Fort Walla Walla Days! from the front lines

When I got up this morning, the first thing I did was to bring in the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin from the front porch. We'd seen a reporter and a photographer at Fort Walla Walla Days! yesterday and I was hoping to get some free 'pr.' I was not disappointed ... there we are at the 'centerfold' of the front-page section in living color! "Civil War Reenactment at Fort Walla Walla a Blast" with a couple of color photos. Yaaay! The story is online, too: http://www.union-bulletin.com/articles/2009/06/14/local_news/090614bcivilwar.txt

We had a blast ourselves yesterday, meeting and greeting all the historical interpreters, some of whom have been attending the event for many years. Included this year are lots of kids, who kept things lively with their small-scale uniforms and boundless energy. I stopped at a local grocer's on the way in this morning to get them a box of ice cream sandwhiches, a small salute for their efforts.

The battle re-enactment was won by the Confederates this year, but the biggest winners were the 200 or so members of the audience who were treated to cannon blasts, frontal assualts, and a host of military tactics appropriate to the 1860s. "A good time was had by all" hardly covers it.

At days' end, we gathered all our volunteers and event participants for our annual 'Fiendship Dinner on the grounds near the pioneer village. We 'ate fat' on picnic fare, donated to a great extent by Super 1 Foods, Safeway, Andy's Foods, and Grocery Outlet. Their generosity and community spirit makes a lot of what we do possible. Our hat is off to their dedication.

We're about to get after it again today, with another battle scheduled for early afternoon. Grab the kids, call your friends and tell 'em, Meet me at the Museum!

Construction news: For those of us whose 'inner five-year' old still likes dump trucks, Friday was a gas. The ground had been leveled out during the week so that morning trucks laden with gravel began spreading their loads in our new parking lot. I imagine this means paving will begin before long, too. Stay tuned!

Today's photos show (from the top down) dump trucks spreading gravel, our friendly little trooper girl, the crowd watching the battle, a couple of Spanish-American War re-enactors, and a contingent of Confederates ... visitors on the grounds can see where those 'Rebs' hoisted their flag on the windmill on the upper grounds. I laughed my head off this morning at their ingenuity.

The clip below is a little of the 'Battle for Fort Walla Walla Park' yesterday afternoon. Enjoy!

Fort Walla Walla Days!

Wahoo! This weekend is our annual Fort Walla Walla Days! The point is to portray and commemorate the region's 19th century military and Indian heritage, and we do that in colorful, enjoyable fashion.

This year, we'll feature a Civil War skirmish re-enactment. Now you might be thinking, Huh? There was no Civil War action out here! That's true, but soldiers posted at Fort Walla Walla during the Civil War years were sent back east to serve. In our current Abraham Lincoln and Walla Walla County exhibit, such a story can be seen. You can also be sure that loved ones those soldiers left behind ... as well as anyone else living here at the time ... would have been all but desperate for news of the war. Imagine a 3-month old newspaper arriving in town in those days.

We also have military encampments representing several eras of the 19th century from the Lewis & Clark expedition through the Spanish-American War. A few years ago when one of the community's World War I cannons came to rest on Museum grounds, we began including an encampment from those days, too, as artillery training went on briefly at Fort Walla Walla in 1916. There is a wonderful photo of utility-pole cannons resting on wagons that local, enterprising farm boys used as make-shift training equipment that will be displayed in our upcoming (Friday, June 12) new special exhibit, Salute! Soldiering in the Walla Walla Region, just in time for the weekend's activities.

Regional Indian people will share their stories, too, and give good play to their ongoing cultural vitality. This includes Tamástslikt Cultural Institute, the museum of The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and a new traveling exhibit of the Wanapum people. I think the Wanapum are bringing a young dancing phenom with them, too.

We'll have an author here on Saturday, Greg Hodgen, who co-wrote The Rocks are Ringing: Bannock-Paiute Indian War, Oregon, 1878. Soldiers from Fort Walla Walla engaged in the final encounter of that sad affair at Battle Mountain, just south of Pendleton. Greg may also do a Living History presentation of Cpl. Philip Murphy, a soldier from Fort Walla Walla.

It's also a chance for us to show more of our cultural side, as we present our annual 3-day Western Art Show beginning Friday. Coordinated by artist David Partridge, it features the work of several local artists following a general Western theme.

To top things off, we'll have food available from Tinos' Tacos and Deeney's Ice Cream. Looks like a great way to spend time with the family!

Today's photos show (top to bottom( our blacksmith shop demonstraion, a beadwork demonstration at the Wanapum exhibit, General William Clark, Kathleen Gordon from Tamástslikt, and a Civil War camp.

Church in the Valley

In the last couple of weeks, our Living History Company has featured two performances regarding the comunity's religious heritage. The first was Rv. Cushing & Mrs. Myra Eells, who founded the local Congregational church, as well as Whitman Seminary (later to become Whitman College). This past weekend showcased four individuals who portray Seventh Day Advenstist pioneers in the Walla Walla region dating to the latter half of the 19the century.

This version of community heritage goes way back. While it would be easy enough to suggest the first practioners of faith were Marcus & Narcissa Whitman, the likelihood of religious practice dates to the French-Metis/Catholic employees of Hudson's Bay Company. There is some evidence that grapes were grown from which wine was produced for sacramental reasons. This would take you back to the 1820s and the subsequent development of the Frenchtown community.

The Whitmans arrived in 1836 and the end note of their tragic sojourn among the locals is well known. Their traveling companions, the Spaldings, had little more success among the Nez Perce people at Lapwai, but at least managed to end their days from longevity and not the business end of a tomahawk. Shortly after their arrival came the Catholic missions, including one relatively close by the Whitmans. Father JBA Brouillet set up shop on land donated by William McBean, the Scottish Chief Trader for Hudson's Bay Company. This became St. Rose of Lima Church, the anchor point for Frenchtown until the early 1900s. There were several others across the region.

In past years, the Living History Company has engaged Jeanot Poirot to portray Father Brouillet. This year, we'll feature Jean-Paul Grimaud of Blue Mountain Lavendar Farm as Father Eugene Chirouse on September 13, an entirely new performance from the Company. Also, in their second performance of the season, Elaine Derby and Cleo Wentland portray Caroline Wood and Augusta Moorhouse discussing the life of SDA prophet Ellen White on August 9. All Living History programs begin at 2:00 pm in the cool shade of the pioneer village.

Construction: it looks like the blockhouse entry will be hoisted into postion over the front doors this morning/afternoon. Wow! Things are coming along in just jim-dandy fashion! Get involved!! lend your time, talents, and support!

Photos today include The SDA pioneers (bottom), with (l-r) Gordon Hare as William Nichols, Cleo Wentland as Augusta Moorhouse, Elaine Derby as Caroline Maxon Wood, and Bob Bohlman as Aaron Miller; Rich Monacelli as William McBean; Rick and Janet Narum as the Whitmans (black-and-white); Rogers Miles and Barbara Coddington as Rev. & Myra Eells; Jean-Paul Grimaud as Father Chirouse; and Jeanot Poirot as Father Brouillet (top).

Yonder Stampedes the Balloons!

Look! Up in the sky! Today is the opening of Walla Walla's 35th annual Balloon Stampede and a more glorious morning for it is hard to imagine. Crystal clear blue skies are the order of the day and if the breeze dies down just a little, the heavens will fill with an almost science-fiction looking display. In years past, I've witnessed nearly two dozen balloons up at the same time.

The Stampede has been a Walla Walla institutiuon for a long time now and Fort Walla Walla Museum will have a presence there. It's another outreach opportunity for us to be in the community, instead of sitting back on our heels waiting for the community to come to us. As people come to town for this event from near and far, we can put into practice our plan for the year: let's entice those folks who are already here to visit the Museum.

I'll be at the Farmer's Market again on Saturday, so come on down before you head out to the Fairgrounds for the Stampede ... you can enjoy all of the best that Wallla Walla has to offer this weekend when you roll a Museum visit with Sunday's Living History performance into your activities list. Walla Walla County Court Services Supervior Mike Bates portrays Legendary mountain man and US Marshal Joe Meek at 2:00 pm on Sunday afternoon.

What a grand weekend!

Today's pictures feature an image of mountain man Joe Meek courtesy of Michael Schaub's "Malachite's Big Hole," Mike Bates portraying Joe Meek as a US Marshall at the Museum's Precott Jail, and Jerry Cummins' hot air balloon at a recent museum event.

Soldiering in the days of Fort Walla Walla

This weekend's Living History performance (Sunday, May 3, at 2:00 pm) features local musician Joel Fitts portraying Fort Walla Walla soldier John Singleton.

Singleton was an Irishman who came to Walla Walla in 1857 to be a soldier at Fort Walla Walla. he nearly lost his life in the disastrous Battle of Steptoe Butte under the command of Lt. Col. Edward J. Steptoe, for whom Walla Walla was originally named. The community that grew around the temporary fort near the intersection of First and Main Streets in what is now the downtown area was originally known as "Steptoeville."

Singleton’s wife, also Irish, followed him here, and purchased a pre-emption claim in Walla Walla from Captain Pierce, who used the money to open the first mines in Idaho. Pierce’s actions set off a gold rush that made Walla Walla a boom town in the 1860’s. Local Indian people, the Nez Perce, called on the Fort to help protect them from the large influx of miners.

Singleton retired from the army in 1861, and he and his wife lived and farmed for the rest of their lives in Walla Walla.

The story of the military in the region is now more than 150 years old, as last year was the sesquicentennial anniversary of the opening of the 'permanent' fort on the grounds where the Wainwright VA facility is today. You can see some of the 1858 officers quarters on the back road of the facility, though the exteriors do not look as they originally did.

Maintaining the old buildings of the medical center is not the primary function of the VA and I believe they'd appreciate being out of that business. Nevertheless, the structures represent the bulk of Washington State's pre-Civil War architecture and are the historic legacy of the modern city of Walla Walla. What to do? Everything costs money, including preservation activities at museums, and no one seems to have much to part with these days. In the meantime, the buildings suffer from neglect and exposure to the elements. The VA is anticipating some investment in new facilities on the site and perhaps through that the community can take charge of the old structures.

Got a good idea? Let's hear it!

Today's photos show Joel Fitts as John Singleton playing in the Oregon Trail Band, which will also be here on Sunday afternoon. They play popular 19th century music preceding the Living History program every first and third Sunday through our season. While Fitts no longer plays with the Band, he is an accomplished musician and can be heard at various venues around town with his friends in The Rogues. Another image shows the original adobe blocks beneath the more modern exterior of one of the officers quarters. The map shows Oregon & Washington Territories and the black-and-white image shows the Fort in 1862.

Meet Me at the Museum!

It is clear as a bell this morning at Fort Walla Walla Museum and this looks like it will be a great day, perhaps to be followed by a glorious weekend. Finally! Sunny and warm, just classic Walla Walla weather.

The weekend also brings a couple of Museum events. Today we open the first of our "A Special Season" of six temporary exhibits. Because of construction, we felt a need to keep value high for our visitors. We did not raise rates this year as we might have (due to construction; still the same for a third straight year), but as the building going up is replacing one that held most of our changing exhibits, we thought we should provide something 'extra' this year.

Collections Manager Laura and her mini-army of volunteers have put together four 'permanent' exhibits in the Headquarters foyer and today we unveil When Grandma & Grandpa Were Kids: Children's Clothing from 1875-194. It's pretty cool to see ... one section features a variety of underwear, including a small-scale set of back-flap long-handles. Elsewhere are christening gowns and ... yep ... a boy's dress. I'm told in the long ago, young boys wore such things before their first pair of short pants. Who knew? There's some children's toys that are of interest, too, including a miniature washing machine of the hand-powered variety and a pair of spring shoes, sort of like a pogo stick without the stick for each foot. Seeing is believing. There is also a parasol-covered wicker pram that is a must see!

On Sunday you can chat up Walla Walla's first mayor, E.B. Whitman, as portrayed by local attorney Dan Clark. The Living History performance is preceeded by 19th century popular music played by the Museum's own Oregon Trail Band. The OTB recently acquired themselves a pump organ, though I'm not sure know they have anyone to play it yet ... are YOU interested?

The Museum is open 10 am - 5 pm daily, including weekends and holidays. The Oregon Trail Band plays at 1:30 pm and ol' E.B Whitman strides through almost 150 years of history in a return to the community over which he once presided. Be sure to ask him what he thinks of all the changes in that time!

Today's photos include Dan as E.B Whitman at the Museum's Union Schoolhouse, the back-flap long-handles and wicker pram in When Grandma & Grandpa Were Kids, and the the 2008 edition of the Oregon Trail Band. This weekend, call your friends and tell 'em "Meet me at the Museum!"

The Women in our Lives

Don, our Operations Manager, is involved with a whole lot of things. He is in charge of the Store operations, our volunteer coordinator, program development, business sponsor program, events director and likely a number of other things not coming immediately to mind. He is among the hardest working, best organized people I've known in a lifetime of work. He's the "lone stranger" in today's photos.

Along with Don, I'm helping to develop our Women's History Day (August 23) into something beyond its original origins as a Living History program. We are hoping that a young woman of immense talent we know will provide some musical entertainment that day and I just got off the phone with a prominent women's history author whom we hope to bring to the event as a speaker as well as a book-signer. A fascinating conversation!

March is Women's History Month, but as Fort Walla Walla Museum is not open to visitation that month, it is difficult to create a proram at that time. Perhaps in the future when we can call ourtselves a year 'round museum that will change. We choose August for our event in order to call attention to Women's Equality Day August 26, established in 1971 by Rep. Bella Abzug. The day is in honor of the ratification of the 19th amendment to the constitution guaranteeing American women the right to vote.

The core of the day is to highlight the women in our Living History Company and have them tell of womens' lives from the eras their characters lived in. In past years we've featured the wife of the community's first mayor, an Indian woman who was among the first women to own property in this region (let alone among the first Indian people to do so), a leading suffragist, a former slave, and pioneer women of many backgrounds. Last year we featured one of the more enterprising businesswomen of her day, Josphine 'Dutch Jo' Wolfe, operator of an upscale bordello in early Walla Walla.

The Museum alters its usual rates of admission for the day; all girls 12 and under receive free admission and all adult women pay 77% of the going rates as a reflection of the disparity in men's and women's wages that still persists today. We also supply the lemonade and cookies ... pioneer women would always entertain in that fashion when receiving guests.

History Comes Alive!

We take history seriously at Fort Walla Walla Museum, but we're also aware that not everyone else wants a lecture on the subject. One of the most interesting and entertaining ways of learning a little about regional heritage is through our Living History program, the first of whose presentations occurs this Sunday at 2:00 pm.

It's important to learn from our past. As philospher George Santayana once wrote, "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." The Museum's Living History Company, through its more than 40 weekend presentations through the season, tells the stories of real people in their 'own voice' who helped create the community we have today. I get first nod of the season as I portray Lewis & Clark Expedition member John Colter. Next week, Charles Saranto portrays one of the best stories anywhere as pioneer blacksmith & hotelier Fred Stine.

Through the season, which features performance every Sunday, plus Saturday June through August, you can enjoy Captain Mullan from Mullan Trail fame, Madame Josephine 'Dutch Jo' Wolf, early brewmasters John & Catherine Stahl, Hudson's Bay Company trader William McBean, Suzanne Cayuse Dauphin who was one of the first Indian women to own property in this region, and many, many others. Included in the bunch are special presentations during Ice Cream Social, Women's History Celebration, Frenchtown Rendezvous, and a '19th Century Party' to conclude the season. The season has been described as "a 42-week course in Walla Walla history." Maybe so, but it sure is fun!

Today's photos, top to bottom, include Rich Monacelli as William McBean, Judith Fortney as Suzanne Cayuse Dauphin, Lois Hahn as 'Dutch Jo,' Charles Saranto as Fred Stine, and me, Paul Franzmann as John Colter.

Snow, man!

Snow?!? Waking up yesterday was a bit of a shock. Having moved here from Montana nearly a dozen years ago, snow in March was hardly unusual ... nor is April or even May blizzards. In the years I lived in that state, I saw it snow on every major holiday. But a late March snow in Walla Walla seems like something our grandparents would have referred to from the 'old days.'

Snow or rain (but not gloom of night), Museum work continues. Each year we take a day to shoot new photos of our Living History participants so that they'll look fresh in newspaper articles, web site postings, and wherever else they might appear. In the past, we did the shoot in late February and it seemed that more often than not we were dodging cold rain or snow flurries under an overcast sky that was hardly repesentative of local weather during the bulk of our season. We try hard to portray the community in its best light (no pun intended), knowing that our many guests from 'the wet side' travel this far to enjoy dry, sunny weather. Shooting in the gloom largely defeats that purpose.

This year we pushed picture day back a month to try to take advantage of better weather. Saturday's day-long rain and Sunday's snow nearly doused that hope, but by Sunday afternoon the clouds parted and things had warmed up. A goodly number of the Company arrived for group and individual portraits, including Chloe, the first kid we've seen in the Company for awhile. All dressed up in 'Sunday-go-to-Meetin' pioneer garb, she was quite a lovely sight.

Today is gloriously sunny ... out my office window I can see the farthest windmills on the ridge west of town, even see the blades rotating. That means its quite clear today, so let's all get out when we can and enjoy as much of the day as possible. It's Spring Break for Washington School kids and teachers and the Museum opens April 1 for visitation. Looks like a good opportunity to have a little family fun at Fort Walla Walla Museum!

Reaching Out

We're doing a lot of outreach these days. Sometimes that happens here at Fort Walla Walla Museum with an off-season tour permitted for a group of folks from the Boise area last Friday who would not otherwise be able to conveniently see the Museum (the young woman above is 17-year old Sierra from the Boise 'VW Things' group). At other times, Museum staff and volunteers go into the community to make contact with groups seeking entertanment through our Living History Company. Barbara portrayed Walla Walla's first professional school marm Sarah Miner at the VA yesterday (That's her, seated at the Museum's Union Schoolhouse). Today, we host our annual volunteer meeting on the grounds (the other pic is from such a meeting a few years ago)and this afternoon the Director and I will give a short presentation to the residents at Garrison Creek Lodge, our neighbor around the corner on The Dalles Military Road.

In the course of a year, we do a lot of this sort of thing. Museum staff and volunteers represent the Museum in a wide variety of ways and places. Don sits with the City's Parks and Rec Advisory Board and serves as a Chamber of Commerce Ambassador, Carolyn is the Secretary/Treasurer for the Columbia County Cemetery Association (there's quite a few historic cemeteries in that county), and I sit on the Union-Bulletin's Community Board. James, the Director, is on quite a few Boards, including Tourism Walla Walla, the School Boundary Task Force, the Historical Advisory Board, and a bunch of others.

We like to give back to the community that supports us so strongly and it helps when we can answer invidiuals' questions about what's going on at the Museum ... not everything gets into the news. If you have a question, stop in to see us or call 509.525.7703. You can email us at info@fortwallawallamuseum.org, too.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch ...

An off-campus meeting today about diversity training, then a long weekend. The work continues back at Fort Walla Walla Museum, where a new season is just 19 days away. Just yesterday, Operations Manager Don landed our food vendor for the season, no small trick in a shaky economy. Collections Manager Laura continues work on the new Headquarters displays for 2009, Ops Assistant Anne continues to re-stock the Museum Store, and Building & Grounds Manager Jim gears up for the final steps in sprucing up the appearance of the place. Even Tour Coordinator Bill is busy, as we already have a number of school tours booked, a string of Columbia River cruise tours headed our way, and even a pre-season special booking by an auto-enthusiast group from Boise. Bookkeeper Carolyn keeps us on the straight and narrow ... her work has ensured seven consecutive years of finishing 'in the black' (before depreciation).

I sent off a news release to the MSM yesterday about how so much about this season is NEW. New exhibits, new Living History characters, a new building in progress, new food vendor ... it's amazing! There's never been a better year to get involved at Fort Walla Walla Museum!

If you'd like to volunteer, there's lots of great opportunities. Call Don at 509.525.7703 and join the fun!

No blog on Monday, so see y'all Tuesday. -Paul (that's me doing an interview at the Museum with CNNMoney when it named Walla Walla as the best place to retire)

Living, Breathing History

At Fort Walla Walla Museum, saying 'history comes alive' has some meaning. Each weekend (every Sunday, plus Saturdays June through August) during the season, you can experience more than 40 Living History performances. Some involve just one person, often telling of the past through an ancestor's eyes. Others are accomplished with two or three performers, and a some involve quite a few folks.

Most, but not all, of the characters portrayed lived in the 19th century. The 'rules' are that none of the performers has yet passed on, and are somewhat mystified as to how they 'travel through time' to be with the audience. Using 'talking sticks' to amplify their voices is technology beyond their ken.

Keeping in character is also one of the rules. Opinions on modern topics are not possible from those who lived 100 years or more in the past. It does, however, make you wonder what a real time traveler might think of modern ways of doing things or, better yet, how similar problems today were solved in the past.

All programs begin at 2:00 pm in the Museum's pioneer settlement. On the first and thrid Sundays of each month in the April through October visitation season, patrons can enjoy popular 19th century music with the Museum's own 'Oregon Trail Band.' The program has been described as a '40-course class in regional history.' I don't know about that, but the characters are always genuine, engaging, and ready to answer your questions. Oh, yes ... they're a lot of fun, too. A full schedule of programs can be found at www.fortwallawallamuseum.org/living_history.htm Come on out ... this ain't your high school history class!