Pioneers’ Yellow Roses: blooming on the Cartwright kitchen steps

Pioneers’ Yellow Roses: blooming on the Cartwright kitchen steps

Yellow roses appear briefly in three scenes within COURTING MISS CARTWRIGHT. Yellow roses, particularly Harison’s Yellow, are found strewn along the Oregon trail, blooming feral alongside abandoned ruins of cabins and clapboard houses in ghost towns, and originated in 1824 New York. This article contains the ‘Cemetery Scene’ where Felicity, new to Mountain Home and seeking answers. visits the cemetery and first notices the yellow roses on her father’s grave. This scene is the first conversation between sisters who’ve not known about each other until their father’s will brought them together the evening before–and they’d been barely civil.

Styling Ladies’ Hair, American 19th Century

Styling Ladies’ Hair, American 19th Century

Though women wore their hair (for the most part) very long during the Victorian era, they still “styled” their hair with curls and bangs (false or real), twists, braids, updos of all kinds… Vintage newspaper articles illustrate women’s hair fashions of the late Victorian era.

Old West Barber Shop Haircuts

Old West Barber Shop Haircuts

The Old West Barber Shop Blog Series continues. This article includes images of historic barber chairs, an antique towel steamer (and hot water dispenser), line art of the era illustrating the pedestal used in lieu of a barber’s chair, images from mail-order catalogues showing tools of the trade available for home purchase, and patents for barber chairs and devices. This series’ upcoming posts will detail Victorian-era men’s hairstyles, bath houses, bath tubs, shower baths, ingenious furniture-bath-tub combinations, and ladies’ hair salons.

Victorian Shaving, Part 2

Victorian Shaving, Part 2

This second of two articles about Victorian Shaving includes the advent of the Safety Razor–with patent details, historical images, advertisements in period newspapers and mail-order catalogs. A YouTube video shows proper shaving techniques with a safety razor. This article is part of a Blog Series about all things Old West Barber Shop and Ladies Hair Salons.

Victorian Shaving, Part 1

Victorian Shaving, Part 1

Old West (and simply Victorian-American) Barber Shops offered shaves as well as haircut services. This article focuses on straight-blade razors of the era, how a barber shaved his patrons with a straight blade, and how to strop (sharpen) a straight-blade razor. This article is part of a many-part blog series about Victorian-era Barber Shops and Ladies Hair Salons.