Many thanks!!!

[Bill]

Re: Many thanks!!!

The funny thing was you did such a great job at it, that I had a couple of people approach me in "Cuba" about your attitude. They didn't realize that it was all part of your firper and it all began prior to the event.

Tyler,

Now, that's really funny! Once upon a time, I was a First Sergeant in the real Army and I felt your pain. Sometimes, it's really tough to balance the mission with the needs of the men. You managed to perform the mission with a very limited number of men and keep everybody happy. (Well, almost everybody!) Great job.

BTW, I tried to be equally unpleasant to most of the various civilians I came in contact with, especially the ladies in the McDonald house. Private Cronk was not a happy camper! He didn't want to be in the Army and he sure didn't want to be in Westville!

[Tyler Underwood]

Re: Many thanks!!!

Thanks for the kind words Bill, It was a pleasure meeting you. I didn't mind at all, it helped add to my persona. The funny thing was you did such a great job at it, that I had a couple of people approach me in "Cuba" about your attitude. They didn't realize that it was all part of your firper and it all began prior to the event.

Again it was great meeting you and I do look forward to seeing you in the future.

[Bill]

Re: Many thanks!!!

I would also like to thank all of Company I for allowing me the privilege of serving as your orderly sgt.,

Tyler,

You did an outstanding job with short notice. I hope my constant bitching and complaining wasn't too much of a pain in the butt.

Bill Rodman (the evil Pvt. Cronk)

[Tyler Underwood]

Re: Many thanks!!!

Maybe if we feed Jim enough swamp monsters we could talk him into doing another one.:)

[forrestcav]

Re: Many thanks!!!

I hope deeply that there will be another Westville event. While I enjoy my role as a troopper, I feel a deep calling to run the bellows at the blacksmith shop, although some time on the lacing pony in the boot shop would work as well.

[Johnny Lloyd]

Re: Many thanks!!!

The best events are where we learn something new about the period. I can safely say I did just that at the Restaurant. Also, the firper there was some of the best I've had in the hobby in 14 years. MANY thanks!

[Homespun Ma]

Re: Many thanks!!!

Paul, I was not the least bit offended as I knew you were busy. I had already been down to the farmhouse for eggs and to reserve a chicken. I am sure they weren't expecting visitors at 6:30 am , nor were you. The red peppers were a nice addition to our red beans and rice. I don't think Mr. Locke used his tea in brick form, we had some gunpowder tea and fashioned a teabag to use with that. Sunday seemed to be our late morning too, I think everyone was running a little behind by then. I saw your menu, congratulations on pulling off that sort of variety in the setting that you did!

Lauren Ehas, aka Mrs. Walker of the boarding house
Liberty Guards

[Stonewall_Greyfox]

Re: Many thanks!!!

Anyone know how particular W-ville is about paint? With exception to the FARB-o'licous blaze orange on the mantle, the rest of the colors in that place were great, though VERY tired, and could do with some freshening...was thinking should there be another evolution of W-ville events, it might be nice to get some paint up in there...

In truth, that floor could probably still use a good many sweepings/washings...whose got the bricks?

Paul B.

[Johnny Lloyd]

Re: Many thanks!!!

We heard you in the boarding house, Paul, but we were too tired to notice you building the Restaurant. It is GREAT to see the steps of the Rawson house are restored, on that note. We swept it out the day prior and it was pretty dilapidated. Good job on the impromptu restoration! That place needed it.

[Stonewall_Greyfox]

Re: Many thanks!!!

Lauren – you are quite welcome for the red peppers. Those came out of our garden this summer at Dry Bridge. I do hope I wasn’t too short when you came by in the morning, we were already very busy in the prep. Were you able to cut flakes of tea with a knife?

With exception to Thursday morning (of which we did not go to bed until 0630) and Sunday morning (which we were dragging on, getting out of bed @ 0800), mornings started between 0500-0600, with Bill Mac staying up all night polishing the flatware (Friday night - Saturday morning), and buffing the glassware. First task was to stoke the cookfires, second task was to get a candle lit in the hallway, and light the lanterns on the porch.

I hope that our late night rackit Weds. Evening – Thursday morning did not cause too much consternation for those on our end of town. We had a lot to move along, and it seemed prudent to push through the night. I do feel bad, that we forewent assisting Mrs. Simpson with breakfast on Thursday, as Joe Caridi and both were looking forward to working with her.

Evenings were late running up to 2100 on the cleanup, + any remaining work, and entertaining we elected to do following. Trust me when I say there was never any trouble sleeping when we found a moment to do so.

Were any of our team to be afflicted with the idea of doing a restaurant again, there are a few things we would do differently of course…needed 1-2 dedicated extra hands (Mr. Harrelson was a godsend, coming on board at the last minute), and we’d have 2 washing stations (1 for glassware, flatware, and 1 for dishware).

More thoughts to come later.


Paul B. (William Harper, propr. The Star Restaurant)

[Matthew Young]

Re: Many thanks!!!

Thanks for the photo link, Ken!

[Lauger]

Re: Many thanks!!!

Thank you for posting those pictures on Fliker. They are the only pictures of me!

[MissMia]

Re: Many thanks!!!

I look forward to hearing the AAR of the Star restaurant...I've only heard rave reviews and I'm sure it was quite the experience.
Huzzah to everyone who came to Westville and made it such a wonderful event!!

-"Charity"
aka cook/house servant of the Singer home.

[Homespun Ma]

Re: Many thanks!!!

Though I did not dine in the restaurant, I had the opportunity to see a bit behind the scenes. I walked over quite early in the morning and Paul was kind enough to share some dried red peppers and black pepper with me, for which I was very grateful. The staff was hard at work and it wasn't even light out yet. I am sure they put in some long days in order to have the variety of foods on the menu that they did. It is a job just to turn out one full meal for a group of people, much less have choices available.

Lauren Ehas, aka Mrs. Walker at the Boarding House
Liberty Guards

[Stonewall_Greyfox]

Re: Many thanks!!!

Firstly, let me give the organizers particularly Jim Butler and Bev. Simpson a hearty thankyou for getting behind the vision of the Restaurant. We could not have made this happen without their support of 'the vision'. The news of the availability of the Rawson House stepped things up a notch for us, and I hope we met expectations for the experience.

Secondly, allow me to introduce and Thank the folks that staffed the restaurant:

Paul Boulden (propr. William Harper)
Kim Boulden (wife - Sarah Harper)
Joe Caridi (chef - Joe Clifton)
Sam Harrelson (sous-chef - fictitous Sammy Clifton)
Bill MacIntosh (The Stuff Guy - Bill Broun) - believe it or not, with exception to a handful of tumblers, all the cookery, dishware, and servingware used this weekend is original to the period, with about 80% of which being from Mac's personal collection.

It's hard to believe that the event has already come and gone - sadly, the staff of The Star, in our haste to clean, pack, build, sew, dress tables, cook, serve and cleanup; we neglected to capture the experience in photography.

We have a humble request. Please, if anyone has pictures of the Rawson House (The Star Restaurant), or of our cooking area, before/during/after the event please send them along.

I'll be working on a more detailed and comprehensive AAR in the coming weeks with what went into the restaurant...believe it or not, only one of our staff had Restaurant experience, and it was not our head chef.

As part of our AAR, I'd also like to get feedback, what was liked, and bluntly what wasn't about the restaurant experience. Please if you dined at the restaurant (or attempted to), please provide some feedback.

Thanks!


Paul B. (propr. William Harper)