Paul Szmal: Lots of activities happening at Rose Hill Mansion and with Historic Geneva, Carrie Lippincott is here to fill us in on all of those. Morning Carrie, how are you this morning?
Guest: Good morning, I'm doing well, thank you. Nice to have some pleasant weather for a change, isn't it?
Paul Szmal: It is, I forgot what that yellow thing in the sky looked like.
Guest: I know, I know. We got to see it a little bit over the weekend too, which was a nice refreshing break and getting that break in the weather comes just in time for a whole host of activities that are coming up. Starting on June the 6th, this is just a few days away on Saturday, the Carriage House Yard Sale.
Paul Szmal: Yes, so we're hosting a yard sale, a variety of items from our gift shop on June 7th and June 16th. The yard sale will be rain, will run rain or shine, so fingers crossed we have the beautiful weather continues until next weekend. As I said, it's going to be a mix of vintage and new items and all proceeds are going to benefit our programs and operations. So on the 6th it'll go from 10 a.m to 4 p.m and then on the 7th from 12 to 4 p.m.
Guest: Yeah, then you're going to find some potential good finds, especially if you're into vintage stuff there at that Carriage House Yard Sale. The Johnston House is going to be having an open house. This is coming up on the 13th.
Paul Szmal: Yes, so Johnston House has been closed for a couple years now. We're very excited to have it reopened. So this was built by Scottish immigrant John Johnston and the house stands on the original farmland where Johnston became a vocal advocate of improved farming techniques including drain tile. He was the first farmer in the United States to actually use drain tile to increase the productivity of his farm. So the Johnstons lived on site from about 1822 to 1877. So we've reinterpreted the first and second floor. So there's exhibits, there's interactive spaces and a research room and along with the reinterpretation we really spent a lot of time with renovation. So it's got modern electricity and heating. We stabilized the first floor. We replaced the windows. So the site will be open on June 13th from 11 a.m to 3 p.m. We'll have another open house in July. However, it's also open by appointment only. So if you want to call 315-789-5151 or email rosehill at historicgeneva.org you can have an appointment to tour the house on your own.
Guest: That is fascinating to me that drain tile was used for the first time at the Johnston House Farm.
Paul Szmal: It was. It was and a lot of the other farming practices that Johnston advocated very commonplace today but was considered rather radical in the mid-1800s. So he rotated his crops. He planted timothy to add nutrients back into the ground. He used manure as fertilizer and of course he used the drain tile.
Guest: Wow. And we have several examples of the drain tile at the museum. So if you're kind of into that sort of thing the Johnston House is the place to visit. And hopefully not several samples of manure.
Paul Szmal: Yes I hope so. I hope not either.
Guest: Yes of course.
Paul Szmal: We are talking with Kerry Lippincott about some of the activities happening with Historic Geneva and at Rose Hill Mansion. And speaking of Rose Hill in honor of Juneteenth there is a free admission day.
Guest: Yes so Juneteenth is a holiday held every year on June 19th and it basically um it it's a holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. So it specifically marks June 19th 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston Texas to announce the official end of the Civil War and that all enslaved people were free. So thanks to Community Bank we are offering free admission to anyone that would like to come to Rose Hill on June 19th. The first tour is at 10 30 a.m and the last tour will be at 3 30. So I believe schools are out. It's considered a state holiday so I'm sure people will be off and if you're looking for something to do you're more than welcome to come to Rose Hill.
Paul Szmal: Yeah great activity to take the kids over to and show them a little bit of history. And one of the other things that is happening at Rose Hill is the concert series. This is something that goes on every year and I love the lineup that we've got on June 21st.
Guest: Oh yes one of our most popular um the Cool Club and the Lipker Sisters are going to be performing on June 21st. We're very excited I think it's been over 10 years that we've been hosting the concert series at Rose Hill so it's free and open to the public. We hold it in the backyard of Rose Hill. You're more than welcome to bring a picnic dinner, long chairs and blankets are encouraged and just enjoy an evening of music to end a nice weekend on the Fingerling. So again if you enjoy jazz, boogie woogie, ragtime or swing you'll enjoy the Cool Club and the Lipker Sisters. And the concert goes from 5 to 7 p.m and again it's free and open to the public and we're grateful to the Delavan Foundation who's been a great supporter of our concert series since the beginning.
Paul Szmal: I love the idea of jazz and swing for some reason that just seems to go together with Rose Hill I don't know why.
Guest: Oh I don't know I mean it's really cool you could really sit anywhere um and just enjoy the music and again fingers crossed I always get nervous this time of year we have lots of events planned outside I just hope the weather um cooperates for us.
Paul Szmal: I'll put it in order with the big guy I don't know how far I'll get with it but yeah we'll we'll certainly do our best.
Guest: I'll take all the help I can get yes.
Paul Szmal: Yeah and yet another activity at Rose Hill this is a neat one in advance of America's 250th birthday an afternoon tea on June 27th the theme of this is an 1876 centennial celebration so we're rolling the clock back here.
Guest: Yes just a little bit so this is a brand new series for us um so traditional tea service will feature a variety of teas we've got finger sandwiches scones and desserts and then along with the tea service um a historic Geneva staff member will lead a program about life during the 1800s um so it's gonna each month we'll focus on a different aspect of the Rose Hill story uh so for our very first tea June 27th from 1 to 3 p.m. we're gonna talk about um the centennial celebration so um on July 4th 1876 the United States celebrated the 100th anniversary with celebrations across the country and we know that Geneva hosted several community-wide events and the Swan family was very much a part of those celebrations so you can enjoy some tea and some finger sandwiches and then learn how um the Swans and other Genevans uh celebrated the centennial celebration other topics we're going to talk about domestic and farm workers uh food in the 19th century and then um death and mourning customs the tea is $35 per person um or if you'd like to purchase the entire series it's $120 and you can go um to our website to purchase tickets or call Rose Hill at 315-789-3848
Paul Szmal: I know I'm looking forward I love tea so I'm very excited to to host this at how many uh Carrie how many uh events are a part of that um so for our tea all together we'll be hosting four teas so we'll have one in July August and September so there's four all together
Guest: Yeah there you go there you go yeah I I'm curious about the food presentation that's going to be in August right yep that will be yes that'll be in August yeah we're going to talk about what the Swans produced on their farm but then also what was available for purchase and we know that there were a variety of general stores and bakeries and different things in Geneva so what were what were people um producing at home but what was also available for sale so that should be an interesting program as well
Paul Szmal: Yeah I want I don't know if this is going to compare to the little house on the prairie series of books but I can remember reading those and it seemed like one of the main staples at least in the part of the country where Laura Ingalls Wilder was with salt pork
Guest: Oh yes um I would say that's more like a more of a frontier type of food um I think you'd be surprised the Swans were today standards would be pretty wealthy so you'd be surprised on what was what was available to them I know oysters were very popular and I just can't imagine
Paul Szmal: Yeah yeah yeah we have a breakfast menu where it has oyster fritters on for for breakfast and I just can't imagine having oysters for breakfast
Guest: Yeah that's that does that does sound a little bit well it's different um it doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing if you if you like oysters so
Paul Szmal: No no no no yeah yeah so I mean it's a you know that's kind of like having an omelet for dinner so it works I guess
Guest: Yes I guess so yeah yeah yeah and of course Rose Hill Mansion continues to be open through guided for uh guided tours throughout the course of the summer
Paul Szmal: Yeah so we are Rose Hill officially open uh for the season we're open uh Tuesday through Saturday from 10 to 4 and Sunday uh 12 to 4 um we've got two exhibits in our east tenant cottage one that talks about the workers at Rose Hill the other is how we do historic preservation at the site we also in addition to our regular guided tours we've got two specialty tours so we've got behind the scenes and preserving uh Rose Hill behind the scenes tour is the first and third Saturday of the month at 11 and then preserving Rose Hill is on selected Sundays and Wednesdays and that talks about how the site has sort of evolved over time and some of our preservation projects as well
Guest: Yeah and those tours are not the same as the regular tour so if you've done the regular tour and you want to go a little bit deeper you can with these two opportunities
Paul Szmal: Yes complete we like to say completely different so if it's been a while since you've been to Rose Hill I would say you definitely have to do one of the specialty tours you'll get a different perspective on the mansion now you do need reservations for those tours I want to emphasize that so we'll tell you how here at the end of the conversation uh Carrie anything going on at the Geneva Museum here as we move on into the month of June
Guest: Um yeah we just we have opened a new exhibit it's called uh to form a more perfect union and it's just talking about how um the revolution the American Revolution uh lives on in Geneva how we're still um talking about civil rights voting rights um equality the environment education so that opened last week so um we kind of shift once May rolls around we shift focus from the museum um to Rose Hill but we'll have some walking tours coming up in July
Paul Szmal: Okay now if people want to make a reservation for a tour at Rose Hill to find out more information about Rose Hill how do they do that
Guest: They can go right to our website historicgeneva.org um and that's where all the information you can see the different times and register not only for the tours but also for the teas as well if you're interested
Paul Szmal: All right thanks so much Carrie we'll check in with you uh in July right but right I I believe uh it'll fall right before the 4th so
Guest: Oh okay great
Paul Szmal: All right
