It’s not always possible to step into the shoes of a pioneer. I value a good history book that walks me through the social, political, and geographic changes of the nineteenth century. But my favorite way to research is hands on. Don’t make me read about the various ways to hitch a team of horses to a wagon. Take me out and let me hitch them myself. Don’t tell me how to make butter. Sit me down at a churn and let me make it myself. (And if I get to put it on freshly baked bread warm from the oven with raspberry preserves afterward, even better!)
So, I am blessed to have two living history museums within a short drive of my home. One is a re-creation of Fort Nisqually, the Hudson’s Bay Company outpost on Puget Sound. Though it was originally situated closer to the Nisqually Delta, in present day Dupont, some of the original buildings were moved to a wooded area in Tacoma’s Point Defiance Park, and other facsimiles were added to represent what the fort would have been like in the 1840s.
The other is Pioneer Farm Museum above the Ohop Valley, on the way to Mount Rainier. The clearing surrounded by forest re-creates an 1887 homestead, and two of the cabins date from that era. With live animals and a smithy, you can really get the feel of living on a pioneer farm. You can grind grain, scrub laundry, card wool, and even curl your hair with a curling iron heated down the chimney of an oil lamp.
Here’s a few of the things I’ve learned:
Make your space count. When you have to cut and prepare the logs, lift them into place, put in a chimney, and add a sturdy roof, you don’t build a 2,500-square-foot California split! The inside of some of these cabins is no more than about ten feet square, and the length often depended on the length of the logs available. You might have a loft or a second story, but the main room needs to do duty as parlor, dining room, kitchen, sewing room, and even bedroom.
Learn to scrape. Sugar came in cones rather than sacks. Cinnamon came in sticks. Even laundry only got clean by scrubbing it over something. Those pioneer ladies must have had strong hands, wrists, and arms!
Follow fashion judiciously. One of the first questions I asked one of the reenactors at Fort Nisqually, who was wearing a large-skirted gown from the 1850s, was about whether they employed the big hoop skirts so popular back East. She confided that petticoats were more the thing out West, and I’m not surprised. How would a pioneer lady have navigated those narrow ladders leading up to the sleeping loft or even squeezed through a door in one of those things?
Whatever I learn, I always factor into my books, and The Schoolmarm’s Convenient Marriage, out November 6, is no exception. My heroine’s schoolroom bears a close resemblance to this one from Pioneer Farm.
Alice Dennison travelled across country to start life over as a schoolteacher in Wallin Landing, north of Seattle. No one there knows the humiliation and hurt hidden in her heart. Then a storm forces her to seek shelter with a handsome logger for the night, and suddenly she’s facing marriage or scandal! Again! Jesse Willets had always hoped for a love match like his parents. But he steps up to save Alice’s reputation through a marriage of convenience. When Alice’s past intrudes, they must work together to discover that true love may not be so distant after all.
In celebration of the new release, I’m giving away a copy of Her Frontier Sweethearts (print in the U.S., ebook internationally), which introduces many of the characters in the new book. When feisty Ciara O’Rourke starts a frontier restaurant, someone thrusts a baby at her and disappears. Logger Kit Weatherly will do anything to protect the niece he never knew he had. Can he convince Ciara to take a chance on them both?
To be entered in the drawing, answer this question: How do you prefer to learn about history?
Bio
Regina Scott started writing novels in the third grade. Thankfully for literature as we know it, she didn’t sell her first novel until she learned a bit more about writing. Since her first book was published, her stories have traveled the globe, with translations in many languages including Dutch, German, Italian, and Portuguese. She now has more than sixty-five published works of warm, witty romance, and more than 1 million copies of her books are in reader hands. She currently lives forty-five minutes from the gates of Mount Rainier with her husband of thirty years. Regina Scott has dressed as a Regency dandy, driven four-in-hand, learned to fence, and sailed on a tall ship, all in the name of research, of course. Learn more about her at her website at http://www.reginascott.com
Hello Regina, I Love reading about the history visiting historical sites through museums and watching movies! Love the cover of your book! It sounds like a great story Thank you for sharing your post today Have a Great and Blessed weekend!
Thanks, Sarah! Movies definitely convey the emotional aspects of a time period!
I love museums and through reading.
Denise, I don’t know what I’d do without nonfiction books on history. So many facts and stories to weave from them!
I prefer to learn about history through museums, television, and reading. It sounds like a really interesting book. Have a wonderful weekend!
All good ways to learn more, Diana.
I’m a history major, so I have a background in the subject. My favorite way to learn more is to go to historical sites and museums. I’ve probably gone to hundreds of them, but there’s more out there. : )
Oh, I envy you! I go to as many as I can, nearby and wherever I try, but you’re right, there’s always more. That’s why my bucket list grows daily. 🙂
I love hands-on learning, re-enactments , museums, documentaries, and books. Your books sound amazing!
Thank you, Rhonda! I find re-enactments fascinating, especially when the re-enactors stay in their roles, no matter what!
Hands on learning stays with me!! Thanks! We too have a couple living in the past areas to visit!
Me too, Teresa. There’s something about tactile memory that makes it easier to write about that moment.
Howdy Regina! I enjoyed reading your post! I also like hands on. Reenactments and living history!Wanted to tell you a funny story. My grandmother grew up in Statenville, GA. I took her and my children (ages 5 and 6)to a reunion she liked to go to. We stopped at the old home place and my kids were fascinated. I had been a few times when I was young, so I had seen it. My mother was born there. My son went out back and asked what the little house was. My grandmother said it was an outhouse where they went to the bathroom. My son’s reply was,”Mema used this??!!” My grandmother laughed until she cried! Oh, the conveniences my children and I had growing up! How thankful!
Your books sound very interesting! Best wishes to you!
By the way, I have A Distance too Far on my kindle I plan to read! And I have found myself really enjoying Regency books from Laura Beers, Dorothy Sheldon, and I loved Beverly Watts series! I just noticed that you write them and actually “live” them! How wonderful! Bet there are great stories to tell there! Can’t wait to read one of yours! I bet you have humor in yours too! Do you have a newsletter you send out? I’d like to know of any regency books you may have. Thanks again for dropping by!
I hope you enjoy A Distance Too Grand! It was a joy writing it. I do love the Regency period as well. For a big birthday, my friends rented an open landau and four and took me for a drive through a beautiful riverside park near us. The highest point of the ride, though, was when the coachman asked me if I’d like to take the reins. You bet! That’s how I drove four-in-hand. You can subscribe to my newsletter (for news of both my Western and Regency stories) at https://subscribe.reginascott.com. Thanks for asking!
Too funny! I can just imagine his face when he said it. We are truly blessed with conveniences!
I love reading historical novels, but my husband and I enjoy travel and always visit historical sites and living museums. On our 50th wedding anniversary last year we spent 3 days at Colonial Williamsburg. The most impressive one we have been to was Plymouth Plantation. The enactors are so in character and you can’t get them out of it.
Oh, Elaine, Williamsburg has been on my bucket list for years. Some day! I have visited Plymouth Plantation, and I had the same response you did. Those re-enactors are good! You could almost believe they lived in those houses!
I love to visit historic sights but reading about history is a close 2nd. Thanks for the interesting facts you shared and for the chance to win a copy of your book.
You’re very welcome, Vickie! Glad you enjoyed the post.
Museums and reading are my top two ways to learn about history. I may have to come to these places that you mention. They sound like fun
Nicole, I highly recommend both. The Pioneer Farm Museum is definitely out in the woods, so it feels very authentic. Point Defiance is set on a peninsula out from a major urban area, but it has acres of old growth forest, so you would think you were out in the wood at Fort Nisqually too.
Hi Regina, Reading and weirdly historical fashion books.
Not so weird to me, Tia! Looking at what people wore gives so many insights into the time period. I still want to know who decided hoop skirts should be a thing!
Most of the time through TV and books.
Nice! Thanks for commenting!
Whatever way is available. I love to read about history in historical stories and even in history books.
Some here! And I’m so thankful people are constantly digging deeper into history and sharing through books and digitizing original sources.
books
Can’t live without them! Thanks for commenting.
I love going to living history museums! And I also like to watch documentaries on PBS.
Oh, the PBS documentaries–good point, Kimberly. Some of those are amazing in the details.
History, especially westward expansion is at the top of my list. Our ranch, in Wyoming, is on the North Platte River with parts of the Oregon and Mormon Trails running through it. About 1½ miles west is the site of the Grattan Massacre. 12 miles west is Ft. Laramie, the largest military post on the Northern Plains and the site emigrants stopped to rest and resupply as they continued their trek west. Great reenactments, fur rendezvous and even ghost tours are held at the fort throughout the year.
Carol, that sounds wonderful! I used to live on the other side of the Cascade Mountains, and one of our favorite camping sites was Emigrant Springs State Park in Oregon, which was along the route of the Oregon Trail. Nearby, there was a site that preserved a section of the trail, where you could still see wagon ruts in the soil. It gave me chills.
I love history!! I loved it in school, and I love to read about it in books, but I also like to visit places and do some hands on! I had to go to Agrirama in GA before, as I’d always wanted to go, and I talked Mom and my aunt into going with me, and both of them enjoyed it, too! I’ve also been to a few other places, like Savannah, St. Augustine, Ft. Christmas, and others because of the rich history in each place.
I loved it in school too, Trudy. And I always gravitated toward historical novels, whether romance or not. No surprise I chose to write historical romance.
So glad to have you here with us today, Regina! I visited a living history museum this past summer in Colorado Springs. They had adults as well as younger “docents-in-training” in costume around the place giving visitors demonstrations and tours. It was wonderful to see young people be so excited about history. 🙂
Love the idea of “docents-in-training.” Sacajawea Historical State Park here in Washington has an encampment every fall to honor the visit of Lewis and Clark. I volunteered to help one year. There was a young lady dressed as a Native American who had made her own deerskin outfit in the traditional manner and had recently won trophies in archery. So impressive!
Good morning and welcome Regina, I love learning about History by going to museums and Living History days, which we have one once a year here in our town. I love going to museums where they have an old house and the rooms are all decorated as how they used to be. I also love books and I love watching TV movies about History, I especially love how authors make History so much fun, I have learned alot through you all Awesome authors who write fiction History books, History was not one of my favorite subjects in school, so big Thanks to you authors for making it alot more fun through your awesome books. Your books sound like great reads and and your book covers are beautiful. Have a great weekend. God Bless you and your family.
Thank you, Alicia! I was fortunate to have some wonderful history teachers growing up. They can make history come alive too.
A combination of reading and hands on. There is nothing that sinks in better, than to visit a site and read about each segment as you walk, or drive, along. I had a traveling job for nearly 10 years and we saw lots of historical sites. We mostly traveled the Northeastern U.S. Prior to these travels, while living in Iowa, we went out west from Iowa (where we lived) as far as Idaho and South Dakota badlands and all the areas around there. Montana was spectacular. Glacier was thrilling as we walked to the lost lake. Oh, what beauty.
How wonderful that you were able to travel to so many places, Judy! Glacier National Park is on my bucket list and the last national park within a reasonable driving distance from me that I haven’t visited.
I love visiting Historical spots, reading History and watching Documentaries about Historical events.
Documentaries can be fascinating! Thanks for commenting, Barbara.
I prefer reading books to learn about history. Historical fiction that stays true to the historical truth is an enjoyable way to learn.
So true, Roxanne!
I prefer reading, but when there is a place to visit, then that can be fun too. As a child, I lived in the Tacoma/ Puallup area and visited a couple of these interactive pioneer display parks! I remember trying my hand at “spinning” yarn from wool, milking a “very patient” cow, churning some cream, and other things that they had to try.
Before that, we lived in Mexico in an adobe house, which had an indoor bathroom, but no running water. We dipped our water out of some 55 gallon oil drums and used that (recycling the dishwater and bathing water to flush toilets and clean the house and water the garden) for our water needs. My mother washed our clothes on a washboard and I still have a bar of the laundry soap that she used! It feels like it has grit inside it.
Now, as an adult, I live in Wyoming where we can go downtown and see the wagon ruts from the wagon trails and go to several museums to learn about all of the wagon and handcart trails that passed through here!
Sounds like you hit a lot of the places I did growing up in the Tacoma area, Ami! I remember field trips to the Washington History Museum every year, with Ezra Meeker’s stuffed oxen and that terrifying diorama of a cougar leaping on fleeing deer. I was surprised and delighted to find when I moved back after 25+ years that the oxen are still there!
I enjoy going to historical sites, and reading about the history.
Thanks for commenting!
I got my love of history from visiting Gettysburg and Mt. Vernon when my father was stationed in Virginia and that led me to being a history major in college
A history major, Becky! How cool! My aunt lives about an hour away from Gettysburg. We visited whenever we traveled to see her. I took my youngest son a few years ago. The battlefields are all so eerily quiet.
I love reading about historical events and visiting historical museums.
Thanks for commenting, Cherie!
My husband and I visit a lot of museums when we are traveling or visiting family in certain areas. Anytime I read something in a book that catches my interest from a certain historical era, I will Google it to learn more.
I do the same thing, Marcia! That’s how I came to write Nothing Short of Wonderous, my book set in Yellowstone. When I was researching A Distance Too Grand, I came across a mention of the cavalry riding to the rescue of our first national park. Of course I had to learn more!
Welcome back. Thank you for being here. I like to learn about history by reading about it. God bless you.
Thank you, Debbie!
I enjoy reading stories about history, especially from author’s that have done a lot of research to write their books.
Me too, Connie. I promised myself before I ever tried to write a book that I would do my best to be faithful to history. But there’s always more to learn!
I love to read historical fiction to learn about history and have also been known to pick up a history textbook ‘just for fun.’ If I didn’t love teaching about my Faith so much, history would be my next choice. And faith includes a lot of history. I also like to go to museums and living history farms or museums. Doing is great, if I have a good teacher!
Good point, Minette. Teachers are so important. They can really bring a subject alive.
Personally and as a parent, teacher, children’s museum educator, children’s librarian, and mentor, I have always believed that doing is the best way to learn. For some things it may take a few time to learn it, but you are much less likely to forget. I love living history sites. We have visited many and have at least 6 nearby where we live. I have been a docent for events at some sites over the years in different places we have lived. When I was in the Peace Corps, I did my laundry in a tub with a washboard for three years. I only had light weight clothing (tropics), but doing denim would be much harder. I churn butter at home on occasion as well as make ice cream the old fashioned way with a White Mountain hand crank machine. We also cook over a fire and have cooked on our wood stove when we have had power outages. Oil lamps cast a nice glow that lights a room comfortably. I do appreciate modern life, but there is a pace and feel to the old ways that is nice – just a lot of work.
You’ve had some great experiences, Patricia!
I love to hear history from a good professor who knows the small things forgotten that add to the understanding of the events. Sometimes, knowing a little details brings the entire event make more sense. I had such a professor when I was in college and I often include his stories in my own lectures to help my students understand and become interested in events.
Good for you, David! And you’re quite right about good professors. I was fortunate in college to take Washington State history from Murray Morgan, who wrote Skid Road and other historical tomes. That man could tell a story!
Hi Regina, Loved your blog and the cover of your new book, it sounds very interesting. I loved history in school also, however; I also like to learn about history from nonfiction sources & historical books. Enjoy reading all books that the author has written & taken the time to research their work for the books they write.
Thank you, Lois!
I love to learn history through the Christian Historical Fiction I read.
We are certainly blessed with talented Christian historical authors, Brenda!
We have visited a lot of museums and especially enjoy the living history museums. Recently I have been re-reading Forgotten Trails a book about the trails used to cross from the midColumbia River settlements to the early Hudson Bay Company forts and later to the mining areas in Washington Territory and British Columbia. There are so many interesting facts in it that give a picture of life in the Oregon country starting with the Lewis and Clark expedition and the fur traders and continuing through the 19th century. Museums, books, and historical sites help us understand how our communities came to be what they are.
Oh, Alice, you just gave me a new book for my TBR pile! I hadn’t seen Forgotten Trails. Sounds just like what I enjoy reading!
I really enjoy following a bunch of museum departments, reinactors, and heritage sites on YouTube. Their videos can be incrediably immersive! I especially relate to the ones about food preparation and lifestyles of the common folk. Of course, when I find something particularly wild or fun I spend a few more hours digging through academic sites to see if I can find the primary source accounts. Some history facts can be truly unbelievable!
I love watching the videos of clothing and fashion. So interesting. And yes, I too am astonished by some historical facts. One of my favorites is the fact that there were plans to rescue Napoleon from St. Helena by submarine!
Morning Regina.
I enjoy reading books, like Christian historical fiction, that weave historical events into the storyline, to learn about history. I live about forty minutes from Gettysburg and have visited there.
Thanks for the interesting facts you shared and for the chance to win a copy of your book.
Blessings, Tina
I’ve been to Gettysburg a number of times over the years with my aunt, who lives in Chambersburg. 🙂
I love learning about history any way I can! Books, movies, TV shows, museums, or living history events are all favorites of mine.
All great ways to learn more, Kim. Thanks for commenting!
Through fiction