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A living history: Self-taught Colonial expert in authentic 18th-century clothes

Photo courtesy of Fort Roberdeau Cat Schirf, wearing Colonial period dress, moves a wheelbarrow at the 18th century replica Fort Roberdeau in Sinking Valley. She will present the next lecture in a series by the Blair County Historical Society at Baker Mansion at 7 p.m. Wednesday. “A Bloody Wilderness: Colonial Raids and Skirmishes in the Alleghenies” is free and open to the public.

Cat Schirf slipped off the cap and let her hair cascade down to her backside. She keeps her hair long because that’s what a lady living in Colonial Pennsylvania would do.

Schirf also doesn’t paint her nails and wouldn’t allow photographs of her wearing her 21st-century eyeglasses, not while donning her puffed-up petticoats, handkerchief, gown and the other 18th-century trappings she made by hand.

The 45-year-old Cambria County resident is a self-taught expert on Colonial life in Pennsylvania who provides regular tours at the 18th-century replica Fort Roberdeau in Sinking Valley. She will present the next lecture in a series by the Blair County Historical Society at its Baker Mansion on Wednesday at 7 p.m. “A Bloody Wilderness: Colonial Raids and Skirmishes in the Alleghenies” is free and open to the public.

“There were local skirmishes and I will take those and explain why they happened from the (British) Loyalists’ perspective, from the Patriots’ perspective, from the Native Americans’ perspective, along with the financial and cultural changes that were occurring at the time,” she said.

Schirf said history can be boring when it’s taught as “a bunch of names and dates.”

“But what makes history fun is understanding the people, where they are coming from,” she said. “I think, ‘Oh, why did they do that?’ I go do some research and realize, ‘Oh, that’s why.’

“I like being as accurate as I can be.”

She now lives on land near one of the last remaining remnants of the Kittanning Path, a major east-west trail first used by Native Americans and then settlers, between present-day Carrolltown and Loretto. It is on land that her husband’s family has occupied for generations; it’s a long way from where she grew up in the Bay Area of California.

After high school, Schirf joined the Army because she wanted to be a linguist and an analyst, and she traveled all over the country. After her four-year stint, she went to college and meanwhile had married and had three children. But just before graduating, she had an opportunity to move to the East Coast, a place she had wanted to live since her Army days in Massachusetts. And she wanted to escape an abusive husband.

She also realized she could no longer take care of her daughter who had suffered permanent brain damage after falling out of a grocery cart as a toddler, and she was eventually forced to put her in a group home. It was during those years of staying home with her daughter that Schirf, while developing anxiety so bad she feared going outside for years, fell in love with history and began researching online reenactments.

When she found the wherewithal to leave the West Coast, Schirf ended up as a graphic artist for an online Norwegian company in the Washington, D.C., area where she met Paul Schirf. When he showed her the family homestead in Cambria County, she fell in love with the land.

“I love this area,” Schirf said. “I like the people, the history of the area. I’ve been to 49 states — all but Hawaii — and I always wanted to live in Pennsylvania or Alaska. I like the Pennsylvania winters better.”

Seeking living history opportunities, Schirf first visited the 18th-century replica Fort Ligonier in Westmoreland County and realized it was “very well-funded.” Then she visited Fort Roberdeau, which was equally as far from her home, but not nearly as financially well off.

“I realized that it was the place for me,” and she has been volunteering or working part time there for the last six years, she said.

Fort Roberdeau director Glenn Nelson is glad she did.

“Cat just loves her Revolu-tionary War history,” he said. “She loves all history, but she particularly loves Revolutionary War history and the Pennsyl-vania frontier history during that time. She is always researching. She is always educating herself. It is a passion of hers.”

Nelson said accurately portraying Colonial life is “very important.”

“We can’t always afford to get certain fabric and replicate authentically,” he said. “There are some people out there who know the numbers of stitches in every piece of (Colonial) clothing. We’re not stitch counters at the fort, but we do the best we can with our abilities and resources to show what it would look like.”

He appreciates Schirf’s efforts toward authenticity.

“She treasures that, and she is a treasure to the fort,” Nelson said. “Folks could and should come on down. There’s a great learning opportunity to visit the fort and see Cat’s work.”

Seasonal events there kick off on May 1. Details are at www.FortRoberdeau.org.

“I get as close as I can go to the period without it being financially prohibitive,” Schirf said.

She owns a pair of period shoes, but not the $300 version that many reenactors wear.

When dressed up last week, she wore moccasins, footwear that Colonial women — natives and settlers — would wear in the winters. She pulled out foot warmers made of a fiber called “tow” that comes from flax.

Schirf showed off her wool stockings that cold morning and said she has been known to go barefoot at summer events because Colonial women would do that, too.

She explained how the linen shift she was wearing underneath would be rather plain, while its sleeves that protrude from the outermost garment, the gown, would be fancy. The gown often opens in the front, showing off petticoats underneath.

Schirf had on three petticoats that day made of linen and worsted wool; they keep the heat in when it’s cold and the heat out when it’s hot.

They are held up by “stays” that are reminiscent of corsets that would later come to the continent.

While not designed to be a slenderizer, a stay holds “everything in,” supports the back and forces the wearer to use correct posture, Schirf said.

She uses reed or faux whale bone inserted in the bodice; real whale bones are highly regulated and using it goes against her conscience, she said.

Schirf also wore an apron from reproduction fabric in a blue-checked pattern, which was standard for working class Colonials, she said.

The get-up accentuates big hips and small bosoms, the fashion of the day. But function was alway more important than fashion, Schirf said. The handkerchief wrapped around her neck, for example, is for protection from the sun; it was made from a linen-wool blend, which is expensive and rare.

“It’s at least $100 a yard when you can find it,” Schirf said.

She explained that women wore caps to hold their hair in place while tending fires and other chores; plus, it was common for pious women of the day to wear a head-covering, she said. She also showed off her cloak she made from reproduction traditional wool and her wide-brimmed hat covered in silk fabric.

Everything she wore was hand-cut and sewn. She can make a gown in three days, a petticoat in three hours. She has taken classes conducted by experts from Colonial Williamsburg and learned how to design her own patterns, which is cheaper than buying them.

Women’s clothing from the period uses a lot of folds for a blousy effect and is easier to make than men’s wear, which requires more precision and an exact fit.

“Making men’s clothes is a lot of fun for me because I like the challenge,” she said.

But she only makes for her family: Three of her daughters also volunteer at Fort Roberdeau, and her husband travels more extensively as a member of the Department of the Geographer to the Continental Army.

Schirf also knows how to authentically clean the clothes by making her own lye. She understands chemical reactions and the necessary pH levels so that acid in rainwater today doesn’t ruin the fabric. She can’t use ashes from oak wood to raise the pH level because oak has tannins that can stain the fabric.

“They didn’t have to worry about the pH in the water like we do,” she said, noting the relatively new phenomenon of acid rain pollution that comes from the burning of coal and other fossil fuels.

She also explained that you can clean a grease stain naturally by applying lemon juice or vinegar and hanging the fabric in the sun and reapplying the liquid until the stain disappears.

Schirf takes her knowledge up and down the East Coast, from New Hampshire to the Carolinas, for reenactments and presentations.

“This hobby does not pay for itself, but I’m real good at doing research,” she said. “It’s what I love to do.”

Mirror Staff Writer Cherie Hicks is at 949-7030.

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