Monday morning, 6:30 a.m.: I’m sitting on my couch half
asleep in my red fleece hoodie warm-ups, hugging a mug of hot coffee. As I
watch the morning news, the ribbon running across the bottom of the screen
proclaims, “Wilmington, 17 degrees.”
And now as I sit at my computer, my Lands End down vest over
my L.L. Bean turtleneck, I’m really looking forward to Thursday’s thaw.
My friends have been signing off their emails and phone
calls with a cheery, “Keep warm!”
Being cold in the winter brings up memories.
The first being about 10 year ago when I was hanging around
with “Mr. Re-enactor.”
The Director of Education with the Brandywine Battlefield
Park Associates, he was the consummate 18th century re-enactor. We were both members of the 43rd
Regiment of Foot; the 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment; the Weiser’s
Battalion as well as the Augusta Regiment.
During a weekend event he never stayed in hotels. He slept
in an 18th century tent with the rest of the diehards. And, as his dutiful
campfollower, I was expected to follow suit.
So, I’ve been drenched from an all-night downpour at Fort
Ticonderoga, N.Y.; nearly suffocated in the tent in the heat of tidewater
Williamsburg, Va. and froze my butt off in November’s frost at Hope Lodge, as
well as the meadows of Meander Plantation in the Shenandoah Valley of Va., all
in authentic 18th century clothing. In the latter, I crawled out of
our tent the first morning and found a thin layer of ice on the water bucket.
Needless to say I was not a happy camper.
It also brought to mind the evening of Jan. 21, 1984.
In my first years in Chadds Ford I used to keep a journal.
Not only did I write about that night, but included an article from the Daily
Local News as verification.
The day before had been downright cold, around 5 degrees.
That night it plunged even further.
The officially recorded overnight low in West Chester was
minus 16 degrees. Longtime Westtown farmer, the late Marshall Jones (remember
him?) had recorded minus 18 at his farm, the coldest he had recorded since a
minus 20 on February 9, 1934.
In my journal I noted Saturday night at 11:35 p.m. was a
minus 11 degrees, so I went outside just to stand and experience the
feeling. Hearing my father’s tales
of winters in North Dakota, I had always felt a little disadvantaged, having
only experienced the more temperate climate of Pennsylvania.
I awoke again at 6:45 a.m., with the temperature reading
minus 16, so I pulled on my jeans and jacket and stood outside to experience
that too.
It was absolutely still – total silence – not a sound. Not
even the usual chirping of the early morning sparrows as they gathered at my
feeder. Not even the din from distant Route 1 as the big rigs climbed the hill.
You could almost hear the air turn to ice crystals. It seemed surreal in the
early morning gray.
Brrr- Spring can’t come soon enough.
In that same old journal I also recorded the events of the
evening of April 22, 1984 – but I’ll save that for next week. Seems Chadds Ford has a lot in common
with California’s San Andreas Valley.
And by the way – keep warm.
About Sally Denk Hoey
Sally Denk Hoey, is a Gemini - one part music and one part history. She holds a masters degree cum laude from the School of Music at West Chester University. She taught 14 years in both public and private school. Her CD "Bard of the Brandywine" was critically received during her almost 30 years as a folk singer. She currently cantors masses at St Agnes Church in West Chester where she also performs with the select Motet Choir. A recognized historian, Sally serves as a judge-captain for the south-east Pennsylvania regionals of the National History Day Competition. She has served as president of the Brandywine Battlefield Park Associates as well as the Sanderson Museum in Chadds Ford where she now curates the violin collection. Sally re-enacted with the 43rd Regiment of Foot and the 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment for 19 years where she interpreted the role of a campfollower at encampments in Valley Forge, Williamsburg, Va., Monmouth, N.J. and Lexington and Concord, Mass. Sally is married to her college classmate, Thomas Hoey, otherwise known as "Mr. Sousa.”
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