Monday, President's Day, and again today I attended presentations at
historic sites in celebration of General Washington's birthday.  Now, I have
been researching His Excellency for most of my adult life and thought that I
knew him pretty well. In both cases the speaker presented a fact that was so
wild (and so amazing) that I wondered how I could have possibly missed it in
my reading and research. I checked and found that the statement was entirely
wrong.  It was as if the speaker wanted to shock the audience with great,
superior knowledge.

(When I first came to Gomez Mill House, I heard a volunteer say - and this
volunteer was a practicing attorney - that the reason there were two
fireplaces in the large downstairs living room was because Mr.Gomez kept a
Kosher home. He, therefore, had a fireplace for dairy and one for meat. The
truth, of course, is that the large room was once two smaller rooms, each
with its own fireplace.)

I am wondering if there is a term for an entirely wrong statement of fact or
wild exaggeration. A statement that certainly should have been caught by the
director, educator or whoever is in charge of guide or docent training.
Have you experienced this as a common thing in historic houses and the
telling of the history? There must be a term stronger than "silly docent
tales."

Just remembered one time in Philadelphia hearing a young guide refer to "the
Justices' Supreme"  which, I assume, must have been a rock group during the
American Revolution.

Thanks.

*****************************
C.F.William Maurer
Director, Gomez Mill House
11 Mill House Road
Marlboro, NY 12542
(845) 236-3126
[log in to unmask]
www.gomez.org

Could this old house on the Hudson but speak, it might justly echo the
Colonial maxim declaring freedom of conscience "to every man, whether
Jew, or Turk or papist, or whomsoever steers no otherwise than his
conscience dares." The Craftsman, Oct. 1909
*****************************

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