Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “History”
The fascinating women of the 1800s were not dissimilar to you and I, even though their circumstances varied greatly and required extra doses of pluck. They loved and lost. They laughed and cried. They tried and failed. Many tried again and were victorious. Relationships and community mattered to them. Faith played an important role in their strength and resiliency. Mollie …
Bob and I live at the base of Mingus Mountain, home to the historic copper mining camp known as Jerome, Arizona. About sixteen years ago, my fellow writers and our friends, Stephen and Janet Bly, along with their son Aaron, came for a visit. Actually, our house served as home base during their research trip for Stephen and Janet’s contemporary …
Howdy, and welcome back to Bob’s Corner! Today, I thought we’d talk about another type of ore removal. Since a gold mine is normally thought of as a below-the-surface operation, we tend to think of mineshafts, elevators, and total darkness. In reality, Cripple Creek District gold is just as likely to be found in surface material. Or, at least material that …
I read fiction for a variety of reasons: compelling characters, fascinating settings, appealing hypotheses, historical information, a sense of community, spiritual nourishment, encouragement, distraction, insight, entertainment. Oh, yes, and the food. My favorite stories often feature teatime or mealtime conversations. It’s no wonder then that my Sinclair Sisters of Cripple Creek novels include dialogue centered around a supper table or a tray of goodies in a …
Luxurious fabrics. Stylish necklines and skirts with elegant swish and sway. The extravagant, Victorian ball gowns of the 1800’s. Ever wonder how those Victorian ladies achieved their extraordinary silhouettes? Layers upon layers of uncomfortable undergarments. Bestselling historical romance author Deeanne Gist commissioned professional seamstress Kelly Cochran to make Deeanne a ball gown she could wear to author events. Kelly provided Dee with an informational …
Bob here. Welcome back to my Corner. Today, I want to share a little about the workings of a hard-rock gold mine at the end of the 19th century. In the Cripple Creek District, the mines were mostly vertical shafts, blasted through solid granite. In a previous post, Headframes and Hoists, I explained that this had to do with the …
![deeanne-gist-photo[1]](https://www.monahodgson.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/deeanne-gist-photo1-e1376261534110.jpg)
I’m excited for you to meet or get to know Deeanne Gist better. Well-read copies of Love on the Line, Maid to Match, A Bride in the Bargain, Deep in the Heart of Trouble, Courting Trouble, The Measure of a Lady, and A Bride Most Beguiling, Dee’s historical fiction, line my bookshelves. I asked her to share a bit about the …
The pursuit of riches drew tens of thousands of colorful characters to Cripple Creek in the 1890s. The boom town provided me a canvas on which to draw my stories in The Sinclair Sisters of Cripple Creek Series. Good news! My hubby Bob agreed to flesh out the workings of a gold mining camp in that era for us. Headframes and Cable Hoists …
A checkered board with rounded game pieces—here in the United States, we know it as checkers, a timeless table game. While waiting to be seated at a restaurant in Phoenix, I watched a family of five gathered around a table. A father and daughter were engaged in a playful, but intense game of checkers. The opponent’s game pieces were being …
Remaining true to our annual tradition, the summer of 1996, my friend Shirley and I loaded the back of my Jeep and headed to a cabin in Northern Arizona. I would write and she would work on her music. That year, however, we encountered a big problem. No, it wasn’t a bear on the trail, the squirrels in the attic, …
