This One’s For The Girls!

Day 12, July 2, 2013 Tuesday

This One’s For The Girls!

Well, I’ve seen countless forts, muskets, musket shooting, cannons, cannon shooting demos, men marching and infantry, that I gotta get some female type stuff for the hormones in here somewhere!  So...today is dedicated to the girls!!!!

Laura Secord was 37 when she had a bunch of American’s invite themselves to come stay at her farm and eat her food, make themselves at home and stay awhile.  Laura kindly fed them and gave them comfortable shelter, and at meal time, loose lips prevailed and someone overheard a conversation of the Americans talking about their plans to do a surprise attack on Fitzgibbons' guerrillas at Queenston Heights. This was told to Laura Secord, and she decided to do something about it. 

She snuck out of her home at about 3:30 am to walk/hike some 20 miles to go warn Fitzgibbons about the planned attack, got home and the Americans were “non the wiser”.  Historians say they (the American Army) probably figured they didn’t have to worry about their conversation because her husband lay upstairs with wounds in his shoulder and leg from the battle at Queenston heights, and she, being a woman wouldn’t understand what they were talking about.  They were “dead” wrong!

 Fitzgibbons, his men and 200 indians set a trap, and got 540 American prisoners, and no casualties for them, due to the forewarning.  

This wasn’t the first time Laura saved someone...her husband was at battle and hadn’t returned home so she actually went up to look for him. It was literally up hill, and steep (we drove the area). She found him at Queenston Heights by going through the field of dead soldiers, and while there was a lull in the fighting, she got her husband off the field, to safety, and got assistance to bring him home.  

This wasn’t the first time she would save her husband either.  The doctors wanted to amputate his arm at the shoulder and his one of his legs, but she refused to let them take the limbs, left the musket balls in his body where they lay, and proceeded to nurse him back to health.  He lived another 27 years.  They say now that if the amputations had happened he probably would have died, not from the amputations, which would have been done at the same time, but from infection and complications in healing at that time period.

Yeah Laura!  And...don't mix up the young looking Laura Secord on the now famous chocolates with the old Laura Secord who is a Canadian War hero.  The only portrait/picture of Laura was done when she was 87.  One Laura Secord is purely marketing and the other is...well like I said, a national hero.   Incidently, in 1913 a chocolate company figured it would be a good idea to use a heroine from history to name their chocolate after.  They picked Laura Secord, asked permission from the Secord family to use the name, and the rest is sweet, chocolatey history.  

When the area for her homstead was being refurbished, the Laura Secord chocolate company paid for the re-furbishment of the homestead and area.  Thank you again Laura Secord!  We bought chocolates to say our Thank you to the Laura Secord company to pay for the refurbishment of this important woman in our Canadian history.

Status was also alive and well in the early 1800's.  We learn at the Laura Secord homestead that people of this day and age, were quick to show class and rank in society; the calling card would be the first indication of the guests rank in society by way of design and expense put forth in the card, another example was they put their best furniture in the parlour- this was where typically visitors/guests would be stationed during their visit-normally they wouldn't go into the kitchens or other regular living quarters of the house.  People would also display their cone of sugar in their front windows.  The sugar cones had a distinct blue colour paper, and anyone who had sugar had money and by placing it in the front window, the neighbours could see it.  They spend more money and had more windows on the front of their houses then the back too.  Funny how 200 years later we haven't changed that much...sad, but true.

Inside the visitors centre, I get my first chance to do weaving via loom .  Pretty simple design = pretty simple weaving - it was fun.

We head out to the Niagara Parks  Butterfly Conservatory to see the butterflies.  The place was full of them, and they were so beautiful, but to me it seemed like they were flying in a frenzy. 

I did manage to get a couple sitting still, but believe me it was difficult.  The place was so full of people and loud, I really think the butterflies were manic!  

They didn’t seem to come to rest for long - maybe that's what they are truly like...I don’t know...

Niagara Museum is where we learn more about Niagara region, the Italian perspective in WWII, and some more 1812 history and artifacts.  This time we get to try on Officer’s dress of 1812 and hold a musket.  This was fun, and well...I make a pitiful soldier, could barely hold the musket long enough for Phil to get a shot (it was heavy!) but it was interesting to experience the weight of these coats, and the awkwardness of the shako (hat).  I don’t think I would have made a good militia man!

Onto Fort Erie for the last hour of business of the day.  This Fort was quite a bit smaller to Fort George now, and back in history.  It’s directly across the river from Buffalo, New York, a short cannon ball distance away. In the winter, the deserters could quite simply walk across the ice to the American side.

We saw another musket shooting demo, this time Lucas got to yell “fire” and they also told us when to snap the picture so we could capture the firing on film...I mean SD.  My timing was right on today!

Was a full day.  We have a great Greek supper not far away from the hotel and get “home” for an early night.  Tomorrow we plan on seeing the Botanical Gardens, dip our feet in Lake Ontario, which will be the 3rd great lake that has experienced our toes, and then on to Hamilton area.