Early American Life

The notion of an American nation likely was born under the branches of an old elm tree in Boston. Although nearly every community boasts its own Liberty Tree, the story of the original, told in our August 2009 issue, may surprise you.

See issue contents.

Lana Manis Selected Among Top Artisans

Each year Early American Life invites the best artisans in America to be judged by leading museum curators and other experts to find the best craftwork made in traditional styles, materials, and methods for the Directory of Traditional American Crafts. We are delighted that our jurors selected Lana Manis as crafting some of America's best handwork in the category "Miscellaneous" for our 2009 Directory

Lana Manis was born, raised, and continues to live in the Upper Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee. Married with three children, she enjoys the ways of country life, tending to chickens and turkeys, planting vegetable and flower gardens, and working to keep traditions of old alive in the hearts of others.

Holiday Directory Now Being Judged

Applications are no longer being accepted for the 2009 Holiday Directory of Early American Crafts. All entries must have been postmarked by June 15, 2009.

If you sent in an application, now is time to relax. Do not contact us until we call, write, or email you after the judging is complete, sometime around the middle of July (depending on how critically each juror examines your work). We will notify you as soon as the jurors' decisions have been finalized. We won't have anything to tell you if you call us before we notify you.

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Website Updates

We've been trying to make our website more usable, useful, and informative, so we've added several refinements over the last few weeks. Two that we'd like to bring to your attention are a more interactive Table of Contents and an improved Readers' Exchange.

Our Table of Contents for the current issue (click "Contents" on the menu bar at left) was originally designed to tell you a bit about the stories in our current issue—we hoped it would make you run out and buy an issue. We have now provided a direct link to our Sources page for each story (if one is available) so you can more easily navigate the website.

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New Old Construction in Williamsburg

Reconstruction of Richard Charlton’s 18th century Coffeehouse is underway in Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area. The Foundation’s Architectural Historians designed the building to appear as close to the original as evidence permits, and the plan incorporates the remaining portions of the Coffeehouse’s original foundations. The building’s site, the location of the Cary Peyton Armistead House until 1995, has been the subject of extensive archaeological research in consultation with the Armistead family.

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Rare 1830 Wall Mural Discovered

A local Hebron, Maine, couple has some advice for all owners of early homes with wallpaper walls—look under the wallpaper to see what is on the plaster. When they bought their home two years ago, they knew it had a long history, being told it was built about 1850. With winter coming on, they decided to remove the inside plaster walls from the outer walls in their front dining room to add insulation.