Civil War Submarine Unveiled

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — Confederate Civil War vessel H.L. Hunley, the world's first successful combat submarine, was unveiled in full and unobstructed for the first time on Thursday, capping a decade of careful preservation.

"No one alive has ever seen the Hunley complete. We're going to see it today," engineer John King said as a crane at a Charleston conservation laboratory slowly lifted a massive steel truss covering the top of the submarine.

About 20 engineers and scientists applauded as they caught the first glimpse of the intact 42-foot-long (13-meter-long) narrow iron cylinder, which was raised from the ocean floor near Charleston more than a decade ago. The public will see the same view, but in a water tank to keep it from rusting.

You can read the rest of the story here.

***This story holds a spark of interest for me, in that author Clive Cussler, and his team, are the ones who discovered the final resting place of the Hunley. You can read more about this on Cussler's Bio page on his website, here. I've been a huge fan of Cussler and his myriad writings for years.

Family Recipe Friday - Fried Poke

This is probably considered a "poor man's dish", since it is obtained from the wild fauna about us here in the mountains.

As a teenager, we moved to the mountains, and Mama introduced us to some "good eats"! One of them being the lowly poke plant.

Around these parts, poke plants grow on the edge of forested areas. They have a long slender, fibrous stalk, and broad flat, green leaves. The entire plant, stalk and leaves, is edible.

Take the leaves for instance. They can be eaten in a salad, or stirred into scrambled eggs while cooking them. Either way is delicious!

To make poke salad, simply wash and dry the leaves as you would for lettuce. If the leaves are large, tear into smaller pieces.

Fry 6 pieces of bacon in a skillet until crispy. Remove bacon from skillet and place on paper towel to drain. Keep bacon grease. Add 1/4 cup cider vinegar and 2-tbsp. cane sugar to bacon grease. Heat thoroughly. Pour over poke leaves and toss. Add crumbled bacon, diced onion and diced boiled egg. Toss. Add salt & pepper to taste. Serve.

Or you can take the stem of the plant and fry it, much as you would okra.

Wash poke stems and blot dry with tea towel. Cut stems into 2 to 3-inch lengths.

Dip stems in egg, then roll in cornmeal and fry over medium-high heat until slightly crispy.

This is really good with fish, or eaten in combination with poke salad!

The lowly poke plant provides alot of nutrients for the "poor man's diet".

Treasure Chest Thursday - A Blue Transferware Plate

I have many things in my house which I treasure, and while not all of them have been passed down to me, they are things that have been given to me. And these are things that I hope one day my grandchildren, or my great-grandchildren can say, "This belonged to my grandmother/ great-grandmother, and I treasure it simply because it was special to her."

So, for the next few weeks, we'll be taking a stroll through my house on Thursday's, giving you a peak at all of my "treasures".

This is a large [14"] serving plate. Blue transferware. Probably from around 1910-1920.

This was a gift from my sister, who collects antiques. She literally took this from her collection and gave to me, simply because I admired it.

Isn't it a treasure?

Wordless Wednesday

Tombstone Tuesday - William M. & Margaret S. Bean

TOP: W.M. Bean

Died May

14, 1890

Aged 58 Yrs

8 mos 1 day

BOTTOM: Margaret S.

Wife of

Wm. M. Bean

Did

June 11, 1891

Aged 65 years

2 mos  28 days

William and Margaret are buried at New Zion Union Church Cemetery, in Waiteville, Monroe County, West Virginia. They share a single stone. William's inscription is on the west face of the stone, and Margaret's on the east.

Amaneunsis Monday - William's Death Certificate

County of Monroe

Name: Wm M Bean  Sex: Male  Color: White  Age: 58 yrs 1 mo  5 dys

Occupation: U.S.A. Marshall   Date of Death: May 15th 1890 P.M.  Married

Natonality & Place of Birth:American, Zenith, WV  How long resident in this state? All his life

Place of Death: Gap Mills, WV  Cause of Death: Pistol shot through brain

shock from which he died in 2-1/2 hours

Place of Burial: Waiteville, WV   Date of Burial: May 17th 1890

Name of Undertaker: McGleason  Residence of Undertaker: Union, WV

                             D.C. Pharr, M.D.

Date: May 26, 1890                                                           

                                              Residence: Gap Mills, WV

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy - Week 2

Week #2 – Paid Online Genealogy Tools

Week 2 – Paid Online Genealogy Tools: Which paid genealogy tool do you appreciate the most? What special features put it at the top of your list? How can it help others with their genealogy research?

Hands down, if I had to pick one online source that I pay for to assist me in genealogy, it is Ancestry.com.  While certainly not the cheapest, it is by far the best online genealogy assistance you can purchase. With records from around the globe, and of every imaginable style [census, birth, death, social security, tax, estate, military, newspaper, and even other's family trees for comparisons,etc.] your money works out to the best bargain you can find.

Of course, that's not my entire list of genealogy help online. But it is the one which I appreciate the most.

To round out my paid subscriptions, I have two others that fall relatively close to my favorite: NewspaperArchive.com  and Footnote. Both of these have given up records and articles that I could not find on Ancestry, and I highly recommend them as well.