WORTH THE WAIT

Though neither Cheryl nor Jim Donahue grew up living in an old house or collecting antiques, Cheryl always liked the look. As their ten children grew up and moved out, she slowly transformed their ranch into a colonial house.

Dawn C. Adiletta

DATING LADIES' DRESSES

A decades-long study of women’s fashions by the late Cornell University curator Elsie Frost McMurry has been updated and made available to anyone wanting to collect, conserve, or re-create appropriate period garments.

CLASH OF CULTURES

The Chief Vann House, center of the wealthiest plantation in the Cherokee Nation in the early 1800s, embodies the struggles of Native Americans, European settlers, and enslaved Africans to preserve their traditions

Jeanmarie Andrews

A CULINARY HERB SWAG

This quick and easy project brings the bounty of your herb garden indoors, where you can enjoy the fragrance long after the growing season ends and keep fresh herbs handy for cooking.

Don Haynie and Rom Hamlin

EMBRACING COLONIAL LIVING

The Conococheague Institute and Mercersburg Academy partnered to provide an immersive program designed to educate high school students about living on the Pennsylvania frontier in the 1760s and, possibly, to inspire a new wave of historians.

THE MEN AND IDEAS THAT TAMED THE IRON HORSE

The steam engine, which first powered water pumps in British mines, helped spark the industrial revolution. By the early 1800s, innovations by British and American inventors laid the groundwork for developing the railroad.

Winfield Ross

REBUILDING STONE WALLS

Dry-laid stone walls, an iconic element of New England’s rural landscape, are slowly being rebuilt on Rhode Island’s Aquidneck Island thanks a partnership among preservation organizations and volunteers willing to serve as budding stone masons.

Jeanmarie Andrews

SIP A MERRY BREW

We looked to the Founding Fathers—and earlier—to find traditional punch recipes to spice up your holiday season. Try one for your next festive gathering and raise a toast to your ancestors.

WELCOME LITTLE STRANGER

Starting in the 1700s, new mothers often received gifts of small pillows, with lettering and designs rendered in carefully placed steel pins. A Directory artisan shows how to create these treasures—as gifts, household decorations, even holiday tree ornaments

Paula Walton