From a Hole in the Ground

Doesn't it seem like those “hole in the wall” type places are always the best? Such as that “hole in a wall” diner that sells the best burgers in the county. Well what about a “hole in the ground”? I know of a hole in the ground that has become my favorite place on Earth.

It just so happens that Silver Dollar City got its start as a literal hole in the ground- a cave attraction. The cave, Marvel Cave, was discovered in the 1500s by the Osage Indians. In the 1880s adventure seekers began exploring the cave by lowering themselves down the 200 feet, by rope, into the main chamber. In the early 1900s regular cave tours began. By the 1920s Marvel Cave was a well-established attraction.

The Herschend family visited the cave in 1946 and fell in love with it. Then in 1950 they took over the management and tours of the cave. In 1954 a traveling salesman's story planted the idea in Hugo Herschend's mind to recreate an 1880s mining town.

In 1960 Silver Dollar City opened. It was named after a promotional idea of giving visitors silver dollars as change. Little money was spent on advertising, but the word of mouth was tremendous.

Each employee at the city is not called an employee, but a citizen and dresses in a 1880s costume. In the first year SDC brought in more then 125,000 visitors; four times more then the cave was drawing.

In the first 50 years Silver Dollar City has won several awards and has had 65 million guests from all over the world.

"From natural wonder to international attraction, it all started with a hole in the ground."

*To read more about Silver Dollar City's history please click here*

Won't You Be My New Neighbor

I was watching History Detectives reruns today and noticed an ad on the side for a new show called Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. What really drew me to the ad was the font.  It is the same font that was used for Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.

I decided to check the show out and learned that it is an animated spin off featuring Daniel Tiger, son of Daniel Striped Tiger.  Other characters from Make-Believe will appear all grown older.

Like many my age and older, I have a love for Mr. Rogers. We even discussed him in one of my media classes because of his efforts to get VHS promoted over BETA for home use. He wanted parents to be able to record his show, and other educational programs, to watch together with their children.

(I found a video on youTube a while back showing Fred Rogers speaking about VHS, but it's no longer up. I'll try to find it again.)

I'm so thankful from Fred Rogers and all the work he did for educational and public television. He was a very upstanding and honorable person. I can't imagine the world without Fred Rogers and Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.

Jan Berenstain

I posted back in January about the Berenstain Bears and the autobiography of Stan & Jan Berenstain I was reading.  The Berestain Bears are very close to my heart, so I'm sad to post that Jan Berenstain passed away Friday, February 24, 2012.  Stan Berenstain passed away in 2005, so the creators of the Berenstain legacy are no longer with us.  But the Berenstains and their Bears will forever live on in the hearts and minds of children and adults. 

Photo source

160 Years of Singer

It's interesting that my last post was about the history of the sewing machine...then today I was reminded that Singer Sewing Machines is celebrating their 160th year.  They came out with The Singer 160 Limited Edition sewing machine to celebrate the anniversary.  The machine is styled after the vintage Singer Featherweight and some of their other machines, but has all the modern functions.

As I said in my last post, vintage solid metal sewing machines will always be my favorite...but the Singer 160 is beautiful!

Singer has created a neat website where you can share your Singer story.  Along the top is a timeline showing important dates and images from Singer history. 

Fun fact from the timeline- The '68 Elvis Presley Comeback Special was solely sponsored by the Singer Brand!

Sewing Machines

If you don’t know already…I love sewing machines!  I have a pretty decent collection of new and used machines ranging from 10-99 years old. 

You can’t use and see as many sewing machines as I have without beginning to think about how sewing machines got started. 

I did a little research and wanted to share a little info about how sewing machines came to be...

Prior to the sewing machine invention all sewing was done by hand.  This took a lot of time and kept pre-made clothes from being anywhere near affordable.   Small items such as double pointed needles were invented in attempts to speed up sewing, but it still wasn’t the breakthrough that was needed.

In 1846 Elias Howe invented and patented the first automatic sewing machine. 

 Photo Source

Eight years later Isaac Singer patented the first home sewing machine. 

 Photo Source

Singer was inspired by Howe’s machine, but as a trained engineer he made multiple improvements on the design.  Singer also invented the foot (or treadle) powered machine which further enhanced his clever design.  However, as you can imagine, Howe found out about Singer’s machines and started some legal trouble.  Several inventors ended up coming together to create the Sewing Machine Combination to share the patents. 

In 1889, machines began to turn electric.  The first electric machines had a small motor strapped to the side as though it wasn’t a real part of the design.  As more and more homes added electricity the motors became an integrated part of the sewing machine casing.

 

After learning all this it’s incredible how little sewing machines have changed in the last 100+ years…and really since 1854.  Improvements have been made, but the basics are all still the same. 

All of my machines have the same type of bobbin, they have variable stich sizes, they also all have feed dogs, presser feet, and foot/knee pedals.  Sure, higher end sewing machines have become a lot more technical and computerized.  However at the end of the day I would rather use a 50-60 year old sewing machine than anything else!

 

The Berenstain Bears Celebrate 50 Years!

If you're like me you grew up reading The Berenstain Bear books!  They are classic and I still read the chapter books on occasion when I want a light read.  I think my favorite ever Berenstain Bear book is No Girls Allowed!  The reason I loved the book so much as because the illustrations showed the clubhouses the boy bears and girl bears played in. (When I was a kid I LOVED anything to do with really cool clubhouses and tree houses...ok, I actually still love treehouses!) 

I opened my email today and there was a News from the Berenstain Bears email in my inbox (yes I'm almost 25 and subscribed to the Berenstain Bear newsletter).  The email announced that 2012 in the 50th anniversary of the Berenstain Bears.  Throughout the entire year Stan and Jan Berenstain will be celebrating the 50th anniversary and sharing fun facts and info about the books. 

Here's some interesting details about Stan and Jan creating the Berenstain Bear concept and writing the first book.

Photo source (also includes some interesting facts)

Vintage Coca-Cola Decor

I've blogged before about how I love vintage Coca-Cola advertising...

Jeremiah and I decided we wanted diner type food on Thursday so we went to a new place (sorry, can't remember what it's called).  We went in and it was full of tons of amazing vintage Coca-Cola decor!  I filmed part of it because it was so awesome and I wanted to show it to my dad :)

Here's the clip...