The Bullfrog Inn

12/02/2024

Shop small this holiday season! My handwoven tape “Bendel” bookmarks are for sale at Historic Trappe and The Schwenkfelder

11/01/2024

Allhallowtide is a time to remember the dead — yesterday was All Hallows’ Eve, today is All Saints’ (Allerheil) and tomorrow is All Souls’ (Aller Seel). I’d like to remember someone who died almost 150 years ago, because his death perplexes me.

In October 1875, Pastor Oswin Frederick Waage entered the death of Daniel Scheid into the church record of Christ Lutheran Church in Trumbauersville, Bucks County. Daniel was only 20 years old and succumbed to tuberculosis — a disease that would claim one in seven Americans in that century. Normally, tuberculosis settles in the lungs and causes bloody coughs and fever, but Daniel’s infection had moved into his neck’s lymph nodes. He would have developed a large mass in his neck accompanied by blueish bumps on the skin.

The Scheid family had just mourned the death of its patriarch, Reuben, seven months earlier and mother Esther had to rely on her remaining younger children to survive: 17-year-old Charles found work in a shoe factory and 14-year-old William worked at a local foundry.

It’s so very tragic — and then there’s Pastor Waage’s comment next to Daniel’s death entry. “A Lazarus!” An allusion to the New Testament man who was brought back from death. I assume Daniel revived after death, or at least, after he was thought to be dead. What a curious notation in this old church record.

10/27/2024

For Halloween, I have a ghost story for you from the Oley Valley in Berks County.

Yost Yoder died in 1742 and was sorely missed from the old homestead along the Manatawny Creek. His daughter Elisabeth, especially, wondered about him — Where was he? How was he?

On an August morning the year following her father’s death, Elisabeth sensed his presence in the home. So overcome was she, that she couldn’t eat or sleep. The next day, while outside at work, something pulled her back into the house. And there, sitting on the bed, was her father — dressed and looking just as he did in his coffin a year earlier. Elisabeth ran back outside, fell to the ground, and began shaking violently.

Her mother was worried and arranged for her daughter to go to a neighboring farm for a few days’ rest. But Elisabeth found no rest there; something deep inside pulled her back home. The next morning, she returned and went straight to the bedroom. The room turned pitch black and silent, an eerie feeling surrounded her. She wasn’t alone. Just then a bright light appeared in the darkness — the glowing ghost of her father, Yost Yoder!

They spoke with each other, and she learned that he had returned from the grave to tell her two important things. One: to heed her mother. And two: to heed the “Frenchman” — for he preaches the truth. Elisabeth tried asking more questions, but all that came was a warning. She would suffer a terrible illness in the coming days and come close to death — whereupon she would recover. With that, her father's ghost disappeared.

That evening, Elisabeth fell ill, declining slowly over the next two days, until finally on the third night those who watched over her were certain that death had come calling again at the Yoder home. But by morning, exhausted, Elisabeth awoke, gaining in strength, and ready to tell everyone her story.

And so, it was written up from Elisabeth’s own retelling and published by Christopher Sauer in 1744 in a book of ghost stories. The “Frenchman” was George de Benneville, a Huguenot and Christian Universalist preacher who lived in the Oley Valley.

10/06/2024

Incredibly humbled that people think I have insight to share

Join us on October 18, 2024 at 7pm for a special presentation "Pennsylvania Dutch Studies: Past, Present, Future" by Dr. Joshua R. Brown visiting from University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. The presentation will be hosted in the DeLight E. Breidegam Building, Headquarters of the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center at Kuztown University.

A zoom option will be available for those who cannot attend in person. For more information, contact us at 610-683-1589 or [email protected].

“This presentation will show what we’ve done in Pennsylvania Dutch studies, what we’re doing now, and what we could do in the future. It will encourage discussion about the meaning of Pennsylvania Dutch identities, the focus of Pennsylvania Dutch studies on the past, and how we might keep Pennsylvania Dutch studies relevant for future generations.” - Dr. Joshua R. Brown

Josh Brown is the Skwierczynski University Fellow in Languages
and Professor of German and linguistics at the University of
Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Raised in Emmaus, he attended Millersville
University, the Philipps University in Marburg, Germany, and
lastly Penn State, where he received his Ph.D. He has authored
and edited many articles and books on the Pennsylvania Dutch
including Pennsylvania Germans: An Interpretive Encyclopedia and
Schwetz mol Deitsch: An Introductory Course in Pennsylvania Dutch.
As a folk weaver, his current interests are in Pennsylvania Dutch
material culture and language.

Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, Kutztown University
15155 Kutztown Road, Kutztown, Pennsylvania 19530
(610) 683-1589 · [email protected] · www.kutztown.edu/pgchc

08/31/2024

Some handwoven “Eckleit” dish towels on their way to a friend. The pattern is based on a blue and white linen bolster cover that is housed at The Goschenhoppen Historians in Green Lane, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The original is dated 1840-1860 and is in a traditional dobbelstein (plaid or check) pattern. The Eckleit ‘corner people’ are fairies that inhabit the corners of fields and gardens. Traditionally, the Pennsylvania Dutch would not plant in field corners so that wildflowers could grow there, keeping the Eckleit happy.

• I’m a weaver, professor, and Quaker. Like and follow The Bullfrog Inn on Facebook and Instagram to follow along as I celebrate Pennsylvania Dutch culture. •

08/24/2024

A Swedish-style ‘ripsmatta’ table runner handwoven by me for Kallie Friede and Jay Copland as they settle into their new home.

08/21/2024

Bendel ‘woven tape’ were an integral part of Pennsylvania Dutch households. The uses of tape were vast — anytime we use string, ties, and elastic today, necessitated the use of Bendel in previous centuries. Apron strings? Bendel. Pocket strings? Bendel. Pillow ties? Bendel. Stocking garters? Bendel! Although most weaving in the Pennsylvania Dutch country was done by professional weavers in the community, tape weaving was done at home on small box looms. I weave mine into bookmarks.

• I’m a weaver, professor, and Quaker. Like and follow The Bullfrog Inn on Facebook and Instagram to follow along as I celebrate Pennsylvania Dutch culture. •

07/26/2024

The newest addition to the Bullfrog Inn’s Tuliptree Collection is a 172-year-old Pennsylvania Dutch coverlet. Salomon Kuder (1806-1886) of Trexlertown, Lehigh County wove the coverlet three years before publishing a book on fiber dyeing techniques. Salomon made it for Eliza Markle (buried by my gggg uncle Reverend Joshua Yeager at the Morgenland Cemetery — site of the legendary meeting between a Civil War drummer and the devil) in Salisbury Township, Lehigh County.

• I’m a weaver, professor, and Quaker. Like and follow The Bullfrog Inn on Facebook and Instagram to follow along as I celebrate Pennsylvania Dutch culture. •

06/26/2024

“St. Gertrude” — I just finished weaving up some napkins based on a blue and white linen towel that is archived at The Schwenkfelder (Pennsburg, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania (artifact 2013.32.01)). The original is dated to the second half of the 19th century and is in a traditional dobbelstein (plaid or check) pattern. The pattern is named after St. Gertrude, the patron saint of gardens and an important figure in Pennsylvania Dutch folklife. On St. Gertrude’s Day, March 17, the Pennsylvania Dutch plant onions, peas, and potatoes and sprinkle the garden’s corners with the crumbs from a special bread called a datsch to bless the soil.

03/03/2024

The feedsack quilt top has been hand pieced and is now being basted as I get ready to hand quilt for the first time ever — wish me luck!

02/26/2024

Who remembers feed and flour sack clothes? I wanted a slow, meditative project, so I’m learning how to piece and quilt by hand with these feed sack fabrics from the 1930s and 1940s. Feed and flour sacks made from colorful printed cotton were an important part of rural America, especially in the first half of the 20th century. Frugal families made clothes, bags, quilts, and other household items out of them — a nice example of reusing material and reducing waste.

12/15/2023

Eau Claire folks — if you are looking for last minute holiday gifts, my handwoven brikkevevbånd bookmarks are available for sale at The Local Store & Volume One Gallery and Dotters Books — support local!