Mossy Feet Books – Author Paul R. Wonning
Books About Indiana History, United States History and Garden Guides
The third of seven children born to Milton Wright and Susan Catherine Koerner Wright, Wilbur was born near Millville, Indiana. The family would remain in Indiana until 1869, when Milton Wright, a Bishop in the United Brethren Church, moved to Dayton, Ohio. The Wrights would return to Indiana in 1881, where Wilbur and his younger brother Orville took up kite flying. Continue reading Birthplace of Wilbur Wright and Museum
People celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by wearing green, displaying shamrocks and drinking green beer. The origins of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations and parades date back to almost the beginning of colonization. Continue reading The First Recorded Celebration Of St. Patrick’s Day in Boston
The charter granted by the Crown on March 3, 1629 stated that the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s General Court had to meet on an annual basis. This General Court admitted new freemen, chose officers, and made laws and ordinances for the good and welfare of the company. These laws could not conflict with Britain’s laws. The first meeting of this General Court at Boston occurred on October 19, 1630. The main order of business was to admit freemen to the colony. Continue reading Representative Government Birthed in Colonial America
The Minnetrista complex consists of the land once owned by the Ball Brothers, Muncie’s leading family of industrialists and philanthropists. All five Ball Brothers had homes along the 6 acre strip of land between the White River and Minnetrista Avenue. The brothers coined the name “Minnetrista,” from the Sioux word for water, “mna,” and the English word “tryst.” “Mna,” is pronounced as “mini.” The word means “a gathering place by the water.” Four of the five Ball brother’s homes still stand on the site Continue reading Podcast – Visiting the Minnetrista At Muncie, Indiana
In a precursor to Hine’s Raid and Morgan’s Raid, Confederate colonel Adam Rankin Johnson captured the town of Newburgh, Indiana using two “Quaker Guns” as a ruse to subdue the town and to his nickname, Stovepipe Johnson. Continue reading Podcast/Video – Historical Site – Newburgh Raid
After a trial in Plymouth for murder, the jury convicted John Billington of murder. Massachusetts Governor William Bradford, after consultation with the Massachusetts Bay Colony governor, decreed death by hanging for the convicted murderer. Continue reading The First Execution for a Crime in British North America
Governor John Winthrop turned many heads with his use of a “split spoon” as he sat at his meal. During this time, Winthrop likely owned the only fork in North America as the clergy considered split spoons evil. Opposed to the use of the new eating utensil they considered that the only thing worthy of touching “God’s food” were fingers. Many considered them effeminate since Thomas Coryate introduced them to England. Continue reading Before the Table Fork, there were Fingers and Knives
Organized in 2013 as the Freedom Heritage Museum, the museum opened in May 27, 2017, as the Evansville Wartime Museum. Evansville played a prominent role in World War II. During the war workers from the Republic Aviation manufactured the P-47 Thunderbolt and a shipyard on the Ohio River built the LSTs (Landing Ship, Tanks). The Evansville Wartime Museum acquired a P-47 Thunderbolt in 2020 from the Lone Star Flight Museum. Restorers repainted the aircraft in a paint scheme that mimicked the style of the P-47 manufactured in Evansville. The local Chrysler plant manufactured ammunition for the war effort. Continue reading Evansville Wartime Museum
John Augustus Reitz constructed the home in 1871.
John Augustus Reitz (May 13, 1815 – December 17, 1891)
The son of Franz Josef and Maria Franziska Gertrud Fredebolling Reitz, John was native to Dorlar, Prussia. He attended Esloh, which was one of the leading schools in Germany. In 1836 he emigrated to the United States, landing in Baltimore in December. From Baltimore he migrated to Louisville, Kentucky where he lived for about a year. Continue reading Podcast – Reitz Home Museum
After Hudson’s brief foray into the Hudson Bay in 1609, the next Dutchman to enter the Bay was merchant Arnout Vogels, who went on a secret mission to the Hudson Bay in 1611. His success on that trip caused him to make two more trips, in 1612 and 1613. These trips he did not keep secret resulting in competition from other merchants seeking to cash in. The Netherlands formed the New Netherlands Company on October 11, 1614, which received a three-year monopoly from the Netherlands’s government to establish a trading post. This post proved successful, however they did not get a renewal of the monopoly and they abandoned the post. The Dutch decided they needed a permanent presence in the area to ward off threats from the Spanish, French and English, thus they created the Dutch West India Company in 1621. Continue reading Podcast – The Beginnings of New Netherlands
Thanksgiving feasts were a common practice for the European settlers and their native neighbors. It was tradition for the Europeans to set aside days of thanksgiving. They celebrated for a bountiful harvest, drought-ending rains or other providential events. These events did not have any connection with their worship service. They were set during week and commonly involved fasting beforehand. After the fasting, they would have one or several days of celebratory feasting. The Indians had similar traditions. They had thanksgiving celebrations sporadically throughout the year for special events. Thus, both peoples had traditions of this type of celebration. Continue reading Podcast – The Earliest Possible Date for the First Thanksgiving Day
The Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial is a suitable memorial to the Sixteenth President, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln spent his boyhood years on Spencer County and grew up in the land around the Lincoln Boyhood Memorial and Lincoln State Park. Continue reading Podcast – Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial
By the early Seventeenth Century, Spanish settlement delved deep into the Caribbean, Mexico and South America. The Bolivian city of Potosi, Mexico City and Lima, Peru all had larger populations than any city in the parent nation, Spain. The colonists grew coffee, sugar, tobacco and other agricultural products for export to Europe. The silver and gold mines of the regions also supplied a vast quantity of wealth for Spain. The ship Nuestra Señora de Atocha carried a large quantity of this treasure in its holds when a hurricane sank it off the coast of Florida. Continue reading Podcast – Ill Fated Treasure Ship Nuestra Señora de Atocha Departs
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 April 15, 1865)
The son of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, Abraham was native to Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky. Continue reading Podcast – Abraham Lincoln
The earliest evidence of the European Honeybee in America comes from a letter drafted by the Council of the Virginia Company, dispatched to Governor and Council in Virginia. The letter noted that the colonists had ordered seeds, apple trees, pigeons, mastiff dogs and beehives. The shipment of bees arrived in Virginia sometime in March 1622 to serve as pollinators for the European crops. The bees would also produce honey and beeswax, which the native bees did not produce. Continue reading Podcast – First Report of European Honeybees in the Colonies
Located on the banks of the Wabash River, the 3,465 acre park features hiking, camping and picnicing in a serene setting a few miles from historic New Harmony. The varied landscape of Harmonie transforms from the flat Wabash River floodplains to the hilly terrain of the campground. Harmonie offers fantastic views of Indiana’s storied river, the Wabash. Sunsets can be spectacular from the Wabash River Picnic Area as the sun sets over the river. Picnicers can choose from seven other picnic areas scattered around the park. Its location about half an hours drive from Evansville and a few minutes south of Historic New Harmony make it an ideal spot from which to explore southeast Indiana. Continue reading Podcast – Harmonie State Park
Parliament had passed the Tea Act on May 10, 1773 to help the struggling East India Company compete with other tea importers. The legislation allowed the company to undersell their competition, including colonial tea smugglers. The company sent ships to Boston, New York, Charlestown, and Philadelphia in September 1773 with combined cargoes of over 500,000 pounds of tea. Tea importers in Charleston, New York, and Philadelphia, under pressure from local patriot groups, refused the shipments. However, the Boston merchants allowed the ships to dock. Continue reading Podcast – Boston Tea Party
Native tribes ceded the area to the United States in the Treaties of Vincennes 1803 and Fort Wayne in 1809. This area at the junction of the Wabash and Ohio Rivers was mainly wetland not suitable for farming and received the designation as swampland. The Wabash and Erie Canal Company received the land as a grant from the Congress on March 2, 1827. The canal company failed. A man named Charles J. Hovey received ownership of the land in the 1880’s. Continue reading Podcast – Hovey Lake State Fish & Wildlife Area – Mount Vernon
Commodore Charles Knowles anchored his ship, the HMS Cornwall, in Boston Harbor in mid-November 1747 to retrofit and re-supply it. British seamen worked under harsh discipline, thus many of the crew deserted while the ship lay at anchor. When the ship prepared to depart, the ship was short of crew, so Commodore Knowles sought to replenish his crew by impressing Bostonians into naval service. Continue reading Podcast – Beginning of the Boston Impressments – Sparked the Knowles Riots
Philanthropist William Maclure established the Institute in 1838. The Working Men’s Institute inhabited a wing in the Harmonist Church until 1894. In that year, it moved to this impressive building three-story structure on Tavern Street. The Institute at one time comprised 144 Institutes in Indiana and additional sixteen in Illinois at its height. The Working Men’s Institute has dwindled to this location. This is the oldest continuously operating library in Indiana. Continue reading Working Men’s Institute Museum & Library
Mossy Feet Books - Author Paul R. Wonning 