Cherry Hill Newsletter
Fall 2024
When Quilts Get Crazy!
Crazy quilts were named for the irregular shaped pieces of fabric that were used to make the quilt. A wide variety of contrasting fabrics were pieced together using large ornamental stitches. While the name might imply a haphazard assembly these mosaic-like designs were meticulously planned by the quilter. They required both skill and creativity. By the 1870s creating a crazy quilt became part of a woman's "fancy work." They became so popular that manufacturers sold packets of fabric with assembly instructions.
Many factors influenced the evolution of the crazy quilt. The 1876 Philadelphia CentennialExposition introduced visitors to Japanese art and the concept of asymmetry. The production of silk in the United States also brought new fabrics into the country at affordable prices. Women often incorporated silk fabrics into these quilts.
Cherry Hill's crazy quilt was made by Louisiana Lane Love around 1870 in Columbia, Georgia. Her granddaughter, Louise Shepard, donated the quilt to Cherry Hill. Ms. Shepard told us that people in her grandmother's community were fascinated by her quilt and often brought her scraps of material to be incorporated. Visitors would often drop by to view her work in progress. Friends admired the creative stitching and the variety of fabrics pieced together.
Due to the fragile condition of our crazy quilt, it cannot be on display at Cherry Hill. However, hanging in the parents’ bedroom are two framed pieces of crazy quilts. They are excellent examples of the ornate stitching and contrasting fabrics used by the quilter.
Seven Plein Air Artists ~~
Eight Uniquely Beautiful Cherry Hill Farm Paintings ~~
Pages 4-5)
Enpleinair , a French phrase meaning "in the open air," describes the process of painting a landscape outdoors. Leaving the confines of the studio, plein air painting enables the painter to capture the reality and vitality of what is seen and emphasizes the ideal of the artist as a creative laborer.
More than 150 years old, Cherry Hill’s crazy quilt is still a beautiful visual riot of color and shapes. See other crazy quilt patterns on page 6.
Presidents’ Letter
Tours of the farmhouse and barn activities were very successful this summer. The last day for the barn was October 19. The house closed for the season on October 26, after a busy final day. A big thank you to the tour guides and corn shelling “supervisors” who enabled us to be open to visitors this spring and summer. A super special word of appreciation to those who were regular volunteers.
The fall brought various events to the house, including participation in Fall Festival and Farm Day when we hosted more than 100 visitors; an energy usage assessment of Cherry Hill Farmhouse with recommendations for improvements for the house that could also be applied more broadly to residences in Falls Church; several private teas; and Boy Scout tours.
The Victorian Society held its annual ghostly Halloween readings at Cherry Hill on Saturday, November 2. A cast of seven directed by Cherry Hill board member Ron Anzalone shared 19th and early 20th century poems, stories, and dramatizations. Featured works included Emily Dickinson, James Thurber, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Edgar Allen Poe among others. From humorous to macabre, with tasty nibbles in between, a chillingly good time was had by all.
We are looking forward to the holiday season. The Friends of Cherry Hill will be participating in the Village Preservation and Improvement Society’s Tree Fest held the first weekend in December. Ron Anzalone, Joanne Caramanica, Jennifer DeVignier, Rosemary Ziskind, and Maureen Budetti will be doing the decorating and getting the tree to the Four Provinces restaurant. Come see our tree Friday night or Saturday. Bid on ours or any of the other uniquely decorated trees created by local nonprofit organizations.
On Saturday, December 7, we will once again offer our annual Holiday Shoppe for kids. We have the gifts and wrap ready to be taken to the Community Center where the sale will be held. It’s so heartening to see all the eager children looking for perfect gifts for family and friends. Invite your friends and neighbors to bring their children to select gifts at very reasonable prices. It’s a holiday mood lifter and a great way to kick off your holiday season.
Diane held a meeting with the Furnishing Committee and compiled a list of work they recommend having done. One concern has been finding that a number of chairs had been broken. The City has applied for a grant to address structural and repair issues of the nearly 200-year-old house. We are awaiting a response. The board plans to speak with City Recreation and Parks staff about what can be done to prevent future damage to the Friends’ collection, and potentially to elements in the house itself.
Unfortunately, two of the three planned fall paper-weaving workshops had to be canceled but Gretchen Wilmouth will again offer the Moravian Star workshop on Saturday, Nov. 23, from 1-4pm
As we head into 2025, in additional to our regular schedule of activities, we will be considering Cherry Hill’s participation in the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. The American Association for State and Local History has offered creative ideas for participation by historic houses.
Maureen Budetti & Diane Morse,
Co-presidents
In Local News
The Grandfather of Black Basketball: The Life and Times of Dr. E.B. Henderson
Earlier this year, local resident Edwin B. Henderson II, M. Ed., published a historic book about his grandfather, the legendary Dr. E.B. Henderson. He details how the earlier Henderson brought the game of basketball to Washington, DC in 1904 and made it available to African Americans. A physical education student, Dr. Henderson learned the game from an expert at Harvard University. Black players now represent the majority of professional American basketball players and dominate the league. E.B. Henderson was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.
Bits & Pieces
✓ A big post-Veterans Day salute to Dr. Mary E. Walker who is, to date, the only female recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, earned for her medical efforts during the Civil War.
✓ One hundred and sixty years after her service as recruiter, nurse, spy and squad leader, Harriet Tubman was finally recognized this past Veterans Day for her military service during the Civil War.
How Abraham Lincoln, the author of Mary had a Little Lamb, and retail sales helped create Thanksgiving as we know it today
Most Americans rightfully associate the beginning of our Thanksgiving tradition with the November 1621 feast shared by Native American Wampanoag people and the Mayflower survivors to celebrate the safe arrival of the Pilgrims the year before and a successful fall harvest But the celebration of Thanksgiving did not become a national event until 200 years later.
In 1827, Sarah Josepha Hale, a prominent writer, editor and author of the children’s poem “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” published a novel titled “Northwood: A Tale of New England” that included an entire chapter on the fall tradition of Thanksgiving. Growing up in New Hampshire, she had celebrated the holiday every year, a tradition very dear to her heart. During her 40 years as the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Magazine, she often wrote editorials and articles about the holiday and lobbied state and federal officials to pass legislation establishing a fixed, national day of thanks on the last Thursday of November. She believed that such a measure could help ease growing tensions and divisions between the northern and southern parts of the country. Her efforts paid off in part. By 1854, more than 30 states and U.S. territories celebrated a day of thanksgiving in some form, but her dream of a national holiday remained out of reach.
The outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861 intensified Sarah’s efforts to create such a holiday. She continued to write editorials on the subject, urging Americans to recognize the unifying history of Thanksgiving. In 1861 and 1862, Confederate President Jefferson Davis issued Thanksgiving Day proclamations following Southern victories. Abraham Lincoln called for a day of thanks in April 1862 and in the summer of 1863, following various Union victories. Shortly after Lincoln’s post-Gettysburg proclamation, Hale wrote to the president, urging him once more to declare a national Thanksgiving, stating that only he had the power to make it “permanently, an American custom and institution.”
This time, it appears her plea was heard. On October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln announced that the nation would celebrate an official Thanksgiving holiday on November 26, 1863 to express thanks for the critical victory at Gettysburg and help “heal the wounds of the nation.” He further declared that the last Thursday of every November thereafter would be considered the official U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving But the war raged on and the holiday did not become the hoped for source of unification
Over the next decades, Thanksgiving did become the beloved holiday we know today. In 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving up a week, in an effort to extend the economically critical shopping period before Christmas and spur economic activity during the Great Depression. While some states followed FDR’s lead, others did not, with 16 states refusing to honor the calendar shift. This left the country with dueling Thanksgivings. Faced with opposition, Roosevelt reversed course just two years later, and in the fall of 1941, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution returning the holiday to the fourth Thursday of November, the date we still celebrate today. https://www.history.com/news/thanksgiving-historytrivia-facts
Huckleberry Finn is Back in the News!
Interest in Mark Twain’s book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (published in 1884 in the UK; 1885 in the US) has been revived lately due to the attention brought by two recent publications. One Friends member, when rereading Huck’s adventures, noted a reference to a melodeon like the one at Cherry Hill in a home where Huck stayed temporarily.
▪ James by Percival Everett (April 2024) is written in the first person reflecting the perspective and precarious position of Huck’s friend, Jim, an enslaved black man searching for his family while on the run with Huck in the antebellum South.
▪ Jim and the White Boy (October 2024), a graphic novel by David F. Walker and Marcus Kwame Anderson, offers “a journey through Jim and Huck’s past, present, and future, delving into their incredible friendship and years of adventures—a bond that transcends the gruesome racism of the Civil War era.” Amazon.com: Big Jim and the White Boy: An American Classic Reimagined
Plein Air Views of Cherry Hill Farm
On a sunny October 12, artists from around the area showcased their Falls Church Arts Plein Air (outdoor) paintings of favored local spots. Many artists were attracted to the historic Cherry Hill farmhouse and painted it from multiple vantage points in various artistic styles. Here is a sampling of them for you to enjoy.
Artist: Abinaya Ayyamperumal
Artist: Yvonne Leung
Artist: Yvonne Leung
Artist: Pearl Regmi
"Homecoming" by Yik Chek Phan
Artist: Tess Claypool
Artist: Diane Ellor
“Veranda" by Tony Neville
The Girl I Left Behind Me
by Eastman Johnson (1875)
The Resolute Desk
Upcoming Smithsonian Presentations
1. The Civil War and American Art
The Civil War had as profound and lasting an impact on American art as it did on American culture. Both genre painting and landscape painting were fundamentally altered by the war and its aftermath. In an illustrated lecture, Eleanor Jones Harvey author of The Civil War and American Art and senior curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, explores the "metaphorical war" in a Zoom presentation Monday, December 16, 2024 - 6:30 to 8:30pm ET
2. Harriet Beecher Stowe and the
Civil War
Harriet Beecher Stowe hasgenerally been thought of as having little engagement with the Civil War. One historian has even said that Stowe averted her gaze during the war, satisfying herself with writing domestic essays. Nothing could be further from the truth. Stowe was an antislavery militant. Author and scholar Robert S. Levine addresses key moments in Stowe’s career from 1852 to 1870, focusing on the Civil War period in a Zoom presentation. Tuesday, December 10, 2024 - 6:45 to 8:15pm ET
For more information/registration go to smithsonianassociates.org
This historic and beautiful desk is currently in the Oval Office at the White House. It has been used by numerous presidents since 1880, including the current president Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump. It has an interesting history. The Resolute Desk is a 19th century partners desk. It weighs 1300 pounds and was created by William Evenden. It is also referred to as the Hayes Desk because it was presented to President Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881) in 1880 by Queen Victoria as a thanks to the American whalers who found the lost British Artic rescue ship, the HMS Resolute, in 1855. Repaired and returned to the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria later had three desks made from the oak timber of the ship and sent one to the US as a token of appreciation. It has resided in and out of the Oval Office and the White House ever since. It was returned to the Oval Office by Jacqueline Kennedy in 1961 and again by Jimmy Carter in 1977, after absences for various reasons. It has undergone two modifications, most notable the kneehole panel in 1945.
Did You Know?
Washington, DC’s Providence Hospital opened on the corner of Second and D streets SE just six weeks after the start of the Civil War in 1861 and continued to operate until 1961 As the war raged on, Capitol Hill became known as “Bloody Hill” due to the huge number of soldiers from both the North and South sent there for medical treatment
Later that same year, a tragic fire broke out in DC government stables, sending hundreds of terrified horses racing through the streets. More than 225 horses were burned in the fire.
Energy Audit Report at Cherry Hill Farmhouse
In response to energy action plans adopted in 2023, a group of volunteers and City staff conducted a walk-through of Cherry Hill Farmhouse in early 2024 to assess its energy efficiency. The group made recommendations for increased energy efficiency at the Farmhouse, which was identified as “among the highest electricity users on a per-square-foot basis of the city’s government buildings.” This was attributed to thin walls, single-pane windows, a lightly insulated attic, drafty doors, and a fairly old heat pump. The findings were to be provided to residents to suggest ways to reduce energy consumption. A report was provided in late April and has recently become available. The team was aware of the need to preserve the historical nature of the house in making recommendations for improvements and was limited to visual assessment. Participants in the walk-through included Andy Young, the interim Deputy City Manager, Holly Irwin, Cherry Hill Farmhouse Coordinator, and Ron Anzalone, chair of the Historical Commission and Friends board member.
Among the key suggestions for reducing energy consumption at the house were:
• installing a programmable thermostat,
• using LED lighting,
• weather-stripping doors,
• caulking window gaps,
• providing an insulated water-heater blanket,
• installing chimney “balloons,”
• routine HVAC inspections,
• building and duct-leak tests,
• adding insulation to the attic,
• adding thermal inserts to the windows,
• perhaps using heavier curtains, and,
• installing a new heat pump if future assessment indicated it was warranted.
Upcoming Events 2024/2025
A Very Victorian Christmas Saturday, November 30: 10am-2pm
Children’s Holiday Shoppe Saturday, December 7: 9am-3pm
Holiday Teas
Saturday & Sunday
December 14 & 15: 2-4pm
Valentine's Day Tea
Sunday, February 16: 2-4pm
Celtic Music Concert Saturday, March 1: 6-8pm
Farmhouse After Dark Friday, March 21: 6-8pm
Ice Cream Social Saturday, April 5: 10am-12pm
Mother's Day Tea Sunday, May 11: 2-4pm
Victorian Heritage Day Saturday, May 17: 10am-2pm
Some reduction strategies were simple and relatively low cost Reduction of energy usage could also lower on-going expenses. A number of improvements, such as changing to LED lights, have been made at the house. A complete report was provided by from Environmental Sustainability Council (ESC) and the Energy Transition Subcommittee (ETS) of the ESC.
Imprints in Time
A dedicated gallery in the Stuart and Mimi Rose Rare Book and Manuscript Exhibition Hall at the Folger Shakespeare Library will host a range of changing exhibitions. The first and current exhibition is a stunning display of books and other objects from the extraordinary collection of Stuart and Mimi Rose. The vast range of books and topics include the underworld of ancient Egypt, the surface of the moon, and others offering a journey across human history, knowledge, and creativity. The Folger Shakespeare Library has brought in its collection of Shakespearean volumes and developed interactive ways to understand and enjoy them. It also has several interactive experiences that focus on book printing during its first years.
Some reduction strategies were simple and relatively low-cost. Reduction of energy usage could also lower on expenses.
A number of improvements, such as changing to LED lights, have been made at the house. A complete report was provided by from Environmental Sustainability Council (ESC) and the Energy Transition Subcommittee (ETS) of the ESC.
The library also has a current exhibit with several books that might be of interest to supporters of Cherry Hill Farmhouse. Of note are a first edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) by Mark Twain; a first edition of the first of his three autobiographies in Narrative by Frederick Douglass (1845); and Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral by enslaved poet Phillis Weatley (1773). Several others from the early and mid-19th century include Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, The Scarlet Letter, The Origin of a Species, A Tale of Two Cities, and Liberty The exhibition runs through Sunday, Jan 5, 2025.
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Content provided by Maureen Budetti, Holly Fenelon, Holly Irwin & Diane Morse.
Friends of Cherry Hill 312 Park Avenue Falls Church, VA 22046