Welcome back to another "A Sin and A Secret." Mix yourself a drink based on a colonial recipe and then curl with a completely true, completely salacious story. Enjoy a new #ASinAndASecret post every week. Read more in the series here. The Addictive Pleasures of Sugar in the Colonial Mid-Atlantic This is the last week that we're switching up A Sin and A Secret to rebroadcast a lecture on sugar in the colonial period given by Dr. Steve Lenik, PhD, Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at St. Mary's College of Maryland. This lecture was originally given on February 10, 2018 as part of our annual winter lecture series. Sign Up Today! Colonial Cocktails: Bounce & Bumbo Instead of a drink recipe this week, sign up today for Colonial Cocktails: Bounce & Bumbo on Thursday, July 23, 2020, 6:30pm. From punches to bounces, syllabubs to juleps, colonists imbibed a wide variety of alcoholic beverages. At Colonial Cocktails, you’ll get to make and enjoy two historical drinks and learn about colonial tavern culture. This session will explore Bounce, a pleasant concoction of fruit-steeped brandy, and Bumbo, a common rum punch. For the safety of participants and staff, this event will be held outside with appropriate distancing, group sizes, and cleaning in accordance with CDC and local guidance. Members: $25 Non-Members: $30 (Become one today!) Pre-Registration Required Maximum of 20 attendees Participants must be 21+ Sign up today!

Powerful and Potent, Poison Ivy's Defense Mechanism: Urishol "Leaves of three, let them be." Any camping trip, wilderness trek or working around the woods shouldn't begin without a check of the potent leaves of Poison Ivy, especially if you live in the East Coast. Poison Ivy, Toxicodendron radicans, is a rather familiar plant for some painful reasons, its oily sap: Urishol Oil. Toxicodendron itself means a "poison tree." One doesn't have to necessarily come in contact with the oil. Any contaminated clothing, tools, or pretty much anywhere Urishol had made a contact can cause a rash. Urishol can stay on a surface for as long as 5 years! It is key to remember that one can develop an allergy to Urishol even years after reaction free exposures. Once sensitive to Urishol, every time you come in contact with it, your reaction can become worse. But how would you know where the sap Urishol has spread? You can be careful while working with it, wash your clothes, disinfect your tools, but is there any other way to take off the Urishol when you can't see it? Well, there just might be: "Rebecca Braslau and her colleagues at the University of California, Santa Cruz, describe a nontoxic spray that will fluoresce in the presence of urushiol. Braslau was able to develop a nitroxide-based solution that would react only with urushiol. By adding a fluorescent dye that would show up only when the reaction occurred, she could spray her nitroxide solution on a surface, and if the urushiol was there, the surface would light up." Source But why? Why is Urishol so potent? "Once they get into the body, the chemicals in urushiol become oxidised and stick to proteins in skin cells. This changes their shape, making them seem strange and foreign to other cells in the immune system. The immune system then mounts an attack on these healthy skin cells as if they were foreign invaders, creating swelling, inflammation, pain and blistering." Source Urishol is Poison Ivy's defense mechanism to prevent getting infections. When urishol reacts with our protein cells, our bodies think they are foreign and start attacking, causing a rash. ID Poison Ivy Before we look into this, lets remember that Urishol can remain on a surface for 1 or 5 years and "Only 1 nanogram (billionth of a gram) is needed to cause a rash." Source The pictures with this post might be helpful to ID leaves, but plants adapt. The leaf shape changes slightly considering the canopy covers it is growing under and the time of the year. But the main difference is in the margin/edges of the leaf, they are smooth, meaning there are no serrations/teeth or spike or hairs. Also, the center leaf is wider than the side two leaves. Many plants have interesting common names. As much as 'Tiger Lilies' are pretty and might excite kids with 'tiger' dots to spot on their leaves, its the unattractive mundane looking vines like Poison Ivy, that kids need to know about so as to freely venture into the woods. As long as there is not contact with the oily sap at anytime on your skin, you are good to go. Even with my taxonomy skills (I could ID Poison Ivy from 5 ft away!) I succumbed to a rash. Of course I cross contaminated after working with it! Remember Urishol can stay on an object for 5 years, so rinse off equipment, stay off the leaves, and definitely don't ever burn your brush piles. If you have Poison Ivy, they can be lethal - literally! Beware and informed for Urishol has been around for millions of years and it isn't going anywhere. And don't forget to use wash off with Tecnu!

Welcome back to another "A Sin and A Secret." Mix yourself a drink based on a colonial recipe and then curl with a completely true, completely salacious story. Enjoy a new #ASinAndASecret post every week. Read more in the series here. Women and Taverns in Colonial Maryland We're again switching up this week's A Sin and A Secret to rebroadcast a lecture on women and tavern culture given by Rod Cofield, Executive Director at Historic London Town and Gardens (You should also check out Rod's excellent Tavern Tales series!) This lecture was originally given on February 3, 2018 as part of our annual winter lecture series. Sign Up Today! Colonial Cocktails: Bounce & Bumbo Instead of a drink recipe this week, sign up today for Colonial Cocktails: Bounce & Bumbo on Thursday, July 23, 2020, 6:30pm. From punches to bounces, syllabubs to juleps, colonists imbibed a wide variety of alcoholic beverages. At Colonial Cocktails, you’ll get to make and enjoy two historical drinks and learn about colonial tavern culture. This session will explore Bounce, a pleasant concoction of fruit-steeped brandy, and Bumbo, a common rum punch. For the safety of participants and staff, this event will be held outside with appropriate distancing, group sizes, and cleaning in accordance with CDC and local guidance. Members: $25 Non-Members: $30 (Become one today!) Pre-Registration Required Maximum of 20 attendees Participants must be 21+ Sign up today!

Gardens that connect beyond the mind have true healing properties. A stroll through a garden without the touch, smell, taste, sound, and sight of beautiful plants, is incomplete in its sensorial experience. Every garden needs a sensorial garden section that excites all ages. It doesn't take much, maybe a small pot, a small bed and even part shade would do. Lets look at five versatile herbs that could heal the mind, body and soul instantly: Sage Nasturtium Basil Lavender Tarragon These five herbs are easy to grow and bountiful. French Tarragon Artemisia dracunculus var. sativa French Tarragon is a staple in French cooking. It has a sweet licorice anise taste. Easy to grow in a pot. Other than the taste, its delicate lime green leaves can add aesthetic appeal to any garden. Sage Salvia officinalis Sage is a versatile plant. Culinary sage, especially 'Berggarten,' has the wide leaf with gorgeous gray green color and flavor unlike any other. Sage belongs to Lamiaceae family, the flowering varieties are hugely rewarding with the bright purple color bi-lipped flower. Sage has a place in every garden, not just the herb garden. The gray green leaves would add texture to a rock garden or a corner of a bed. Also, Salvias have essential oils with healing properties. Basil Oscimum basilicum Basil (also belonging to Lamiaceae family) has many healing properties. Healing the taste buds beyond imagination with one small bite of the sweet leaves, pretty purple flowers a treat for the eyes, crunch of the leaves for the sound, a fragrance to reminisce over and over, Basil herbs have wonderful sensorial properties that every garden needs. Nasturtium Tropaeolum Even with its bright bold color flowers, Nasturtiums aren't as well used in herb gardens as they deserve the attention for. If you like bold bright summer color, I would try Nasturtiums over Marigolds. The color, shape and appearance aren't even a match to the peppery taste of the flowers. Yes! the flowers are edible and a delight to salads. A must try! Lavender Lavandula stoechas Last but not the least, the lovely Lavender. Such a versatile plant! If I had to pick one herb that satisfies ones mind, body and soul and, invigorates all sense, Lavender would be on top of my list. Fresh or dry, the flower stalks purely excel in fragrance, color and artistic appeal. Lavender essential oils are widely used for their healing properties. (Check out my post all about lavender). Mini Herb Garden Workshop What fun is gardening if it isn't hands-on? Join us for a hands-on Mini-herb gardening event next Saturday, 07/11. Perfect and fragrant ideas to turn your garden into a true sensorial garden! Learn more and sign up here today (Pre-registration required). Herb gardens are small beginnings with huge lasting impressions. Most herbs are maintenance free and are also super easy to start by seeds. But the key is to choose the herbs you will not only taste, but also a mix that you will smell, touch and enjoy with all your senses. It is a great way to get kids interested in eating the 'greens', for 'greens' that look good, must also taste good. Come and find out more next Saturday at London Town. Herb away!

Researched and written by Rachel Rabinowitz, Collections Manager and Visitor Services Coordinator, Claire Goode, Living History Specialist, and Teresa Marcus, Community Engagement Coordinator Let's talk colonial shaving in this object highlight video! Watch the whole series. In the 18th Century, men were expected to be clean shaven and wear their hair long, in a que (ponytail or braid), or don a wig. In 1762, Jean-Jacques Perret invented the Perret razor. With its very sharp blade and wooden handle it was considered the first safety razor. The following decade, he published a treatise on how to shave. Pictured above, from left to right, is the shaving brush, basin, and finally the razor itself. Shaving brush with ivory handle (1982.21.6), Razor (1982.21.5), Basin (1986.04). All items were gifts of the London Town Publik House Assembly. For More Information Learn more at the resources below: Perret's Art of Shaving From Mount Vernon: https://www.mountvernon.org/preservation/collections-holdings/browse-the-museum-collections/object/w-494/ https://www.mountvernon.org/preservation/collections-holdings/browse-the-museum-collections/object/w-1598f/ https://www.mountvernon.org/preservation/collections-holdings/browse-the-museum-collections/object/w-199/ From Jamestown 17th Century Shaving Bowl Grow the ReLeaf Fund Recently, London Town launched the ReLeaf Fund. This newly created fund was inspired by the cycle of renewal in our gardens. Donations to it will ensure that London Town will grow again. Funds will be matched up to $35,000! Learn more and donate today! London Town: Today and Tomorrow Survey You may have noticed an increase in our online postings lately. Will you take a short survey about what posts and virtual programs you'd like? You can also share your thoughts about re-opening London Town and what sort of programs you'd like to see after the crisis is over. Take the survey here

Welcome back to another "A Sin and A Secret." Mix yourself a drink based on a colonial recipe and then curl with a completely true, completely salacious story. Enjoy a new #ASinAndASecret post every week. Read more in the series here. Something to Depend On: Tobacco Culture(s) of the 18th Century We're again switching up this week's A Sin and A Secret to rebroadcast a lecture on tobacco culture given by Paul Lovelace, Director of Agriculture at the Accokeek Foundation's National Colonial Farm. This lecture was originally given on Feb 17, 2018 as part of our annual winter lecture series. Sign Up Today! Drinks with the Director Instead of a drink recipe this week, save the date for Drinks with the Director on Saturday, July 4, 12:30 - 2:30pm. Rod Cofield, London Town's executive director, will play bartender, serving up punch and cider while sharing the important role of taverns in the 17th and 18th centuries. Enjoy a relaxed afternoon of drinks and conversation on taverns, archaeology, and early America. Learn more and sign up today.

Hydra Happy "Hydra" in Hydrangea is derived from "Hydros," which in Greek refers to water (and "Angeoin," which refers to the fruit capsule that resembles a vessel). Hydra happy, is how I remember Hydrangeas' affinity for water: hydros makes hydras happy! Hydrangeas require a moist, well drained soil; not wet feet. It is not as much that over watering that will hurt a hydrangea, but they are the quickest to show signs for underwatering. They also have the ability to absorb water fastest, so even if your hydrangeas look droopy/dead on hot summer days, load them up with hydros, and hydras will be happy again. I like pink, but you like blue? No problem! With breeders being extremely busy with this long lasting panicle bloomer, there are specific varieties wherein you can pick flowers to be pink/blue. “For H. macrophylla and H. serrata cultivars, the flower color can be determined by the relative acidity of the soil: an acidic soil, will have available aluminum ions and typically produce flowers that are blue to purple, whereas an alkaline soil will tie up aluminum ions and result in pink or red flowers.” Learn more here and here. Pruning and Sun Hydrangeas do not need much pruning. The heavier you prune, the fewer will be the blooms with inflorescence size being larger. For woodland gardens like those at London Town, the native H. quercifolia, Oak leaf hydrangea, is a stunning addition in the deep shade. But the best show stopper Hydrangea is in the ornamental garden in full sun, 'Limelight'. Mopheads, panicles, lacecaps Hydrangeas are a perfect addition for a summer garden, be it mid day or dusk. Their large panicle blooms will certainly stand out above the rest. Mopheads, panicles, lacecaps... there are ample to choose from, here is a good link to some key varieties: https://cdn.canr.udel.edu/…/1202…/2014_Hydrangea_Feature.pdf Sterile vs Fertile Flowers Next time you notice a hydrangea blooming, go up close to see the true fertile flowers tucked near the showier sterile flowers. Sterile flowers attract pollinators, and fertile ones feed them. There are ample varieties with a mix of both, but beware of the showiest blooms, for the fertile feeder flowers might be handful. In the wild varieties, the sterile flowers are fewer, and it doesn't take much to attract the pollinators, but in nurseries you might end up finding more of the showier sterile flowers. Great for color, but not so much for the bees and the birds. Newer varieties of hydrangeas blooms last for a long time. You can bring them in as cut flowers, or even dry and color them to use them indoor in winter. But remember when you bring them in, "hydro makes hydras happy." Even if blooms dry out as you bring them in, add sugar and bleach to water and watch your hydras perk up! Hyrdros makes hydras happy, and many gardens seem much happier!

This week’s #TavernTales post uses William Hogarth’s print, An Election Entertainment, to explore the connection between taverns and elections. Hogarth created a series of four paintings in 1754-1755 that satirized a particularly notable election in Oxfordshire at that time. The first two paintings use taverns as their setting because they were central to many aspects of civic life. This particular painting was chosen because it shows the Whig’s hosting a party inside a tavern to influence voters. Outside the tavern is a group of Tory’s who are going through the town to try to get voters for their side. Here in the Chesapeake, the tradition of using taverns, and alcohol, to acquire voter support occurred throughout the colonial period. A case in point is the 1758 Frederick County House of Burgess election in Virginia. One of the candidates for that election gave potential voters 47 gallons of beer, 35 gallons of wine, 2 gallons of cider, 3 ½ pints of brandy, and 70 gallons of rum punch. That candidate won 309 out of 370 votes. His name? George Washington. Here on the South River we have a Maryland Gazette item from October 1768 that references this practice of candidates hosting gatherings of potential voters. In the advertisement, Ann Tilley (a local tavern keeper), is asking for some debts to be paid from an election party or two. The advertisement says that “the gentlemen who stood at [the last] election have refused to pay me.” It seems that because the candidates were not settling their debts, Ann needed to do a public announcement to get her debts paid in other ways. This painting also has a few other interesting items that connect to other social things occurring in the 1750s. One to point out is the black sign in the foreground under the man’s foot. It says “Give us our Eleven Days.” This is in reference to September 1752 when Great Britain switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar (which we still use today). In that month people went to bed on September 2nd and woke up on September 14th. Hence the eleven missing days. Image used for this post is from the Web Gallery of Art: https://www.wga.hu/art/h/hogarth/elect01.jpg Original painting is at the Sir John Soane’s Museum in London. http://collections.soane.org/object-p53 Want to learn more Tavern Tales? Come to Drinks with the Director! On Saturday, July 4 from 12:30 - 2:30pm, executive director Rod Cofield will play bartender, serving up punch and cider while sharing the important role of taverns in the 17th and 18th centuries. Enjoy a relaxed afternoon of drinks and conversation on taverns, archaeology, and early America. Learn more and sign up to participate.

It's National Pollinator Week! Let's Celebrate Bees and Other Pollinators To celebrate National Pollinator Week, we’re bringing back a post from last May to give some love to one of the most important group of organisms that are essential to our gardens: Pollinators! This group includes birds, bats, bees, and other insects such as beetles, butterflies, wasps, and dragonflies. These incredible creatures contribute to the survival of about 80% of all flowering plants and 35% of all food crops around the world. In turn, the plants produced through pollination take on even bigger ecosystem services such as biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and transpiration. The Amazing Bee Of those pollinators mentioned above, the Bee is the most productive due to their fuzzy bodies and their ability to buzz and shake pollen free from flowers. Maryland is home to over 400 different species of Bees alone! Most of Maryland’s bee species are not the honey bee or bumble bee we’ve come to know so well but are solitary bees. Solitary bees don’t build large, communal hives, but rather, a female solitary bee will build individual nests to lay their pupae. Make a Pollinator Hotel However, our native populations are decreasing due to climate change, over-use of pesticides, and decreased diversification of plants. You can help! There are several ways to help pollinators such as: build a pollinator hotel out of materials you might already have at home create a watering station to combat the summer heat build bat boxes or bird houses grow your own pollinator garden (we have several designs here)! Construction Tips for Building Your Bee or Pollinator Hotel Don't make your hotel too big as this can invite more pests and predators. Spread smaller hotels around your garden in recycled cans with paper straws! Make sure to protect your hotel from the rain by putting an over-hanging roof. Also, only have one side be open to the outside environment as pollinators don't like their "rooms' to be open from both sides. Place a wire mesh covering over the front of the hotel to protect your nesting pollinators from birds like woodpeckers. Make sure your hotel is stable so strong weather can't knock it over. Keep materials separated as different pollinators will use different nesting materials. You can also color code sections of your hotel to make it easier for the pollinators to locate their "rooms." Some materials we recommend are logs with small holes ranging from 1/8” to ½” in diameter into the end of each log, spacing them about ½” to ¾” apart. Holes larger than ¼” should be 5” to 6” deep, while holes ¼” or smaller should be 3” to 5” deep. You can also use paper straws, natural reeds, pine cones, gumballs, bark, broken terracotta pot pieces, and bricks. Exchange used materials with fresh ones every year after winter when your pollinators have hatched. Additional Information for the Care & Management of your Pollinator Hotels Winter cocoon care for more involved management https://www.bentonswcd.org/time-clean-mason-bee-cocoons/ More tips for hotel construction https://thehoneybeeconservancy.org/2017/12/09/bee-hotels/ Educational websites for pollination exploration https://xerces.org/ https://colinpurrington.com/2018/06/mason-bee-hotel/ Resources for Maryland Pollinator Species Identification https://beeinformed.org/2013/04/22/know-your-local-pollinators/ https://dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/Pages/habitat/wabees.aspx Download a PDF of the Construction Tips & Additional Information Resources

Welcome back to another "A Sin and A Secret." Mix yourself a drink based on a colonial recipe and then curl with a completely true, completely salacious story. Enjoy a new #ASinAndASecret post every week. Read more in the series here. Gaming the Law: Gambling Despite Laws Against It in Early America We're switching up this week's A Sin and A Secret to rebroadcast a lecture on gambling in colonial America by Dr. Kenneth Cohen, PhD, Curator of American Culture at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. This lecture was originally given on Feb 24, 2018 as part of our annual winter lecture series. Mark Your Calendars: Drinks with the Director Instead of a drink recipe this week, save the date for Drinks with the Director on Saturday, July 4, 12:30 - 2:30pm. Rod Cofield, London Town's executive director, will play bartender, serving up punch and cider while sharing the important role of taverns in the 17th and 18th centuries. Enjoy a relaxed afternoon of drinks and conversation on taverns, archaeology, and early America. Learn more and sign up today.

With today, Friday, June 19th being Juneteenth, we wanted to reshare this lecture from Dr. Herbert Brewer about his research into the slave ship Margaret. Juneteenth commemorates the day in 1865 when the last enslaved people in America learned of their freedom. Although this was two months after the end of the Civil War (and two years after the Emancipation Proclamation), it wasn't until June 19, 1865 when Union General Gordon Granger brought about 1,800 federal troops to Galveston, Texas and enforce the Emancipation Proclamation. Dr. Herbert Brewer talks about his research into the slave ship Margaret. Its journey from London, England, to Sierra Leone, West Africa, to the Chesapeake and back to England illustrated the complex web of commercial, political and cultural links that tied Europe, Africa, and North America together in the early eighteenth century. Dr. Brewer is Assistant Professor at Morgan State University and historian of the African American diaspora, slavery, and emancipation in the Atlantic world. He is co-author of Guide to the History of Slavery in Maryland.

Flower to fruit, fruit to seeds, seed to seedling... the reproduction cycle in plants is simple enough and obvious. But what about the X's and Y's of the plant world? Nope, I am not talking about the Gen X and Gen Y. Humans have 22 pairs of chromosomes and a pair of sex chromosomes: XX or XY. Are all flowers similar? In plants, although most of them have flowers with both male and female sex organs (stamen and pistil), there are many plant species with either only male or female flowers. Monoecious plants have male and female organs in the same flower, eg. Rose, Magnolias, and Hibiscus. Dioecious plants have unisex flowers, either male or female flowers. Common examples of dioecious plants include, Ilex, Ginkgo, Cannabis, Willows, etc. "Dioecy is a widespread condition in flowering plants, despite their recent evolutionary origin: 6% of the 240,000 angiosperm species are dioecious and 7% of 13,000 genera of angiosperms include dioecious species, suggesting that it has arisen many times during flowering plant evolution. Plants are key players in the study of the evolution of sex determination because they offer a unique opportunity in giving access to the very early stages of X and Y chromosome history. " Source Most dioecious plants are wind pollinated, since they don't have the male and female parts on the same flower. They don't depend on insects or birds for their pollen to transfer. The chromosome constitution of male and female plants is 22 + XY and 22 + XX respectively. "The sex chromosomes in hepatics, mosses, and gymnosperms are morphologically heteromorphic. In angiosperms, heteromorphic sex chromosomes are found in at least 19 species from 4 families, while homomorphic sex chromosomes occur in 20 species from 13 families. The prevalence of the XY system found in 44 out of 48 species may reflect the predominance of the evolutionary pathway from gynodioecy towards dioecy. All dioecious species have the potential to evolve sex chromosomes, and reversions." Source Not all flowers are similar or are simple in any way. Since Dioecious flowers have unisex flowers, when adding these species to your garden, consider adding both females and males of that species. For example, Ilex verticillata, Winterberry has male and female flowers on separate plants. When planting Winterberry, look for compatible male and female species. Complicated X's and Y's of the plant world? Yes! "Charles Darwin recognized that flowering plants have an unrivaled diversity of sexual systems. Determining the ecological and genetic factors that govern sexual diversification in plants is today a central problem in evolutionary biology." Source