Book recommendations

[Laurie Verge]

Yes, it was included in her tale of touring the Booth route. Her biggest complaint was about being instructed on Maryland beaten biscuits. These are food items that are a part of our state heritage from colonial days and are still made by several bakeries today. They last forever because there is no leavening agent to cause them to spoil easily. However, they do get hard (think of hardtack crackers) and need to be put under damp cloths to revive them or use them in soups and stews.

The story of making them is unusual too because the dough actually has to be beaten with a hammer on (preferably) an oaken dough board for an extended period of time. The old saying is "half hour for family, but forty-five minutes for company."

Anyhow, our guide was explaining the technique to others in the tour group who were interested - but Sarah was not. Evidently, all she wanted was assassination-related history; and she flat out said that in the book. At Surratt House, we try to educate people on social and cultural history as well as the focal point of the Lincoln assassination. That evidently didn't go over well with Sarah - she would have been better off being on her own, private tour...