Poetry Slam at Homestead

Uploaded by BeatriceDailySun on Sep 28, 2011

Students express themselves through poetry competition

The art of SLAM

"From “I am the crumbles at the bottom of the cookie jar,” to “If tomatoes are fruit, does that make ketchup a smoothie?” students from across the state gathered at the Homestead National Monument to show of and improve their creative writing skills..."

Read more: http://www.beatricedailysun.com/news/article_38e6cd74-ea4a-11e0-a708-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1ZMzlPlde

Homestead camp fire song

Pinder, nguba, goober, or more commonly known as peanut, is an edible kidney-shaped seed that made its way to America via Africa, South America, and the slave trade. As goober peas were primarily consumed by pigs it did not become a more regularly consumed American food until Civil War soldiers began to eat it.

Goober peas are made by boiling green or raw peanuts in water. Most peanut connoisseurs agree goobers served warm and salty are the most flavorful.

Goober peas are immortalized in the energetic, entertaining song “Goober Peas.” The tongue-in-cheek humor is evident in author Blackmar’s publication credit-nod to composer P. Nutt and lyricist A. Pinder. The upbeat words sound like a tribute to the tasty peanut. Instead, the lyrics are an ironic view on the lack of food available to the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Listen to the song in the video below as sung by one Homestead National Monuments volunteers during the 2010 summer campfire series. At the upcoming July 9, 2011 program Ron Rockenbach will discuss “The Common Soldier in the Civil War” with a music program by Noel Ditmars.

References

Cornelius, S. (2004). Music of the Civil War era American history through music. Westport, CN: Greenwood Publishing Group.

Nickels, C. (2010). Civil War humor. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi.

Peanut. (2010, July 1). Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition.

Mikles, N. (2011, March 16). Peanut primer: Roasted beats boiled for most Sooners. Tulsa World. Retrieved from http://www.tulsaworld.com/scene/article.aspx?subjectID=39&articleID=20110316_39_D1_ULNSai651461

William, L. (1998, Apr/May). Goobers, groundnuts and pindar peas. American Visions, 98, 13, 2. doi: 08849390.

Homestead Celebrates 75th Anniversary during Homestead Days

Homestead National Monument of America celebrates its 75th Anniversary during Homestead Days, June 17 – 19, 2011.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the act that created the monument in 1936.  This year’s theme is Homestead Days 1936. Exciting and unique performances that will take you back to the 1930’s are scheduled for the stage at the Education Center.
 
 On Friday, June 17 at 1 p.m., see clothes from the 1930’s as Sue McClain from Yesterday’s Lady in Beatrice, NE presents a 1930’s Fashion Show.  At 2 p.m., Beatrice native and San Francisco State University professor, Dr. Robert Cherny will present a special program, the “Homestead Act and American Politics”. Dr. Cherny will repeat his program at 1 p.m. on Sunday, June 19.
 
 On Saturday, June 18 at 12 p.m., the Homestead Harmonizers kick off the monument’s stage performances with their award winning vintage style of close 4-part harmony.  At 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., the Nebraska Czech Band, a 12 piece ensemble from Omaha, NE, will perform. This band is fashioned after the traditional Czech Style brass bands that feature clarinets along with the standard brass and percussion instruments, a style known as dechovka. David Landis will portray Nebraska Senator George Norris on both Saturday and Sunday, June 19 at 2 p.m.  His first person portrayal of Senator
 Norris, one of the U.S. Senate’s most powerful and influential senators, will focus on his efforts to create Homestead National Monument of America.
 
 Rounding out the monument’s performers on Saturday and Sunday are Nebraska Humanities Council artist David Seay, David Fowler and Carolyn Johnsen. David Seay will present ‘The “Tradition” in Traditional Folk Music’ at 3 p.m. on Saturday and again at 3 p.m. and 12 p.m. on Sunday.  His program examines the folk tradition and how it resulted in the passing of music from one generation to next.  David Fowler and Carolyn Johnsen will present ‘The History and Romance of the Fiddle:  A Prairie Perspective’ at 4 p.m. on Sunday.  Fowler and accompanist Johnsen will present various historical and romantic perspectives on the fiddle and its upscale cousin the violin. This event is partially funded by grants from the Nebraska Humanities Council and Nebraska Arts Council.
 
 Performance times:

 Friday, June 17
 1 p.m. 1930’s Fashion Show presented by Yesterday’s Lady
 2 p.m. Homestead Act and American Politics by Dr. Robert
            Cherny, San Francisco State University
 
 Saturday, June 18
 12 p.m.     Homestead Harmonizers
 1 p.m. & 4 p.m. Nebraska Czech Brass Band
 2 p.m.  Senator George Norris and the Founding of Homestead National
             Monument by David Landis
 3 p.m.  The Tradition in Traditional Folk Music by David Seay
 
 Sunday, June 19
 12 p.m.  The Tradition in Traditional Folk Music by David Seay
 1 p.m.   Homestead Act and American Politics by Dr. Robert Cherny, San
             Francisco State University
 2 p.m.  Senator George Norris and the Founding of Homestead National
             Monument by David Landis
 3 p.m.  The Tradition in Traditional Folk Music by David Seay
 4 p.m.  The History and Romance of the Fiddle:  A Prairie Perspective
             by David Fowler and Carolyn Johnsen
 
 "We are extremely excited about the variety of presentations.  We have several musical acts and presentations relating to items in the 1930’s when Homestead National Monument of America was founded,” said Mark Engler, Superintendent of Homestead National Monument of America.

Homestead Attitude: Fiddle Fest

If a fiddle is a violin with attitude then this competition is the perfect way to get the summer started with the right attitude. Homestead National Monument of America hosts an annual fiddling championship every year on Memorial Day weekend, and this year stands to be one of the best!

The competition is geared towards all ability levels and begins with Deborah Greenblatt teaching a free workshop in the morning. She was the first woman to win the Nebraska State Fiddling Championship, the first woman to win the Mid-America Fiddle Championship and is a member of the Mid-America Old-Time Fiddler’s Hall of Fame.

Greenblatt finds the atmosphere at the Monumental Fiddling Championship and Acoustic Band Contest to be inviting and nurturing for all levels of musicians. It is a day for fiddlers of all ages and experience levels to come together much like they did when the first pioneers arrived in the 1800’s and began settling the prairie. The sounds of fiddlers were often heard whenever homesteaders got together and those same sounds will be heard on May 28, 2011, at the eleventh annual Monumental Fiddling Championship and Acoustic Band Contest.

Greenblatt enjoys the jam sessions. “They inspire and entertain each other on stage and play nicely together in the many jam sessions that erupt all over the landscape,” said Greenblatt. Over the years she said that many musicians have told her they were inspired to begin to play because of the performances and jam sessions they observed at the Monumental Fiddling Championships.

The competition is also free and offers fiddlers the chance to be judged in a non-threatening environment. Each participant is given comments by the three judges. Professional musician and high school band director Nathan LeFeber has been a judge several times. “From the great music that is made, to the prizes and trophies, to the free fiddle they give away each year it is no wonder folks are coming from miles around to compete in this contest,” said LeFeber.

Competition helps musicians get better. “Give folks a high standard and then let them work at trying to achieve their best with the hopes they might be in the top three. That is what competition in music is all about,” said LeFeber.

Seventeen-year-old Joe Ferizzi from Dearborn, Missouri, finished second in the adult division in 2010. Ferizzi enjoys the thrill of competing, the chance to meet new people and hear new songs. “If I hear a song I like at competition, I will go home and do my best to learn the song,” said Ferizzi. He also thinks it helps a musician deal with the suspense of being on stage.

His grandpa also played the fiddle and influenced his decision of instrument. “My grandpa played the violin and one day when I was six I was sitting in the kitchen with my parents and they saw an ad for violin or piano lessons. When they asked me if I would rather play the violin or the piano I quickly said violin.”

Not only is Ferizzi an accomplished fiddler he is also an outstanding violinist earning straight ones in each category at state competition last year.

The event also attracts families that enjoy fiddling together. In 2009 Carl Cook from Independence, Missouri, won the Senior Division and his daughter, Cecelia Cook, placed third in the Junior Division.

Following the morning workshop participants will break for lunch and prepare for the competition in the afternoon. It is also free for both participants and spectators. The one rule which makes this competition unique is that all songs must have been written between 1863, when the first homestead was filed, and 1936, when Homestead National Monument of America was established.

The day ends with the announcement of winners and an opportunity at a paid gig for the evening finale. Trophies are given to the top three finishers in the Junior and Senior Division and the Acoustic Band Contest. Leigh F. Coffin, Jane M. Coffin, & Leigh M. Coffin Foundation have been long term supporters and provide the prize money and opportunity for the winners to choose a fiddle.

The winner of a Tune Writing Competition which is held in conjunction with the Nebraska Chapter of the American String Teachers Association is also announced. And the best left-handed fiddler and the youngest fiddler are recognized.

“But win or not there are no losers at this competition,” said LeFeber, “ For young and old, it is a great time!”

Homesteader: Oscar Micheaux

Oscar Micheaux is a well known historical figure in the world of cinema. He was the first African American to produce and direct a feature length film. The title of that film was The Homesteader and it was released in theaters in 1919. Coincidentally, this was the first feature film to have homestead as the primary theme. I initially began to research the film out of curiosity in that it was about the Homestead Act. It quickly became apparent that the man who directed the film, Oscar Micheaux, the driving force behind this production, had based the picture on his own life experiences.

Oscar Micheaux came from humble southern Illinois beginnings. Both his parents were children of slaves and they were trying to navigate what it meant to be African American in the post-Civil War United States. Oscar’s mother believed deeply in education and was committed to affording her children the opportunity to receive formal schooling. It was in these early years that Oscar slowly became aware of what it was like to be black in the late 19th century. He recalls that southern Illinois had a high population of former slave catchers, a profession popular in northern states that bordered the Mason Dixon Line. Oscar, at first, was labeled a trouble maker; “a negro with worldly ideas.” This label often isolated him from his peers, but it motivated him to prove the status quo wrong and rise above what society seemed to have predetermined for him. At this time, Oscar also began to understand the delicate nature of race relations, lessons that would serve him well in the future.

In his teens Oscar moved to Chicago to be with his brother. He began working a laborious job in the infamous stockyards; however, finding this work particularly gruesome, he left the stockyards to open his own shoeshine stand. Here he began to talk with his white patrons, and being an astute student of human behavior, started learning about white society. He began to develop an interest in the untamed West many of his white customers talked about. The fascination led Oscar to a job as a Pullman Porter. The Pullman Porter’s job was to ensure that train travelers were accommodated and that all of their needs were met when they were riding the rails to their destinations. As a Porter, Oscar would spend days getting to know the white travelers that he was assigned to, many of which were heading to the western United States to acquire free land from the government through a program called the Homestead Act.

Oscar’s interest in the West drew him to Gregory County in southern South Dakota. Here Oscar found a piece of ground and, with little farming experience, began the arduous task of plowing the ground. He remembers his (all white) neighbors standing about watching and laughing as his plow “hopped, skipped, and jumped all the way across the prairie.” The ridicule burned like a fuel in Oscar who was determined to overcome his inexperience and prove that he could succeed. Oscar was in his field rain or shine, yielding only to frozen ground, plowing up 120 acres in his first year. His determination soon turned his neighbors laughter to a “grudging respect, then to acceptance, and finally to admiration, when they realized that he had broken many more acres of prairie than most of them.”

This admiration left Oscar feeling tentatively welcome in an area where he was the lone African American. Being the lone African American also isolated him. Knowing the delicate nature of race relations, Oscar new that a romantic relationship with a white woman would not be tolerated, even though Oscar had strong feelings for a local white woman and those feelings appear to have been reciprocated by the woman, Oscar would not cross those boundaries. This was an issue that Oscar would revisit many times in his future films.

Oscar set to the arduous task of improving his claim. He successfully proved up his homestead just as the region entered a severe drought. Oscar was forced to try and make ends meet by hiring himself to other farmers in the region, but other farmers were suffering and work was inconsistent. He began writing down his experiences as a homesteader as a way to cope with the hardships he was enduring. His writings were a mix of fiction and biography meant to tell his story of struggle with, and conquest of, the land. He soon had created a full length book that he appropriately titled The Conquest. He began traveling throughout the region selling the book to his friends and neighbors. This new enterprise soon led to a second novel titled The Homesteader. His self published novels were moderately successful, but more importantly they caught the attention of a production company that wanted to turn them into a movie.

Oscar attended a meeting in Lincoln, Nebraska to listen to the production company’s offer to make the movie. He was extremely interested in the idea and said that he would allow the company to make the movie, but he wanted to direct the film. The production company refused and pulled out of the deal, but the seed had been planted in Oscar’s mind and he became determined to self-produce and direct the film, and that is exactly what he did. In doing so, Oscar Micheaux became the first African American to produce and direct a feature length film, and he called it The Homesteader. Unfortunately, there are no surviving copies of the film The Homesteader, which is a great lost to both the world of history and cinema.

The African American homesteading experience is still, in large part, lacking in that scholarship, outside of the Kansas Exodusters, but it has been sporadic at best. Oscar Micheaux’s novels offer an invaluable glimpse into the African American experience in early 20th century South Dakota, but it also stands as a reminder to how little information exists on African American homesteaders.

Homestead Native American Experience

Kevin Locke, named Tokeya Inajin in Lakota, meaning “The First to Arise,” and renowned player of the Northern Plains flute, narrated the prayer in the video below. The poem was shared with attendees of the Native American Experience at Homestead National Monument on July 17, 2010. The event was both an acknowledgment of Indian participation in the homestead experience and a tribute to participants in the 2010 Special Olympics held in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Homestead Spelling Bee

“Cat,” the first word of the spelling bee, was enunciated clearly and slowly by the pronouncer. And Homestead National Monument’s first old fashioned spelling bee began.

The entry way to the Freeman School.

The words spelling bee are thought to originate from the age-old-custom of people gathering to help each other out, to socialize, or both. Examples of bees include: barn-raising bees, corn-husking bees, spelling bees, and quilting bees.

The Oxford English Dictionary traces the etymology of the word bee to 1769 in the Boston Gazette: “Last Thursday about twenty young Ladies met at the house of Mr. L. on purpose for a Spinning Match; (or what is called in the Country a Bee)”; other examples include: in 1809 “Now were instituted quilting bees and husking bees and other rural assemblages” ; in 1830 “I made a bee; that is, I collected as many of the most expert and able-bodied of the settlers to assist at the raising”; and in 1876 “He may be invincible at a spelling bee.”

Scripps National Spelling Bee website challenges the notion of bee as in bee-hive-type-social gathering to suggest scholars today think the word bee may have origins in the Middle English word “bene.” Bene is a prefix for well or an adverb for to perform. No matter the etymology, Scripps thinks the first use of the American term spelling bee was probably around 1875 or earlier.

Homesteaders prized education and encouraged their children in the 3Rs: reading, writing, and arithmetic. One of the ways pioneer children learned these lessons was through recitation. A typical school day would include both reciting and spelling. After studying the assigned reading the student would join the teacher at the recitation bench and recite the memorized reading. Later students would line up for the spelling match.

The pronouncer reads the rules to the spellers.

Competitors in Homestead’s first spelling bee did not follow the rule of the next contender spelling a word missed by the person before them, known as “turned down.” But did have an eventual winner of the bee, which in one-room-school house terms was known as the “head mark” - or the student that “turned down” each person before them became the best speller or “head mark.”

Words for the Homestead contest were selected from the McGuffey’ Spelling Book first published 1879 with Worcester’s Pocket Dictionary, published in 1872 by Brewer and Tileston, as the back-up list if all words from McGuffey’s were exhausted. Worceter’s dictionaries were known to concentrate on the British spellings and pronunciations of words as opposed to Webster’s approach of Americanizing spelling and pronunciation.

Participants listen intently to the spelling of a word by Lauryn Rieken. For another view click on the link.

One charming story of Webster’s youth describes how he held spelling bees at his home in the evenings after school. Noah assumed the role of pronouncer and insisted on American spellings such as h-a-r-b-o-r instead of English spellings such as h-a-r-b-o-u-r. Spellers had 10 seconds, counted down by the other spellers, to spell their word aloud. Once the bee was won, the future lexicographer and author of the American speller, Noah would teach the other children how to remember the spellings of words by drawing pictures on the pine walls of the family kitchen (Bailey, 2001).

While no pictures were drawn on the walls of the Freeman school during Homestead’s first bee there were plenty of digital pics being snapped by proud parents and the photographer from the Beatrice Daily Sun co-sponsor of the event. Coverage of the event can be read at: Spellers Flock to Homestead.

Congratulations Spellers!

We would like to congratulate the winners of the 1st Annual Labor Day Weekend Old-Fashioned Spelling Bee! They are as follows:

• Under 7 years old: Kolbe Villa
• 7-11 years old: November Schuster
• 12-15 years old: Isaiah Friesen
• 16 and older: Barb Rieken
  

References
Bailey, C. (2001, March). The spelling bee. Child Life, 80, 2, 4.

Bee. (1989). Oxford English Dictionary.

Bene. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bene

Noah Webster History. (n.d). Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society. Retrieved from http://www.noahwebsterhouse.org/discover/noah-webster-history.htm

Origin of the term spelling bee. (n.d.) Scripps National Spelling Bee. Retrieved from http://www.spellingbee.com/origin-term-spelling-bee

Sample lesson plans (1900s). (2010). Blackwell Museum. Retrieved from Northern Illinois University College of Education http://www.cedu.niu.edu/blackwell/oneroom/index.shtml

Worcester, Joseph Emerson. (2010). The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, published by Houghton Mifflin Company. Answers.com Reference Answers. Retrieved from http://www.answers.com/topic/joseph-emerson-worcester

Jingle Dance: The Sound of 10,000 Raindrops on a Tin Roof

The jingle dance is a medicine or healing dance that originated with the Ojibwas in the Great Lakes area. The healing powers of the dress are said to derive from a medicine man’s granddaughter’s cure from dancing in a dress adorned with shells that jingled musically, rain-like, with each step. Some dancers describe the jingle as the sound of 10,000 rain drops hitting a tin roof.

Other devices used to create the jingle were deer hooves. A dress could have up to 400 hooves sewn on it. Today’s dresses are adorned with rolled snuff tins lids [see picture to the left] rather than shells. The original dance step was low and dignified while today’s pow wow competitions allow two types of jingle dance steps: the side step and the faster, higher straight step.
In the video below the dancers, members of The Many Moccasins Dance Troupe demonstrate both types of steps used in the jingle dance. The Many Moccasins Dance Troupe danced and educated an audience of about 600 at Homestead National Monument on July 17, 2010.


References

Dance styles. (2002, January 31). News from Indian Country, 19B.
Inter-tribal competition pow wow dance styles. (2005, March 9). Indian Country Today, 52.
Rhythmic traditional dance meets modern day culture. (2004, February 25). Indian Country Today, 28.
Sexsmith, P. (2003, August 1). The healing gift of the jingle dance. Windspeaker, 28.
The Many Moccasins Dance Troupe: http://themanymoccasins.com/aboutus.htm

Homestead’s Warrior Butterflies

The fancy shawl dance is an athletic, spirited interpretation of what some describe as the dance of a butterfly. This dance was created in the 1950s by native women wishing to match the energetic footwork of the men’s grass and fancy dances. Pearson, a dance choreographer and grass dancer, likens the smooth, rhythmic movements of the dance to a “colorful cyclone.” The color is from the individually decorated shawl that spans the dancer’s shoulders from finger tip to finger tip. The graceful bobs, spins and twirls allow the shawl to flutter and wave like butterfly wings.

Another teaching of the origins of the shawl dance holds that the women dancers represent warriors just as the men of the grass dance do. The honor of warrior originates from the women runners that ran between the native villages warning of upcoming dangers.

Children begin to learn the art of dance at an early age. Small children often join their elders in the dance circle watching carefully and emulating the steps and moves they see their older relatives and mentors executing. Besides learning the dance steps participation teaches children the values of their elders as well as how to honor the customs of their past.

In the video below a dancer, a member of The Many Moccasins Dance Troupe shows the joyous flight of a butterfly after birth. The bright symbols across her back suggest light and brightness while when her shawl whirls and opens it offers quick glimpses of nights bright stars. The Many Moccasins Dance Troupe danced and educated an audience of about 600 at Homestead National Monument on July 17, 2010. The picture to the left shows dancers ending their program with a heart salute shared with the audience.

References

Dance styles. (2002, January 31). News from Indian Country, p. 19B.
Pearson, T. (2005, October). In the spirit. Dance Magazine, 79, 10. doi: 00116009.
The Many Moccasins Dance Troupe: http://themanymoccasins.com/aboutus.htm

Homestead's Artist-in-Residence: A Day of Stories

The very first day that Nelson, my husband, and I arrived at Homestead for my two week stay as a storytelling artist in residence, I walked through the woods, along the river, past the tree line and up to the plow shaped heritage center. In the auditorium out of the sun, I watched the movie, which serves as an introduction to the exhibits. I listened to the grey haired lady speaking about her ancestors. She said it was a miracle that that the homesteaders survived. They had to battle the weather, the land and loneliness. They only survived, she said, through working together, as families and as a community.

By Sally Crandall

Artist-in-Residence 2010

Every morning, I practiced a little for the up coming storytelling festival. I was nervous. Would the audiences like my stories from Ohio? Thinking about the stories I would be telling, I passed the banners of the people who homesteaded and those who descended from those early homesteaders: Whoopie Goldberg, Lawrence Welk, plus a bunch of others. I usually made a stop in the staff library where I read about prairie plants as medicine and prairie plants as food. I read about the importance of fire too and about the prairie itself, and then I took a walk around the park, often stopping to watch the video in the heritage center. I loved to hear the stories of all the families. Watching Ken Deardorff, the last homesteader, so full of adventure and happiness with his young family, brought tears to my eyes every time.

The first day of the storytelling festival was hot. Kids came in buses and we told stories under the tent and inside the education building. At the end of the day, I walked the perimeter of the prairie land, up to the heritage center, and watched the movie again. Arriving back at our house, Jesse, who keeps the prairie a prairie, said there were severe thunderstorms coming. He said to call if we needed help. We kept the radio on, and the sky grew dark. The wind whipped the trees, the thunder rumbled like death itself was on the doorstep, and the radio station talked about finding safe places inside

Jesse, when he spoke to us earlier, said he wasn’t sure we could hear the siren, but we did. Nelson couldn’t find his shoes. I couldn’t find the flashlight even though I had just put it down. We pulled open the heavy door of the shelter and stood on the big floor mat, which says "Welcome" in 10 languages. I turned the battery operated light on. We thought about locking all four locks on the door, but, instead, propped it open with a big white bucket and watched the rain fall sideways and the hail follow. The closet at the back of the room held blankets, and ready to eat food and bottles of water, all under the watchful eye of Daniel Freeman in poster form, the first homesteader. This land had been his home. How many times had he witnessed the dark whirling sky and the never-ending rumble of thunder? The rain slowed. Nelson and I scurried back to our house only to find that Meredith, the park ranger, and Mark, the park manager, had tried to reach us, as well as Nelson’s sister and nephew, who both live in Lincoln. All those folks hoping we were safe.

Finally, the radio station broadcast music again. I went to bed. I was sure I wouldn’t sleep. I was sure I couldn’t sleep, but, despite myself, when I heard the spring peepers start again and when I heard a truck roll by on the road outside, followed by a car, I did.

The next morning, there were all the yellow buses in the sunshine. I thought it was a miracle. The tents were standing. The birds were singing. I walked past the banners of the homesteaders and their descendants and out into the tent packed with kids. There we were, all of us: teachers, parents, kids, retired folks, and park rangers. I heard the voices of the distance-learning children coming out of the computer. We were ready, eye-to-eye and heart-to-heart, for a day of stories, which, even in a time so removed from what the homesteaders knew, still have the power to bind us together. It’s not the stories that were the miracle, however. Stories are old and slow growing like the prairie. The miracle is that amid the hurry of our lives and the pressure in today’s schools, that so many remembered, set aside time and came to listen.

Planning Your Vacation

A good place to start planning your vacation is the website for the National Park System, nps.gov.  There are several ways you can search.  On the right hand side in an area with a brown background you can search for parks by state.  Under the banner in an area with a green background you can click on to link to “Find a Park,” “Discover History,” “Explore Nature,” “Connecting with Communities,” “Get Involved,” “Teachers,” “Kids,” or “About Us.”  There are a number of helpful links on each of those initial links. For example in Find A Park you can search for parks by name, by location, by activity, and by topic.  Or at Get Involved you can find ways to become a volunteer, make a donation, or join a “friends group” like the Friends of Homestead National Monument of America that maintains this blog.

Once you have found the units in the National Park System you plan to visit there are numerous links on each unit’s webpage that can be helpful to you.  There are links to “Plan Your Visit,” “Directions,” “Operating Hours and Seasons,” “Fees and Reservations,” “Things to Do,” “For Kids,” and much more.  Some of the units will have a link for “Nearby Attractions” that can be found after going to the “Things to Do” link.  This link can be very helpful, take the Nearby Attractions link for Homestead National Monument of America for example; it provides links to nearby state parks, camping, and other units in the National Park System.  In addition it provides links to appropriate visitors’ bureaus, airports, and tourism agencies.

The National Park System isn’t the only agency that administers federal lands that you could visit.  The best place to start for ideas is Recreation.gov.  But you could also check these sites: Department of Interior Plan A Trip, U. S. Forest Service homepage, and U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Recreation Page.

Dream big, plan well, and visit your Federal Lands.

Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area in Wyoming & Utah

U. S. Forest Service.

A Homestead Adventure Venture Crew Style

In a world filled with television shows like Survivor, Deadliest Catch, and Man vs. Wild, and thrill-seeking activities such as bungee-jumping and sky-diving, what do you consider adventurous? Sky-diving? White-water rafting? Driving cross country without navigation assistance such as GPS or a map? Swimming with sharks?

How about traveling to a foreign land where you don’t know the language or customs, adopting farming as a new profession, and living off the land to survive? Would that be a welcome challenge for you or something too adventurous for your tastes? This is exactly what homesteaders encountered when moving westward to file for free land.

By Park Guide Allison La Duke

Homestead National Monument of America stands for everything that homesteaders endured and experienced during their adventurous journey from other lands or states to claim their homestead of 160 acres. Even if they traveled from New York City or Boston, the geography and climate of the Great Plains and further west is drastically different from the forested states of New England and the Mid-Atlantic.

Of course European immigrants would have the added difficulty of a different language and culture to adjust to once they arrived. In addition once you found your homestead, you had to create some sort of shelter, find water and a source of fuel for fire, and begin preparing the land to grow crops. Not only did you have to deal with the daily chores of living, but also for many they were very isolated. The next homestead wasn’t always close by and typically going to town for store-bought supplies was planned well in advance. So, I’ll say that it was an adventure of sorts for any person who dared to homestead, and only those that were strong and had a bit of luck with them succeeded: 40% of all those who filed a homestead claim received their land patent after living there for 5 years. The connection between real adventure and homesteading still exists today. One could homestead in Alaska until 1986 (only 25 years ago!), and some people say that Alaska is the last wilderness in our country.

Today in 2010 Homestead National Monument of America is noticeably connected to adventure. Through the Friends of Homestead, who has chartered a new Venturing Crew with the Cornhusker Council of Boy Scouts of America, Homestead is involved in adventure experiences. The Venture Crew 82, chartered this year, is made up of young men and women ages 16-20 who are interested in outdoor recreation, leadership, travel, and socializing. They have gone rock climbing, volunteered at the monument’s monthly deer survey, and visited Badlands National Park via distance learning technology equipment.

They plan to visit South Dakota this summer for a week long adventure of outdoor recreation, traveling, and learning about the area. For more information about the Venture Crew 82, go to http://www.nps.gov/home/supportyourpark/venture-crew-82-sponsored-by-friends-of-homestead.htm.

So if you ever thought homesteading was boring or without risk, think again. Homesteaders experienced tornadoes, dust storms, illness, loneliness, locusts, freezing winters, and the daily challenge to make ends meet. Today we remember their adventures with the Venture Crew 82 in a modern way.

Enjoying the Natural Resources in the winter at Homestead National Monument of America

“What a bleak boring, place, I’ll come back in the summer to walk the trails,” is a comment that I regularly hear while working with visitors during the winter months. This is my opening to explain the beauty and adventure that the walking trails at Homestead National Monument of America offers during every season.

Cross country skiers at the Monument

Contributed by Jesse Bolli, Resource Management Specialist

at Homestead National Monument of America

True the winter months don’t offer you the opportunity to see the kaleidoscope of colors that the prairie offers in the summer when the wildflowers are at their peak, but, it is a great opportunity to learn about the mammals of the Monument.

According to a 2004 survey Homestead is home to at least thirty-one different mammals. Winter is a great time to observe mammals. Okay, so not all are easy to see but winter does help for some. Without the cover of herbaceous plants in the woodland the white-tailed deer are easy to spot. As many as 93 have be count on the Monument at once. That still does not guarantee that you will see one.

Mammals that you won’t see in the winter include the bats. Four different species were identified during the 2004 study. It is great fun to watch them at dusk during the campfire programs on Saturday nights in the summer, however, during the winter the Big Brown Bat hibernates, most likely in a cave or other underground structure, the Eastern Red Bat may migrate south or hibernate in hollow trees or leaf litter, the Northern Long-eared Bat hibernates in caves and research still needs to be done to figure out what exactly the Evening Bat does during the winter. Woodchucks and thirteen-lined ground squirrels are the only other animals that hibernate at the Monument. Most of the mammal species remain active all winter long including: white-tailed deer, eastern cottontail rabbits, red squirrels, coyotes, red foxes, armadillos, beavers, muskrats, minks, least weasels, mice, shrews, moles, and voles.

A few however, like the striped skunk, raccoons, opossums, and badgers sleep or enter states of of torpor during bad weather.

So now you are aware that at least 31 species of mammals occur at the Monument why can’t you see any of them? First you need to be patient, observant and quiet. Still many of these species are rather hard to find so I encourage you to use signs to help tell the story. Scat and tracks can take a gray winter walk to a new level.

My three year olds daughter’s favorite book at the time is Who Pooped in the Park by Gary Robson. The book takes you on a walk through Yellowstone National Park, on the trip they have many encounters with fierce animals such as the gray wolf, badger, grizzly bear and mountain lion; however, they are not scary because they are encounters of the “poopy” kind.

On that next warm winter afternoon or after the next snow I encourage you to see who pooped in the park while enjoying the trails at Homestead National Monument of America. While I cannot guarantee that you will see a white-tailed deer or any other mammal, I can guarantee tracks and scat.

References:

Bowers, N., R. Bowers and K. Kaufman. 2004. Mammals of North America. Houghton Mifflin, New York, NY. 352 pp.

Harvey, M. J., J. S. Altenbach and T. L. Best. 1999. Bats of the United States. Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Arkansas. 64 pp.

Robbins, L. 2005. Inventory of Distribution, Composition, and Relative Abundance of Mammals, including Bats a Homestead National Monument of America. Missouri. Technical Report NPS/HTLN/HOME/ J6370040013. 19 pp.

Homestead Holiday Traditions German Style

Homestead National Monument remembers the holiday traditions of people who lived on the Great Plains during the homesteading period with decorated trees and tabletop displays featuring ornaments and hand-made crafts that reflect the spirit of hopefulness, forbearance, [and longing for home-holidays passed] which typified settlers of the West. According to Superintendent Mark Engler “The Winter Festival of Prairie Cultures brings to life the traditions of the homesteaders who came here to settle the United States.”

The Winter Festival of Prairie Cultures begins the month long celebration with Die Singenden Wanderer (Singing Wanderers), a men's choir which sings in both German and English. The songs are more often than not light hearted and lively, sharing the significance of time-honored German beliefs and customs. The choir takes pleasure in carrying this spirited singing to the community and other venues such as Homestead, including numerous performances at the German American Society in Omaha. “We were born in Germany and in the United States. Regardless of our birthplace, we are all proud to be Americans, while are still carrying on the customs and traditions of the German language and culture” stated Harold Chester, the choir’s Pressewarte (Press Agent).

“What better way to share culture than through song” asked Mark Engler? “Homestead Monument is very excited to host such a group especially in such a predominantly German settled area.” While listening to the German songs visitors can enjoy the decorations from many countries including Germany.

Homestead's Artist-in-Residence Reminisces

My thanks to Denise for graciously giving me space to speak to all of you. I thought I’d give you a little insight into how I got to be Homestead’s first Artist-in-Residence this fall, and how I came up with the program I presented while I was there.

by Penny Musco

My family and I have vacationed at national park sites for years. In January, while visiting Everglades, Biscayne and Dry Tortugas National Parks in Florida, I was inspired to start a blog about our national parks and what I learn from them.

In the course of writing and research my posts, I happened across the National Park Service page on the Artist-in-Residence program. Hmmm… wouldn’t that be interesting, I thought. Next thing I knew, I got a call from Homestead saying my application had been accepted!

But what to do for my program? The germ of an idea came when I applied for the residency. As I searched the park’s website for information so I could write a coherent proposal, I found this article on the nineteenth-century exodus of freed slaves, who became known as Exodusters. An estimated 20,000-40,000 of them poured out of the South, most in 1879 and 1880. Kansas, with its abolitionist history, was the prime destination of these African-Americans.

This was one of the greatest migrations in American history, yet I had never heard of it. I asked many people, black and white, if they were familiar with this movement, and found only one person who was.

So naturally, I knew this HAD to be my subject!

How to present this information became my next focus. After some back and forth with the Homestead rangers, I settled on writing and performing a monologue about a white woman from New Jersey (me) telling the story of her move to Kansas with her family to become homesteaders, and how she befriends an Exoduster.        

Then I tackled the research. I must have read all or parts of around twenty books (some of them children’s books, which provide information simply and concisely), about the Homestead Act, blacks in the West, women in the West, and the Plains states in general. I took voracious notes, picking up little bits and pieces to use to give authenticity and flavor to the plot slowly evolving in my head (the tale of the 1874 grasshopper invasion I owe solely to Laura Ingalls Wilder!). The three books I relied on most were Exodusters: Black Migration to Kansas after Reconstruction by Nell Irvin Painter; In Search of the Racial Frontier: African Americans in the American West 1528-1990 by Quintard Taylor; and especially In Search of Canaan: Black Migration to Kansas, 1879-80 by Robert G. Athearn.

Finally, I began to write. I wrote so much than I ended up with 42 pages! If I’d kept it at that length, I’d have talked for two hours! I reminded myself that first and foremost I was telling a story, and even though the historical facts were important, the characters were what would make the narrative come alive. A few days of editing and revising yielded a much tighter, more manageable manuscript.

After that, it was just practice, practice, practice!

If I was blessed enough to have you in the audience when I performed Steal Away, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You calmed my biggest fear—that I would be boring—by giving me your full attention as I wove a nearly-forgotten piece of history through the fictional tale of an unlikely friendship. And when one of you said to me, “I’ll never look at a sunflower the same way again,” I uttered to myself the phrase every artist longs to be able to say: They got it!

Next year you will have a different Artist-in-Residence. Who knows if it will be a sculptor, painter, photographer or even another writer? My hope is that he or she will be as enriched as I am for having been at Homestead.

Home on the Range a Homesteader's Song

Home on the Range is a Classic Cowboy song, right? Well………..YES and NO. YES, because today we consider it a Classic Cowboy Song and it has been and is performed by many Western Music groups and artists. On the other hand NO, because the original words were actually written in 1872 by a homesteader, Brewster M. Higley.

Brewster Higley wrote a poem he called The Western Home and it was published under the title Oh, Give Me a Home Where the Buffalo Roam in the Smith County Pioneer in December of 1873. A neighbor, Trube Reese, visited Higley and convinced him the poem should be set to music.

Together they visited Daniel E. Kelley who was a fidler and had experience as a musical performer. Kelley created the music for the song. Some sources say both Reese and Kelley were homesteaders too, other sources say Reese was a “local” and Kelley lived in Gaylord in Smith County, Kansas and made his living as a carpenter, moonlighting as a violinist with the “Harlan Brothers Orchestra.”

Nevertheless, it is well documented that in 1871 Brewster Higley filed a claim under the Homestead of 1862. Therefore, the original words were written by a homesteader, not by a cowboy.

However, the song was adopted and modified by settlers, cowboys, and others and spread across the United States in various forms. Some of the modifications became the version we know today with a more “cowboy flavor.” This version was published in the early 20th century by John Avery Lomax, a pioneering musicologist and folklorist. The words, "home on the range" never appear in Higley's original lyrics. [See below for Higley’s Version and Lomax’s Version]

When Texan turned New York City recording and radio artist Vernon Dalhardt made the first commercial recording of “Home on the Range” in the 1920’s it was a hit. During the Presidential Campaign of 1932 Franklin Roosevelt even declared it his favorite song. By 1935, Home on the Range was well known all across America and today is considered “an anthem of the American West.” The Kansas legislature voted to make Home on the Range the official state song on April 8, 1947.

Be sure to listen to Home on the Range recorded by Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers for RCA on December 1, 1947. For more information visit this National Public Raio web page: http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/homeontherange/index.html

Also see:

Green, Douglas B. 2002. Singing in the Saddle: The History of the Singing Cowboy. Nashville: Vanderbilt Press.

Griffis, Ken. 1986. Hear My Song: The Story of the Celebrated Sons of the Pioneeers. Camarillo, CA: Norken.

Brewster Higley’s Original Version

Oh, give me a home where the Buffalo roam
Where the Deer and the Antelope play;
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,
And the sky is not cloudy all day.

Chorus
A home! A home!
Where the Deer and the Antelope play,
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,
And the sky is not clouded all day.

Oh! give me a land where the bright diamond sand
Throws its light from the glittering streams,
Where glideth along the graceful white swan,
Like the maid in her heavenly dreams.

Chorus

Oh! give me a gale of the Solomon vale,
Where the life streams with buoyancy flow;
On the banks of the Beaver, where seldom if ever,
Any poisonous herbage doth grow.

Chorus

How often at night, when the heavens were bright,
With the light of the twinkling stars
Have I stood here amazed, and asked as I gazed,
If their glory exceed that of ours.

Chorus

I love the wild flowers in this bright land of ours,
I love the wild curlew's shrill scream;
The bluffs and white rocks, and antelope flocks
That graze on the mountains so green.

Chorus

The air is so pure and the breezes so fine,
The zephyrs so balmy and light,
That I would not exchange my home here to range
Forever in azures so bright.

John A. Lomax’s Version (1910)

Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam,
Where the deer and the antelope play,
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day.

Chorus
Home, home on the range,
Where the deer and the antelope play;
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day.

Where the air is so pure, the zephyrs so free,
The breezes so balmy and light,
That I would not exchange my home on the range
For all of the cities so bright.

Chorus

The red man was pressed from this part of the West
He's likely no more to return,
To the banks of Red River where seldom if ever
Their flickering camp-fires burn.

Chorus

How often at night when the heavens are bright
With the light from the glittering stars
Have I stood here amazed and asked as I gazed
If their glory exceeds that of ours.

Chorus

Oh, I love these wild prairies where I roam
The curlew I love to hear scream,
And I love the white rocks and the antelope flocks
That graze on the mountain-tops green.

Chorus

Oh, give me a land where the bright diamond sand
Flows leisurely down the stream;
Where the graceful white swan goes gliding along
Like a maid in a heavenly dream.

Prairie Fire Fiddles Homestead Style

“I’ve come a long way to file claim to a parcel of land. If you could see your way clear to help me…” He explained his plight.

“You halft’ talk with Jim Bedford, he’s the assistant. Jamisons outta town. He’s the registrar.”

Where do I find this Jim Bedford?”

Strains of “Turkey in the Straw” yanked from the resilient gut of the bango strings competed with the zee-zwa-ing of the two fiddles to be heard.

-Daniel and Agnes Freeman

Homesteaders by Beverly S. Kaplan

Finding ways to introduce the world of the homesteaders to today’s society is a goal of Homestead National Monument of America. One way it does this is by hosting the Monumental Fiddling Championship and Acoustic Band Contest. The competition is geared for all ability levels. The day starts with a free workshop taught by Fiddling Champion Deborah Greenblatt.

Greenblatt is the first woman to win the Nebraska State Fiddling Championship, the first woman to win the Mid-America Fiddle Championship and is a member of the Mid-America Old-Time Fiddler’s Hall of Fame. She especially enjoys the jam sessions. “They inspire and entertain each other on stage and play nicely together in the many jam sessions that erupt all over the landscape,” said Greenblatt. The event is held outside the Homestead Education Center next to the tall grass prairie so musicians can play in an environment similar to that experienced by the first fiddlers in Nebraska.

One of last year’s judges was professional musician and director of bands at Beatrice High School Nathan LeFeber. As a classically trained musician he found the event unique. “Most unique were those fiddlers that were classically trained musicians that have recently gotten involved in fiddling. They had great technique but were working to acquire the right style,” said LeFeber.

The workshop and competition portions of the event are free to the fiddlers. “Fiddlers can get their score sheets with comments after they play which can help them focus their practice,” said Greenblatt. Last year’s event drew fiddlers with under a year of experience to those with many years of playing.

It also attracts families that enjoy fiddling together. Last year Carl Cook from Independence, Missouri, won the Senior Division and his daughter, Cecelia Cook, placed third in the Junior Division.

Following the morning workshop participants will break for lunch and prepare for the competition in the afternoon. It is also free for both participants and spectators. The one rule which makes this competition unique is that all songs must have been written between 1863, when the first homestead was filed, and 1936, when Homestead National Monument of America was established.

Why was fiddling popular with homesteaders? Some say the violin is for singing and the fiddle is for dancing, according to Greenblatt, and the best outlet for performing was probably for dances. For these occasions, simple folk and fiddle tunes work the best.

One definition of fiddling comes from left-handed fiddler Wilbur Foss and he offers another explanation for fiddling popularity among pioneers, “A violin is culture and a fiddle is agriculture.” Participants and spectators also enjoy the link with our country’s past--a tradition rooted in the simple, honest, hardworking lives of the first homesteaders.

The day ends with the announcement of winners. Trophies are given to the top three finishers in the Junior and Senior Division and an Acoustic Band Contest. The winner of a Tune Writing Competition which is held in conjunction with the Nebraska Chapter of the American String Teachers Association is also announced. And the best left-handed fiddler and the youngest fiddler are recognized.

Greenblatt finds the atmosphere at the Monumental Fiddling Championship and Acoustic Band Contest to be inviting and nurturing for all levels of musicians. LeFeber found it refreshing to see the wide variety of music that is made in this country.

It is a day for fiddlers of all ages and experience levels to come together much like they did when the first pioneers arrived in the 1800’s and began settling the prairie. The sounds of fiddlers were often heard whenever homesteaders got together and those same sounds will be heard on May 23, 2009, at the eleventh annual Monumental Fiddling Championship and Acoustic Band Contest.

Doris Martin is a part-time park ranger at Homestead National Monument of America and teaches a course on entertainment journalism at Beatrice High School. She is also the mother of a fiddler.

A Homestead Spring: Crane Migration

Homestead Days Irish Dancers

At Homestead Days 2008 the Lincoln Irish Dancers shared the story of Irish immigrants that made their way to Nebraska and a homestead.

Monumental Fiddling

Mark your calendars for the most monumental of Monumental Fiddling Championship and Acoustic Band Contests. This day of rousing music and fun-filled competition will take place at Homestead National Monument of America’s Education Center on Saturday, May 24, 2008.

In celebration of its 10th Anniversary total prize money for the event will increase to $1000, thanks to the Leigh F. Coffin, Jane M. Coffin, and Leigh M. Coffin Foundation. There is no registration fee or admission fee for the Monumental Fiddling Championship and Acoustic Band Contest.

"The tenth annual Monumental Fiddle Festival is shaping up to be one of the biggest ever. Plan to attend this wonderful event to kick off the summer season." said Mark Engler, Superintendent of Homestead National Monument of America.

The day will start with a free workshop for fiddlers. Participants will be divided into Junior (less than five years experience) and Senior Divisions. Participants will be asked to play a hoedown, waltz and tune of choice. All music should be from the homesteading era of 1862 to when Homestead National Monument of America was created in 1936. There will be an evening concert of winners with the top three in each division receiving cash prizes and trophies. Times for the workshop, registration, competition and evening concert will be announced at a later date.

The Nebraska Chapter of American String Teachers Association will again be conducting a fiddle tune writing contest. The winning tune will be announced at the competition. For more information on the writing contest, contact Deborah Greenbleatt at g-s@alltel.net.

The Monumental Fiddling Championship and Acoustic Band Contest is sponsored in part by the Nebraska Arts Council, Leigh F. Coffin, Jane M. Coffin, and Leigh M. Coffin Foundation and Eastern National Bookstore.