History

Covered Wagons Heading West: Life on the Oregon Trail

Amelia Stewart Knight knew the cross-country journey west would be a rough one; it was not for the weak or…

1 year ago

The Origin of the Robin

Publisher's Note: The Origin of the Robin is a Chippewa story.  Jane Johnston Schoolcraft said that all the Chippewa of her…

1 year ago

Mollie Dorsey Sanford: Frontier Wife, Frontier Life

An intrepid, independent soul, Mollie Dorsey was a homesteader in her teens, a gold rusher in her twenties, worked as…

1 year ago

Homesteading in Appalachia

Rugged, self-sufficient, fiercely loyal – despite stereotypes to the contrary, the Appalachian mountaineers were, and are, an admirable people who…

1 year ago

An Empire That Stood Alone: Black American Homesteaders in Wyoming

There were a lot of reasons for Americans to head West after the Civil War, with the Homestead Acts initiated…

1 year ago

A Town Named Audacious and African American Homesteaders

“Learn to do common things uncommonly well; we must always keep in mind that anything that helps fill the dinner…

1 year ago

History of the Outhouse: The Poo Papers, Part 1

Okay, raise your hand if you have ever used a privy. My guess is that many over a certain age…

1 year ago

The First Homesteader: Daniel Freeman

Clearly, it was not the best day in Daniel Freeman's life. He'd been on the trail for over three weeks,…

2 years ago

Turkey Day… or Should It Be “Corn Day”?

I admit, I am very pro-Thanksgiving. What's not to like about Turkey Day? On what other holiday can we get…

2 years ago

Salvage is the Soul of Our Homestead

A girl about the age of twelve, sporting a French beret, stands to the side with her face tilted, looking…

2 years ago