COVER: High over our heads flies a New England
weathervane. The clipper ship and other fine weathervane
subjects are covered by Joe Daniele's story beginning on
page 34. Painting: George Yeremian.
IN THIS ISSUE:
President’s Report by Robert Gordon Miner....3
Letters from Members ........................6
Life in Early America by Adelaide Hechtlinger
Husbandry in Colonial Times ...............8
Tobacco ...................................12
Rice ......................................13
Jonah Powell House by
William Magill Thompson AIA...............14
Summer Drinks of Early Origin...............16
Merit Awards ...............................20
Professional Directory......................21
Early American Folk Art Panels by
Henry Lionel Williams.....................22
A Country Auction by Lee Dennis.............24
The Mercer Museum by Sheila Martin..........27
Colonial Footstool You Can Make.............29
The Marine Museum at Bath, Maine by
Anne Hammond .............................30
Weathervanes (Cover Story) by Joseph Daniele . .34
Epergne (Berry Bowls) by John Mebane.........44
Using Antique Shutters by
Robert Gordon Miner.......................46
Pipe Smoking in Early America by
Robert F. Weber ..........................48
Product Showroom ...........................52
Classified Advertising .....................56
Book Page...................................58
Exclusive Offerings to EAS Members .........59
Special Print for Members............Back Cover
Tie vast popularity of weather vanes
in New England is the result of
changeable weather and long winters.
New Englanders have seen hail, wind,
rain, snow, lightning, and sunshine all
in one day. Early settlers and seamen
were dependent upon the weather and
erected vanes to help forecast, as best
they could, the possible conditions
ahead.
New England winters found many
men with little to do but mend tools and
equipment around the home, farm, or
port. There was plenty of time for
carving and whittling. Many times the
creative object of this spare time was a
silhouette for a personal weather vane.
Most homemade vanes were made
of wood, while the metal vanes were
the work of professional whitesmiths,
blacksmiths, or coppersmiths. Local
artisans constructed vanes in their
slack periods and offered them for sale
to the townspeople. Occasionally a
special order was placed for an unusual
style or symbol, such as the huge
grasshopper ordered for the Boston
Farmer’s Exchange, or the dove
vane for Washington’s home; but for
the most part, the majority of household
weather vanes were built by early
Americans for themselves along
common basic lines.
These common lines were a flat
silhouette cut from a board or piece of
tin in a shape well known and liked
by its maker. The more creative
workers sought a third dimension
effect in the vane symbol. One
prerequisite for a weather vane is that
a fair amount of flat surface must be
offered to the wind in order for the
vane to turn. A pointer or arrow was
sometimes used to show direction as
well as offer a central “anchor” point
for some vane symbols. The cardinal
points, North. South, East, and West
were placed in fixed positions for
quick reference to the compass
heading of the wind.
Weather vanes were and still are
excellent forms of folk art. Some
were created in excellent detail while
others offer only a rough shape. Some
vanes are as large as fifteen feet
across, while others measure a mere
fifteen inches. All of the old vanes tell
us something about early America and
the men who made them.
Like great paintings, vane symbols
should invoke a personal feeling. Behind
each design is a special history and
folklore, often as important as the vane
symbol itself. It becomes part of the
vane and gives us a personal tie to our
early American ancestors who lived..