You Can Feel Their Presence Here!

[L Verge]

I'm showing my age and my upbringing here, Paige, but hominy and hominy grits were regular staples on our supper table when I was growing up. We had them as both starch and vegetable at least once or twice a month. My mother cheated and bought them in a can, however. Hot and with plenty of butter (and a tad of sugar on the grits), they are pretty good.

The twist of tobacco should have been familiar to you because we display them in the tavern, and most guides make a point of letting the visitors smell both the twists and the plugs. And we have "The Imp" plug cutter sitting on the bar itself. On the hearth, sits a spittoon to catch the juices. We tell folks that our tavern is lots cleaner today than it would have been in the Surratts' time. Can you imagine ladies' skirts dragging in tobacco spit that didn't reach the container? Or, muddy boots mixing with the spit? We have also read accounts where bar patrons would have spitting contests in the old taverns to see who could hit the "bulls-eye" hole of the spittoon.

Despite the abundance of tobacco in our area, cigarettes did not become popular in America until after the Crimean War when British soldiers began to use them, and the habit floated across The Pond.

P.S. One of the soldiers who posed with you should have been disciplined after the photo was taken. He did not look straight ahead while standing at attention.