Drake Well Museum and Park’s annual lecture series, Wisdom and Wine: Home in the Oil Region, kicks off on March 10, 2022. Guests will enjoy a lecture from regional experts featuring the people, places, and events of local petroleum history. Doors to the museum will open at 5:30 p.m. for a wine tasting happy hour by Brokenstraw Valley Winery, charcuterie, and refreshments, and the lectures begin promptly at 6:30 p.m.

Admission to each lecture is free for current members of the Friends of Drake Well and $5 for the public. Admission to the happy hour event proceeding the lectures is an additional $5 for members and nonmembers. During the happy hour, in addition to wine tasting, guests will be able to purchase a bottle of wine to take home and a glass of wine to enjoy with the lecture.

Reserve your spot by calling 814-827-2797 or email drakewell@verizon.net.

Topic – Dressmaking: Civil War Fashions and Sewing Machines in 1860’s
Lecturer: Jan Lauer

The presentation will describe dress making and fashions during the civil war including highlighting Elizabeth Keckly, the most famous dressmaker during the civil war and her rise from slavery to the White House. Dressmaking with the use of the sewing machine made the occupation more productive. The presentation will discuss the more famous sewing machine companies and their histories during the Civil War. Original documentation and original time period sewing machines will be displayed.

BIO: Jan Lauer has been a Civil War reenactor for 23 years and portrays a dressmaker in her endeavor. Her goal in her portrayal is to educate the public on several facets of life during the civil war which are not normally found in school text books. She is a member of the 150th PA Bucktails and attends many re-enactments and living histories throughout the year traveling throughout Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and Kentucky. She has occupied the Dressmaker Shop at Genesee Country Village and Museum in Mumford, NY for the past 4 years, the Stone House at Hale Farm in Bath, OH, the Tailor shop at Ohio Village and occupied the music shop at Old Bedford Village in Bedford, PA in recent years just to name a few.