Here at Hammock, you’ll find lots of shoe junkies. From spikey black stiletto boots to jeweled flip-flops, we love to experiment with different styles. What you see on someone’s feet tells you a lot about who they are. So to learn more about the lives of colonists for our May/June issue of American Spirit, the magazine we publish for the Daughters of the American Revolution, our resident shoe connoisseur, Shannon McRae, followed the path of footwear in early America and found revealing tidbits about colonists, their sense of style and the influence of shoes on early American movements and customs.
Our Visions of America series takes readers on a journey of another kindﾑa pictorial walk through the history of Americaﾕs quintessential emblem of freedom, the Liberty Bell. From the bellﾕs beginnings as a symbol of the Quaker vision of freedom to its evolution into a universal icon, we explore its surprising past, as well as the mystery behind what the bell sounded like, where its legendary crack came from and what became of a replica bell the DAR helped cast years ago.
Another image revered by most Americans is the U.S. Capitol. Ironically, the designer behind this famous structure was a man who dabbled in many fields, but lived in obscurity. We delve into little-known life of William Thornton, a self-educated savant who gained respect among his contemporaries for his scientific, medical and architectural contributions, but whose legacy has largely been forgotten.
We also turn the spotlight on another group of Americans relegated to history’s shadowsﾑentrepreneurial women known as ﾒshe-merchantsﾓ who owned importing businesses. In an era when men dominated trade, these progressive women overcame hardship and limited legal rights to expand their empires. Maybe youﾕve never heard the names of ﾒMargaret Hardenbroekﾓ or ﾒElizabeth Murrayﾓ before, but after hearing their stories, youﾕll never forget them.