It HAD to Happen..... (more levity?!?)

[BettyO]

Years ago, the Surratt docents (yours truly included) used to do living history at the historic Beale Dawson House in Rockville, Maryland. Myself, Laurie, Joan Chaconas, Louise Oertley, Nancy Griffith - all the old Boothies, went and participated in this. It was a lot of fun! A very young Mike Kauffman would also show up occasionally. One year it was raining and we were bored. We couldn't go outside and float around in our hoop skirts, visitation was extremely low, and we just wafted through the house. Joan can play the piano. She sat down at the 1850s piano in the parlor and played "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree" to which Joan and I rewrote the lyrics to be "In the Shade of the Old Gallows Tree"......