Breaking News
Local News

Woman keeps historic fashion in style at 94 years old

Fields founded Fort Roberdeau’s annual Distaff Day

By Patt Keith 7 min read

At 94, Margaret "Peggy" Fields' passion for history burns as strong as ever, fueled by an insatiable curiosity and desire to see past ways of life preserved.

An Altoona native, Fields left the area after her marriage to Charles Fields and supported him in his career with a natural gas company. It was while they lived in Westmoreland County that Peggy fulfilled a lifelong dream and became involved in an archeological dig at Hanna's Town.

"I'd always wanted to go to Egypt and be part of a dig," Peggy recalled, while sitting at her dining room table last week. "My daughter came home from school and said the Carnegie Museum was doing a dig right up the road from our house. So we went and I said, 'Here's a pair of hands, so put me to work.'"

She received training at the site, which had been concealed under farmland since the Seneca and British allies burned it down in 1782. Hanna's Town, located along Forbes Road, served as a recruitment area for local militia and the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, according to its website.

As a member of the Westmoreland Historical Society, Fields helped secure two grants to reconstruct the colonial frontier town in 1978. Her joy in that success lasted one day. Her husband had been transferred back to Altoona.

Once moved, Peggy attended a Fourth of July ceremony at Fort Roberdeau in Sinking Valley. Forty-five years later, she's still involved.

"She is one of the best volunteers I've had the privilege to work with in my professional career," said Glenn Nelson, executive director of Fort Roberdeau for the past 10 years. "She cares so much. Her heart is here at the fort," Nelson said, drawing a parallel to the recently deceased singer Tony Bennett and his signature song, "I Left My Heart In San Francisco."

"Peggy is so passionate about history and getting it right," Nelson said. "Despite years of experience and knowledge, she still has an open mind. If something has changed through time and further research, she adjusts and makes revisions. She is really a county treasure. Her dedication to the mission and well-being of the fort is unparalleled."

Fields founded the fort's annual Distaff Day, where the many skills of frontier women are showcased.

"She organized it, got the volunteers to participate in it. She worked so hard to get it done and each year it gets better and better," said Cindy Corle, a fort volunteer whom Fields has mentored.

Fields has served on the board of directors, educated visitors on frontier life, cooked authentic 18th century meals, sewn and repaired guides' and reenactors' costumes and more.

She also became involved in the Blair County Historical Society where she created a fashion show with varying themes that toured Pennsylvania and surrounding states. She was also a key organizer of the Blair County Genealogical Society.

When the numbers of people coming to the historical society for genealogical information grew, Fields started collecting materials to help people and then hosted a meeting in her home of people interested in taking it further.

"Once they got it started, I just backed out and went on to something else. It's what I usually do. I have always considered myself a jack of all trades and a master of none. I get something started and then I find someone who can do it a bit better than me and then I turn it over to them and go on to something else," she explained.

The fort has retained her interest for 45 years because of its many and varied facets. From being a tour guide and presenting education to visitors, to researching and creating the clothing worn by reenactors to cooking 18th century meals on the open hearth. Today, she helps maintain the costumes and makes items for sale in the gift shop. She dries a variety of flowers found in her garden, presses them and turns them into notecards. She also sews kids' marble bags, sewing kits and pockets.

After stepping away for a period, Fields has been working again with the Blair County Historical Society at Baker Mansion "to help assess, catalog and organize the collection of women's 18th and 19th century clothing attire and accessories," according to Kate Rimbeck, executive director. "Many of the items were made by her for the Blair County Historical Society Fashion Show, which was a widely successful fundraising event. Peggy was intricate in creating, organizing and executing the event for many years, and the fund benefited the Blair County Historical Society, allowing for purchases of archival materials for preserving the collections of clothing and accessories. She assisted in tours, events, programming and much more."

"Peggy has been a true asset to the Blair County Historical Society for her past years of service, to which I am truly grateful," Rimbeck said. "Today, her organizational and archival skills can still be seen and appreciated in the textile room."

The Blair County Historical Society will bestow its Executive Director's Choice Award to Fields and Julia Plummer Schokker at a Hall of Fame Dinner on Sept. 14 at The Casino in Lakemont Park. Planning is underway for the event and those interested in learning more can visit https://www.blairhistory.org/hhfame.html.

Fields estimates she has made more than 100 period costumes and related pieces for historical fashion shows, which raised an estimated $11,000 for the society.

An expert seamstress, Fields began sewing at age 14.

"I wanted to raise some money, so I made and sold aprons to people. Back then, everyone wore aprons. That's how I raised my first $100, and as soon as I got out of high school, I bought a good Singer sewing machine," she said, explaining the electric machine was an improvement over her mother's treadle machine. The Singer with its metal case is her machine of choice today.

A blue regiment coat sits on her dining room table, awaiting new buttons and buttonholes.

"There's not a week that goes by that I'm not sewing something," she said.

For the past few years, she's been mentoring Corle, 71, of Altoona. First in frontier cooking and in maintaining the period-correct clothing. Corle describes her friend of 24 years as "very dedicated to the fort with a willingness to do anything to make the fort successful. She's a very passionate person and a very patient person."

Fields helped Corle learn to cook over an open hearth and taught her to sew so that she could fulfill her goal of sewing her own frontier costume.

"She taught me how to cook in the log cabin. It's very difficult to keep the firing going and she showed me how to use the pots and pans and to arrange the coals a certain way so that food doesn't burn. Then, I moved on to clothing. Her sewing skills are just superb."

In the 1970s, well before the Internet made research easier, Fields traveled to area courthouses to research the style and manner of clothing frontier women wore. She went through a copious number of wills, which contained detailed descriptions of clothing and other items.

"I had never sewed a day in my life," Corle admitted. "She guided me along sewing by hand. She would look at something I'd done and say, 'it's got to come out. It's not right.' She was very patient with me."

Fields also showed Corle how to wash, press, iron and repair the apparel at the fort.

"She's been a wonderful friend to me, and she is such a strong person. She's given me so much joy," Corle said.

Her caring nature extends to all who come to the fort, Nelson said. "She cares so much about people and puts them first. From the volunteers, to the staff and the visitors, she wants to share her knowledge and skills with others. She's the grandma of the fort because she takes care of everyone, she clothes us and even feeds us."

Starting at /week.