by Kate Dolan | Aug 1, 2026 | Kate Dolan, Latest Posts, Living History, Romans, Servants, Uncategorized
Have you ever seen a colonial American house with fake windows? Or a building with very few windows? You may be told that people did that to avoid the British window tax. That’s not accurate, but when you learn about the creative ways that governments have tried to...
by Kate Dolan | Jul 4, 2026 | Colonial America, Holidays, Latest Posts, Living History
Today we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation’s independence. It wasn’t achieved in a single day. The Declaration of Independence wasn’t even signed in one day—and it wasn’t on July 4, either. But a celebration needs to be limited or it loses its effect and...
by Kate Dolan | May 31, 2026 | 19th Century America, Camping with History, Colonial America, Kate Dolan, Latest Posts, Living History, Travel
This was our fourth stay at this park, and I was determined I wasn’t going to write about history at this one. It’s not one of Florida’s older parks, and the only historical sites I remembered were the remains of the homestead of a cattle driver from...
by Kate Dolan | Apr 4, 2026 | 19th Century America, Faith, Holidays, Regency
I’ve written four short novels and tons of blogs that center on Christmas traditions in Regency England, but I never even considered what Easter might have been like. What were Jane Austen and her contemporaries doing to celebrate the holiday? I was pretty sure she...
by Kate Dolan | Mar 14, 2026 | Colonial America, Faith, Holidays, Latest Posts, Living History, The Irish
New York is generally considered to hold the world’s largest St. Patrick’s Day Parade. And they claim to be the oldest as well. But they’re not even close to holding that title. The first recorded St. Patrick’s Day parade was not in Boston, even though that city has...
by Kate Dolan | Feb 28, 2026 | 19th Century America, Camping with History
My husband will not believe what I’m about to say: I enjoy finding out that I’m wrong—at least when it comes to history. When a visit to a historic site reveals information that blows away my long-held assumptions, I find myself in a state of awe and wonderment. So,...
by Kate Dolan | Jan 31, 2026 | Kate Dolan, Latest Posts, Living History, Romans
We all know that the Egyptians mummified their kings and invested quite a bit of money and time in the process. What I didn’t know, until I saw an exhibit at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore recently, is that the Egyptians also mummified millions of animals with...
by Kate Dolan | Dec 10, 2025 | 19th Century America, Holidays, Uncategorized
We have lots of Christmas stockings. Some of them are so furry I feel like they should have a tail and a collar. Some have sequins. The oldest one is threadbare felt covered in sparkles and beads. None of them looks like anything you would or could wear, although my...
by Kate Dolan | Oct 14, 2025 | 19th Century America, Colonial America, Latest Posts, Living History, Travel
I love tourist traps—as long as they’re historic. I think it’s fun to imagine all the travelers who visted before me: parents in awe, children annoyed and underwhelmed and wondering when it’s time to eat. So, for years, every time we passed the billboards on I-81 in...
by Kate Dolan | Sep 30, 2025 | 19th Century America, Colonial America, Faith, Latest Posts, Living History, Religion and Magic
I went to secular public schools from pre-K through grade 12, so religion was not regularly addressed in school at all. Christmas was about Santa Claus and decorated trees. Easter focused on bunnies and eggs. Yet there was one religious event that managed to make it...
