Kraft, Nancy vannah is wonderful." "It was awesome!" Tybee Island made the food that fit nicely White, Gayle Mongrandi and Rebecca "Fantastic tour." "Highlight of our stay in with the elegant ambiance of the attic garret Bustinduy for getting our annual appeal Savannah!" "Great tour & guide - incredi- room and finely appointed table. Linda letters out in early November. ble house - would recommend 100%.” Garner, Tricia Rossig, Beth Wichers, - Making Ready: Thank you to Jan and "Beautiful venue." Greg Vach, Anna Smith, Magee Roe and Greg Vach, Gaye Kurmas, Jeff Freeman, What They Had to Say About Our New Josh Flores all helped in the evening’s execu- Raleigh Marcell and Rebecca Bustinduy JIs: "Enjoyed the visit, especially the tion. A similar event will be auctioned off at for putting the house into holiday dress and guides - Olivia & Allen [Adam]." "Becca the DH’s February 16 event called Daven- creating the festive window display in the was a great tour guide. Sweet!" "Maddie & port Soirée Kennedy Pharmacy. Please know that the Adam were excellent!" "Olivia answered all of our questions." "Our student tour - College Guides: A number of our former punch bowl, two serving platters and two guides were wonderful. They were the best JIs are now ambassadors and admissions serving dishes were borrowed from Chris- guides of all the museums that we visited. tour guides for their colleges. They learned tian Carr who generously offered to share Good job!" "Shainah & Sara were great. the ropes at the DH! These include Liana her heirlooms with the DH this holiday sea- Knowledgeable in their tour & confident Mosley and Sage Hooten at the University son. girls!" "Both Olivia's were wonderful." of Georgia, Catie Morris at San Diego State ———————- "Alexis & Becca were absolutely fantas- University and Kate Bosen at Georgia Tech. A look at the DH Guest Register: Dur- tic!!!" "I learned a lot. It was awesome." ing the month of November 2016 the Dav- "Rania did an excellent job." In “Want of Good Bread”: Interpretation of Bread at the DH

What’s your bread story? Georgia’s early bread history is fasci- Banks spotlights Georgia in her arti- nating (believe it or not) and remem- cle; All Bread is Not Equal, saying Everyone has a bread story. I have bering the labor involved with making that the English colonies adopted two. When I was a child the refrain the dietary staple is illustrative of “our English standards. “They looked heard around the dinner table was, time period.” back to their homelands for ideas of “Momma burned the biscuits,” as it what kinds of laws were necessary to happened more than once. At the The famous Peter Gor- establish a peaceful, orderly society. time Mother, a working woman don “View of Savan- In some colonies, such as Georgia, (school teacher) with two children nah as it stood the they adopted the medieval tradition of th and a husband to please, silently took 29 of March 1734” assize laws, since bread was still a sig- the chant with a grin of exhaustion. features “The public nificant part of the daily diet.” The other story was from my great Mill” and “The public grandmother, Nanny, who was an Oven” as key compo- The Georgia Assize reads: immigrant from Romania. She came nents of our planned #5—Public Mill to America in the early 20th century city at its beginnings. no person or persons whatsoever #7-Public Bake Oven and settled in Norfolk, VA. I am not shall make for sale, or sell, or expose sure of her formal education, but I One of the intriguing things one sees to sale, within this province, any sort in the Savannah newspapers of the believe it was minimal. However, she or sorts of soft bread made of wheat, time is the “Assize of Bread.” For a other than the several sorts herein was a skilled baker and could make while I wondered who Assiz was but after-mentioned, viz. White, wheat- bread without using measuring cups found that the Assize of Bread men- and spoons. Everything was by feel tioned time and time again was bread en, and household bread; all which and experience. When her children price fixing dating from the earliest several sorts of soft bread shall be (my grandmother and her siblings) days of the colony with the precedent made in their several and respective reached school age, they wanted noth- going back to the Medieval England. degrees, according to the goodness As Jessica Banks, Penn State Univer- ing to do with the homemade bread and fineness of the several sorts of sity Center for Medieval Studies, says which was a source of an embarrass- flour of which the same ought to be ment at school lunch time. As my Governing authorities in medie- made and when fine wheat flour is grandmother remembered sadly, they val Europe considered only two ordinarily sold for money in Savan- wanted new-fangled sliced loaf bread staples of daily life important nah, at any of the rates herein after- enough to regulate: bread and in a bag from the store. mentioned, the assize and weight of beer. This was done through the said white, wheaten, and house- assize or assise laws . . . . These So, I say “What’s your bread story?” hold bread, respectively, are and laws [for bread] dictated the shall be set and ascertained accord- —————————— grades of flour purity, based on bran content and mixture of ing to the following tables in avoir- dupois weight, and so proportionally Bread is so common, relatively inex- grains; weight of baked loaves, by measurements of silver cur- when fine flour shall be ordinarily pensive and readily accessible that rency (pound, shilling, pence, sold in Savannah for more or less most Americans have lost the full half- and quarter-penny loaves); money than is specified in the said meaning of adages “bread is the staff and adulteration of the bread tables, wherein the white loaves of life” and “give us this day our daily with inedible substances, such as shall always be one half, and the bread.” While hunger remains a soci- sawdust or hemp. The prices etal ill, most of us are insulated from were set by the state on behalf of wheaten three quarters, of the the pangs that British social reformer the consumer, to prevent power- ful bakers' and brewers' guilds from the DH’s time period evoked from using their monopolies to when he said, "Without bread all is mis- gouge the hungry public. Those ery." This is why we are taking a few who violated the assize laws minutes to re-understand bread at the were subject to the king's justice, Davenport House and in Savannah in usually in the form of a fine. the 1820s. weight of household loaves. to ascertain the correct assize of sevenpenny loaves must weigh so An Act for regulating the assize of Bread exposed for sale in the city of much, and their seven copper loaves bread. Savannah, Georgia, Dec. 12, Savannah, viz. must also weigh so many ounces. 1758 (Early American Imprints, 1st Sec. 3. Be it further ordained, by the In consequence of this, the City Mar- Series, no. 41356.) authority aforesaid, That it shall be shall makes an occasional dash the duty of the City Marshall, and among the bakers, and if a poor devil While this statute is from 1758, a law the City Constables, to inspect the is caught with bread, . . . weight the of this sort was part of daily life dur- bread so exposed for sale at least Treasurer directs, it is seized, given ing the 1820s. Regularly ads read: once in each and every week, ac- away, and his customers disappoint- cording to the ordinances in that ed, who had rather have a half loaf case made and provided. Assize of Bread. than no bread. Sec. 4. And be it further ordained by the The average price of Flour being 7 dol- This is downright usurpation - per- authority aforesaid, That so much at lars per barrel, the weight of Bread for fect tyranny, and what no man, nor the ordinances passed as is repug- any body of men in this country have the present month, must be the follow- nant to or militates with this ordi- a right to do. ing, viz: nates be and the same is hereby 12 ½ Cents Loaf 2 lb 7 1.2 oz, repealed. Any man or any baker, has an un- 6 ½ Cents Loaf 1 lb 4 oz. Passed in Council, 27th Nov. 1823 questionable right, to give, if he Of which all Bakers and Sellers of J. MORRISON, Mayor pleases, ten pounds of bread for 12 ½ Bread will take due notice. Attest – M. MYERS, c.c. cents, be the price of flour what it JOHN J. ROBERTS. By the above ordinance, the twelve and may, without consulting the City Savannah Republican. 2/13, 1822. a half cents loaf must weigh three ounc- Council; and so, by a reverse of the es more than the old one. Republican. proposition, he also has a right to The 1823 ordinance reads: Georgian. November 29, 1823. give but ten ounces for the same sum, if he does not think proper to give An Ordinance: more, and can get people to buy at Entitled an ordinance to fix the profit at By our time period some questioned that rate – and it is none of the busi- the Baker, and the manner to assize the this price and quality control: ness of City Authority. Bread exposed for sale to city of Savan- To Editors of the Georgian. nah. The original passing of this ordi- Sec.1. Be it ordained by the Mayor and I have noticed with much pleasure nance paid not compliment to the Alderman of the City of Savannah the efforts made by our present City common sense of the citizens. It in Council assembled and it at Council, for the improvement of the seems to say, that the people will be hereby ordained by the authority of city, and for the encouragement of apt to get cheated if they are left to the same, that from and after the trade. I hope they will proceed in make their own bargains with the passage of this ordinance, the profit the work, until they leave us nothing bakers, and hence the alderman of the Baker on each barrel of Flour to complain of. very kindly interfered to prevent it. in him manufactured, shall be fixed There is one thing, however, which There was no occasion for such inter- at four dollars and fifty center. never ought to have been a subject ference, and it must have originated Sec. 2. Be it of municipal regulation, and which it in a more fondness of law-making. If further is time to expunge from our list of this thing, like most others, was left ordained ordinances—I moan the assize of to itself, it would be better regulated by the bread. by the purchaser and sellers, than any City Ordinance could possibly authority Every now and then, come Mr. Treas- cause it to be. aforesaid, urer, to make a fact which every- that the body knows, that the average price I see no special privilege that alder- following of flour is so many dollars per barrel, man have, to select any particular manner and accordingly he very gravely branch of business to meddle with, shall be commands all bakers and sellers of and to restrict by their laws. If they adopted bread, to take due notice, that their have not, it is ridiculously absurd to arrogate to themselves the power of Since we do not have an Assize of Corn, Flour, Whiskey & Ham fixing a price to the labor of any man. Bread today I assume statute is no 2400 Bushels White Maryland Corn They might as well direct their longer on the books! 50 Barrels Supf. Howard St. Flour Treasurer to give notice to every 150 do Whiskey mechanic that the price of raw ma- ————— 200 Hams in bags terials he worked, was so much, and Landing from schooner Thomas Hall therefore, for so many dollars, he A variety of breads was available for from Baltimore, for sale by Hall & Hoyt must produce his first-rate work- sale in Savannah as was a variety of Georgian. April 23, 1825. manship – and for so many dollars he flours to make them. must produce his second-rate work- Fresh Corn Meal manship; to the butcher, that the Rye Bread, Twisted Bread, 25 Barrels Corn Meal prepared for fam- price of a fat ox this month, is fifteen Hot Breakfast Rolls, &c. ily use. dollars—therefore, for eight cents a The subscriber informs his friends and Douglass and Sorrell. pound, he must sell the rump or loin, customers, that on Wednesday morning Georgian. January 20, 1824. and for six cents a pound, he must sell the above articles will be issued in addi- the thin flank, &c. tion to his usual supply of Bread, &c. If you are wondering what pilot bread, For Sale navy bread and crackers were. They The ordinance is useless—the prin- Best family Flour and were all about the same thing, hard ciple is bad—it ought to be done Fresh Hops, by retail tack. “Hardtack (or hard tack) is a away. Have the whole business open P. BRASCH. simple type of biscuit or cracker, for fair competition, and then, he Republican. December 6, 1820. made from flour, water, and some- that gives the best and most bread times salt. Inexpensive and long- for the same sum, will get the most Rice Bread. lasting, it was custom, and the public be benefitted. This Day morning at the Establishment, and is used for The Corporation of New York, lately Broughton Street, to weigh three ounces sustenance in discovered that their assize of bread more than the assize. The subscriber is the absence of was merely a nominal regulation, now prepared to supply Grocers—they perishable that unless rigorously and daily en- may depend upon being supplied punc- foods, common- forced, it lulled the citizens into se- tually. ly during long curity, whilst advantage was taken N.B. One or two apprentices to the busi- sea voyages, of the community in exact propor- ness would be taken. land migrations, tion to the consciences of those who Georgian. November 16, 1822. and military campaigns.” (Wikipedia) administer this great necessary of life. Pilot Bread, &c. Unless graced with strong teeth The competition among the New 50 BBLS first quality Pilot Bread and powerful jaws, sailors could Georgian. November 16, 1822. York Bakers is such, that they now not bite into the bread, but they

advertise bread made of the best had several ways to overcome its Just Received via Charleston, superfine flour, in loaves weighing obdurate hardness. Wrapping a 100 kegs fresh Crackers seventy-six ounces, for 12 ½ cents. biscuit in a cloth and smashing it 25 do Butter Biscuit with something hard (such as a The last assize in this city, allowed Georgian. May11,1821. knife handle) would succeed in but forty-nine ounces to the 12 ½ breaking it into bite-sized bits. If cents loaf. Flour. one were truly desperate, one This is a subject of importance 400 BARRELS Falmouth Superfine could suck on these pieces, allow- enough to claim the attention of our Flour, Thistle brand, fresh ground, ing the natural moisture of the City Authorities received per sloop Lucy Healy. saliva to break down the bis- 130 Barrels Haxhall’s Richmond Super- RUOGF. cuit. Alternately, the biscuit might fine Flour be soaked in whatever liquid was Georgian. April 18, 1825. For sale by April at hand. (USS Constitution) PONCE & MACKENZIE Georgian. April 23, 1825

Some early physicians associated of need. Following the fire of January Fire! – Last night between twelve and most medical problems with diges- 11, 1820, this ad appeared. one o’clock, the citizens were aroused tion. Hence, for sustenance and from their beds, by the alarm of fire. The health, eating a biscuit daily was To the Poor and particularly those dis- fire originated in the partition between considered good for one's consti- tressed by the late fire. the two cellars of the house on the Bay, tution. The bakers of the time Several gentlemen of this city having east of Drayton Street, occupied as a made biscuits as hard as possible, voluntarily and kindly contributed flour barber’s shop, and one next door, in as the biscuits would soften and to be made into bread for the distressed which from two to three hundred barrels become more palatable with time sufferers, the subscriber informs them, of sea biscuit was stored . . . due to exposure to humidity and that they will be supplied as heretofore, Georgian. January 11, 1825. other weather elements.[4] Because for thirty days from this date by making it is so hard and dry, hardtack the usual application. (when properly stored and trans- P. Brasch. ported) will survive rough handling Republican. February 4, 1820. and temperature extremes. The more refined captain's biscuit was In the depths of the yellow fever epi- made with finer flour. (Wik) demic in the fall of 1820, this ad ap- peared. Savannah’s businesses were called BREAD upon to provide provisions, which It is difficult to interpret bread making The poor and distressed, who have not included bread or flour, for US troops at the DH because there is not a lot to the means of buying bread, will be fur- stationed in the Harbor Proposals. see. The prep space for all of the nished GRATIS, until the first of No- cooking is now office space and the vember, by applying at Mr. Brasch’s The undersigned will receive stated presumed brick oven is behind the Bake House, Broughton st. Proposals for the Subsistence of the false walls in the same area. But Republican. October 24, 1820. United States Troops in this Harbor. thanks to Owens Thomas House’s

The ration to consist of eighteen lower level being open for tours, we As one would expect, baking estab- ounces of Bread or Flour, one and a can see what an elite kitchen of the lishments saw their share of fires in fourth pound of Beef, or three fourths era appeared. We have photos of the the city. of a pound of Pork, one gill of Whis- basement apartment at 311 E. York

key, and at the rate of two quarts of Street, which we think Isaiah Daven- Fire! - The citizens of Savannah Salt, four pounds of Soap, one and a port supervised building. The hearth were this morning aroused from their half pound of Candles, four quarts of and oven are still extant. Vinegar, twelve quarts of Peas or beds by the appalling cry of fire! It Beans to the hundred rations. Fresh proved to be in the bake house in the For ideas about what early 19th centu- Beef to be issued two days in the rear of the U.S. Bank in Drayton St. ry cooks prepared, we look to period week, and Bread to the barrel ? in- We know nothing of the injury first cookbooks, all of which are accessible stead of Flour, when required. The hand, but understand that when the free of charge on the internet, Amelia Contractor to issue on the requisition Engines arrived, the occupant Simmon’s “American Cookery”(1796 of the Commanding Officer, and locked up his house. This is the third called “The First American Cook- payment to be made monthly as re- or fourth time the citizens have been book) and The American Frugal quired. aroused from their beds by this bake Housewife by Mrs. Child (1833). For Th. I. Baird. house. Let the proper authorities Tidewater (VA) and Lowcountry (SC/ Asst. Commissary, &c. Commanding look to it. GA) cookery look to Mary Ran- Fort Wayne, 24th March, 1820. Republican. November 11, 1826. dolph’s The Virginia House-wife Georgian. April 11, 1820. (1824) and The Carolina Housewife by Sarah Rutledge (1847). At least one Savannah baker showed Another fire of the time period in- altruism to his fellow citizens in times volved the storage of bread: Mrs. Child provides a discussion on flour bread. Pies bear about as much pour in your rye: add two gills of the difficulty with making bread. [It heat as flour bread; pumpkin pies lively yeast, and mix it with water as was hard!] will bear more. If you are afraid your stiff as you can knead it. Let it stand oven is too hot, throw in a little flour, an hour and a half, in a cool place in Not an easy thing – making bread: It and shut it up for a minute. If it the summer, on the hearth in winter. is more difficult to give rules for scorches black immediately, the It should be put into a very hot oven, making bread than anything else; it heat is too furious; if it merely and baked three or four hours. It is depends so much on judgement and browns, it is right. Some people wet all the better for remaining in the experience. In summer, bread an old broom two or three times, and oven over night. should be mixed with cold water; turn it round near the top of the oven during a chilly, damp spell, the wa- till it dries; this prevents pies and Flour Bread should have a sponge ter should be slightly warm; in se- cakes from scorching on the top. set the night before. The sponge vere cold weather, it should be When you go into a new house, heat should be soft enough to pour; mixed mixed quite warm, and set in a warm your oven two or three times, to get it with water, warm or cold, according place during the night. If your yeast seasoned, before you use it. After the to the temperature of the weather. is new and lively, a small quality will wood is burned, rake the coals over One gill of lively yeast is enough to make the bread rise; if it be old and the bottom of the oven, and let them put into sponge for two loaves. I heavy, it will take more. In these lie a few minutes. should judge about three pints of things I believe wisdom must be sponge would be right for two loaves. gained by a few mistakes. The warmth of the place in which the sponge is set, should be deter- About the bake oven she writes: mined by the coldness of the weath- Heating ovens must be regulated by er. If your sponge looks frothy in the experience and observation There is morning, it is a sign your bread will a difference in wood in giving out be good; if it does not rise, stir in a heat; there is great difference in the little more emptings; if rises too construction of ovens; and when an much, taste to it, to see if it has an oven is extremely cold, either on acid taste; if so, put in a tea-spoonful account of the weather, or want of of pearlash when you mould in your use, it must be heated more. Eco- flour; be sure the pearlash is well nomical people heat ovens with pine dissolved in water; if there are little About the flour and types of bread wood, fagots, bush, and light stuff. If lumps, your bread will be full of bit- made in a household: you have none but hard wood, you ter spots. About an hour before your oven is ready, stir in flour into your must remember that it makes very Six quarts of meal will make two sponge till it is stiff enough to lay on hot coals, and therefore less of it will good sized loaves of Brown Bread. a well floured board or table. Knead answer. A smart fire for an hour and Some like to have it half Indian meal it up pretty stiff, and put it into well- a half is a general rule of common and half rye meal; others prefer it greased pans, and let it stand in a sized one third Indian, and two thirds rye. cool or warm place, according to the family Many mix their brown bread over weather. If the oven is ready, put ovens, night; but there is no need of it; and it them in fifteen or twenty minutes provid- is more likely to sour, before you after the dough begins to rise up and ed bake it, you must not put in more crack; if the oven is not ready, move brown than half the yeast I am about to the pans to a cooler spot, to prevent bread mention, unless the weather is in- the dough from becoming sour by and tensely cold. The meal should be too much rising. Common sized beans sifted separately. Put the Indian in loaves will bake in three quarters of are to be your bread-pan, sprinkle a little salt an hour. If they slip easily in the baked. among it, and you are scaling it. Be pans, it is a sign they are done. Some An hour sure and have hot water enough; is long enough to heat and oven for people do not set a soft sponge for flour bread; they knead it up all cupful of good lively yeast, and set it Weenee Rice Bread ready to put in the pans the night in a cool place in summer, and warm Ashley Rice Bread before, and leave it to rise. White place in winter. If it is too warm Beaufort Rice Bread bread and pies should not be set in when you put in the old yeast, all the Loaf Rice Bread the oven until the brown bread and spirit will be killed. Rice Oven-Bread beans have been in half an hour. If the oven be too hot, it will bind the In summer, yeast sours easily; there- Rice Spider-Bread crust so suddenly that the bread for make but little at a time. Bottle it Rice Breakfast-Bread cannot rise; if it be too cold, the when it gets well a working; it keeps Rice Cookees bread will fall. Flour should not be better when the air is corked out. If Rice Drops you find it acid, but still spirited, put too stiff. Rice Slap-Jacks a little pearlash to it, as you use it; Rice Crumpets To make Rice Bread. -- Boil a pint but by no means put it into your Rice Griddles of rice soft; add a pint of leaven; then, bread unless it foams up bright and Philpy three quarts of flour; put it to rise in a lively as soon as the pearlash mixes tin or earthen vessel until it has risen with it. Never keep yeast in tin; it Rice Journey, or Journey Cake sufficiently; divide it into three parts; destroys its life. Rice Muffins then bake it as other bread, and you Rice Egg-Cake will have three large loaves. Rice Waffles Rice Waffles, No. 2 Rice and Wheat Flour Waffles [[YEAST - “Commercial yeast was not available until 1868, and recipes for Rice Wafers yeast occupy a large part of the bread- Rice Wafers No. 2 making sections in early cookbooks. Alabama Rice Cakes Cooks kept a starter on hand, made Soft Rice Cakes with a combination of ingredients, Rice Cakes. No. 1 including hops, potatoes, sugar, flour, Rice Cakes No. 2 and water. Combine with more flour It’s Sarah Rutledge’s cookbook, The Rice Cakes. No. 3 to make a `sponge,’ the dough was set Carolina Housewife, which provides to rise hours ahead of when it was to insights into what Savannah house- Rice Cakes. No. 4 be eaten.” (Humble)]] wives would have served and Savan- Rice Biscuits nah cooks would have made, as it is Espetagna Corn Bread ABOUT YEAST MRS CHILD SAYS: all about Lowcountry foods. There Camp corn Bread Yeast: Those who make their own are 95 different recipes in the bread Owendaw Corn Bread bread should make yeast too. When section including 29 which contain Chicora Corn Bread rice, 33 which contain corn flour, bread is nearly out, always think Alexander’s Corn Bread cornmeal or hominy, 25 contain whether yeast is in readiness; for it Accabee Corn Bread takes a day and night to prepare it. wheat flour, 1 with buckwheat flour Saluda Corn Bread One handful of hops, with two or and three with rye flour. The variety Bachelor’s Cake three handful of hops, with two or of breads, biscuits, hoe cakes, muffins, etc. is breath taking. three handfuls of malt and rye bran, Bachelor’s Pone Grits Bread should be boiled fifteen or twenty The following is the list from bread minutes, in two quarts of water, then section: Corn Egg Bread strained, hung on to boil again, and Corn Journey or Johnny Cake An Easy and Excellent Mode of Mak- thickened with half a pint of rye and Fried Bread ing Domestic Yeast water stirred up quite thick, and a Virginia Egg Brad little molasses; boil it a minute or For Yeast Corn Biscuits two, and then take it off to cool. To Make Yeast Biscuits North Carolina Dabs When just about, lukewarm, put in a Carolina Rice and Wheat Bread Corn Flour Puffs Zephyrinas. TERMS, PHRASES AND CONCEPTS Corn Ring-Cakes ————————————- TO MAKE SENSE OF BREAD! Corn Griddle-Cakes While the household mistress con- DAILY ROUTINE – MISTRESS AND Indian Cakes trolled the ingredients, the urban en- SLAVE - “Early each day, the mistress Port Royal Corn-Cakes slaved cook would have made all of discussed the menu with the cook and Corn Muffins the breads listing. Joe Gray Taylor in distributed the food to be prepared Corn Dodgers Eating, Drinking and Visiting in the for her family and sometimes for the South, discussion plantation slave Breakfast Meal Cakes slaves. It was the housewife’s duty to bread, writing, know `to a fraction how much of the Corn Wafers raw products went to the composition Corn Crisp The slave’s bread was corn bread. If separate rations were issued to of each dish she ordered. So much Hoe Cake each family, the allowance was flour was required for a loaf of rolls, Hommony Bread usually a peck of cornmeal per and so much for a dozen beaten bis- Hommony Breakfast Cake week for each adult, something cuits; a state quantity of butter was for Hommony Fritters less for the children. In the eight- cake and pudding.’” (Carlyle) Corn Spoon Bread eenth and early nineteenth centu- COOK AND MISTRESS - “African ries, the corn was often issued in Friars American slaves, usually women, part- the ear and thus had to be shelled Batter Bread nered with their mistresses in the and ground or pounded into meal, Breakfast Rolls kitchen. With few exceptions, they but this burden on already hard- Breakfast Rolls. No2 carried out the actual meal prepara- worked slaves became much less tions . . . . The cook’s job was a back- French Rolls common with the passage of time. breaking effort. Up before dawn to Nuns Puffs Whether the bread was made in establish the fire which had been Muffins the family’s cabin or in a commu- banked the previous night, she faced nal plantation kitchen, almost al- Egg Muffins hours of preparations before the ways the meal was mixed with wa- Virginia Cakes midafternoon dinner could be ter and baked in the fireplace ashes Wheat Flannel Cakes served.” (Crump) with no shortening. The batter Wheat Flannel Cakes. No. 2 was often cooked on the blade of a PEARL ASH/TECHNOLOGY – “A Velvet Cakes hoe, hence the term hoecake. first step toward modernization ap- Wheat Wafers Flour was seldom issued to blacks. peared in print in 1796 when a chemi- Rey Wafers On the Tidewater rice plantations cal leavening agent called pearl ash Rye Cakes rice cake often replaced corn was listed as an ingredient in Amelia Rye Bread bread, and in some areas sweet Simmon’s book, American Cookery. potatoes were substituted for corn Buckwheat Cakes Pearl ash was the popular name given bread at least part to the time. to potassium carbonate, an alkaline Potatoe Loaf Bread P. 83-84 obtained through the leaching of To Make a Nice Bread wood ash. Combined with sour milk Arrow Root Griddle Cakes or vinegar, it was a quick method for Potato Wafers making dough or cake rise.” (Crump) Biscuits SALERATURS: “This [Pearl Ash] was Biscuits No. 2 followed by saleratus, a form of bak- Cream Biscuits ing soda developed and used in the Very light Biscuits early nineteenth century. An acid Souffle Biscuits such as buttermilk was added to acti- Potato Biscuits vate saleratus; by the mid-nineteenth York Biscuits century, the acid being used was To Make Crust, or Little Cakes cream of tartar. In 1836, baking pow- Bops der was introduced, a combination of REGULARITY OF BAKING: [In New bread, and as I like to encourage the the two.” (Crump) England] One baking day each week deserving, I would recommend the seems to have been the norm in most writer and the public to send to the OVENS/IRON DUTCH OVEN/ families, although in poor households corner of Broughton and Jefferson BREAD BAKING/TEMP - “The bak- or newly settled areas, not everyone Street, where the bread of the best ing was done in iron Dutch ovens or had an oven.” brick ovens usually built into the huge quality may be obtained. kitchen fireplace. A thorough HOMINY is a food which consists of A lover of good Bread. knowledge of the process was vital. A dried maize kernels that have been Georgian. June 17, 1825. fire was started in the brick ovens treated with an alkali in a process about two hours prior to putting in called nixtamalization. To make homi- the loaves. The instructions in cook- ny, field corn (maize) grain is dried, books for baking bread were specific then treated by soaking and cooking on every detail, from the size and type the mature (hard) grain in a dilute so- of wood needed to the proper oven lution of lye, slaked lime (calcium hy- temperature necessary to bake. “If droxide) or wood ash, a process you can hold your hand within the termed nixtamalization. The soaked mouth of the oven as long as you can maize is washed, and then ground into distinctly count twenty,” wrote Miss masa. When fresh masa is dried and Leslie, “the heat is about powdered, it becomes masa seca or BIBLIOGRAPHY: right.” (Crump) masa harina. (Wikipedia) Primary Sources Savannah newspapers. 1819-1827. BRICK OVEN: The regular use of a BISCUITS: Biscuits of two centuries Amelia Simmons. American Cookery. brick oven could damage the bricks or ago were nothing like today’s beloved 1796. mortar, and it was important to have fluffy and flaky quick bread. An Mrs. Child. The American Frugal repairs made promptly to avoid dan- eighteenth-century biscuit was a hard Housewife. 1833. ger of fire spreading from cracks in cracker, a mildly sweet yeast biscuit, Mary Randolph. The Virginia the oven to the frame of the house or or the little sponge cake made light House~wife 1845 the back side of the sheathed with egg (Naples biscuit). The basic Sarah Rutledge. The Carolina House- walls.” (Nylander) biscuit or cracker was simply flour wife. 1824. made up with a little butter and either KNEADING - “Kneading was – and is milk or water. The dough was beaten – a major part of the process, and its Secondary Sources with a rolling pin or other instrument importance was emphasized. A Mrs. Nancy Carter Crump. Hearthside to add a bit of lightness. (Moss) Smith, for instance, stressed that ‘the Cooking: Early American South- best bread –makers whom I know ern Cuisine. 2012. WHEN WAS BREAD SERVED: Breads Damon Lee Fowler. Dining in Mon- knead for at least an hour, and with all – muffins, waffles, corn cakes, etc. – ticello. 2005. their might.’ Eliza Leslie noted that were primarily breakfast foods. Bills The Magnolia Mound Plantation “the goodness of the bread depends of fare for the large main meals of the Kitchen Book. Being a Compen- much on the kneading.’” [The com- time period did often indicate bread dium of Foodways and Customs mercial yeast now available has short- ened the process considerably.] being served. For the lighter evening of Early Louisiana 1795-1841. (Crump) meal, bread was once again a main- 1986. stay. Kay K. Moss. Seeking the Historical Cook: Exploring Eighteenth- GILL: a half cup or 4 oz. Century Southern Foodways. —- 2012. And, just so you know! Joe Gray Taylor. Eating, Drinking and Visiting in the South. 1982 To the Editors of the Georgian Assize of Bread, Hard Tack. Wikipe- A writer in your paper some days dia. since complains of the want of good Jane Nylander. 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