Living History April 2005

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND

New Beginnings

Between 1933 and 1945, 3,000 German Jews escaped Nazi persecution and took refuge in Baltimore. The exhibition Lives Lost, Lives Found: Baltimore’s German Jewish Refugees, 1933–1945, on display at the Jewish Museum of Maryland through April 2005, tells their stories through oral testimonies, photographs, personal memorabilia and documents. The exhibition balances stories of loss with those of hope. You’ll learn about the refugees’ struggles to assimilate and about their neighbors’ efforts to aid the process. Although these immigrants experienced great losses, their new surroundings afforded them the opportunity to reinvent themselves and to achieve success. Take for instance Gustav Brunn, who established the Baltimore Spice Company, maker of Old Bay Seasoning — today a Maryland staple. You can see the original spice grinder his family brought over from Europe. For more information, call (410) 732-6400 or visit <jewishmuseummd.org>. Admission to the museum costs $8.

PORT TOWNSEND, WASHINGTON

A Victorian Affair

Port Townsend will revisit its roots March 17-20, 2005, during the Eighth Annual Victorian Festival, hosted by the Jefferson County Historical Society. Discover the Pacific seaport’s past through parlor teas, a period fashion show, tours of historic buildings, and living history presentations. Belles and beaux can dress to impress for the Victorian Costume Ball. Junior detectives will enjoy the weekend-long History’s Mysteries game: Try to crack a real 1890s case by collecting clues and talking with costumed “suspects” on Port Townsend’s street. You’ll need tickets for some events. For details, e-mail inform@victorianfestival.org or visit <www.victorianfestival.org>.

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

Start a Revolution

Every student of American history has learned about the Boston Massacre, a catalyst of the Revolutionary War. The March 5, 1770, skirmish began when a crowd of colonists taunted a British soldier. The soldier’s comrades came to his aid, a scuffle broke out, and troops fired into the crowd, killing three Bostonians and mortally wounding two others. Today, that event lives on in infamy thanks to Samuel Adams, a skilled propagandist, who asked his friend Paul Revere to prepare an engraving of the scene (shown above).

March 5-6, 2005, the Bostonian Society will commemorate the Boston Massacre’s 235th anniversary with a re-enactment of the conflict outside the Old State House at 8 p.m. Saturday. Children will re-enact the event at 2 p.m. on Sunday; a mock criminal trial, in which audience members act as jurors, will follow at 2:30 p.m. inside the Old State House. Call (617) 720-1713 or visit <www.bostonhistory.org> for more information.

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

Ancestors on the Job

Whether your forebears were farmers, fish smokers, novelists, nurses, bankers or truck drivers, you’ll find the Brooklyn Historical Society’s exhibit Brooklyn Works enlightening. Examine Brooklyn’s jobs past and present, the influences of various immigrant groups on the local economy, and the challenges faced by laborers from all walks of life. Could you have made ends meet 100 or 200 years ago? Enter re-created work environments to find out how your ancestors made their livings. Admission to the museum costs $6 for adults and $4 for seniors and students ages 12 and up. Children under 12 get in free. For details, call (718) 222-4111 or visit <www.brooklynhistory.org>.

WAXAHACHIE, TEXAS

Faire Play

Now celebrating its 25th season, the Scarborough Faire Renaissance Festival will bring “music, mirth and merriment” to Waxahachie (about 30 miles south of Dallas) Saturdays and Sundays April 9-May 30, 2005. The festival features hundreds of 16th-century jugglers, minstrels, bagpipers and other costumed characters; full-combat jousting; and Renaissance-style entertainment. Watch demonstrations of activities such as sword-making, bookbinding, coin-minting and woodturning; sample some honey mead; get your fortune told; and try your hand at archery. Admission costs $16.99 for adults and $6 for children ages 5 to 12. Call (888) 533-7848 or visit <www.scarboroughrenfest.com> for more information.

STURBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

Gimme Some Sugar

You’ll hear nothing but sweet talk at Old Sturbridge Village March 11-13 and 18-20, 2005, as it celebrates maple-syrup season with Maple Days. Visit this living history museum to see costumed interpreters tap trees, collect sap and boil it over an open fire — just the way your ancestors did it. Find out how 19th-century settlers used maple sugar into their meals, and learn why New Englanders began to favor maple syrup over maple sugar. Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $5 for children. Call (800) 628-8379 or visit <www.osv.org> for details.

From the April 2005 Family Tree Magazine