BY BRITTNEE NAVE

STAR Correspondent

Sycamore Shoals will be taking Valentine’s Day back in time on Feb. 14 to colonial America.

The event, which is now sold out, is called “Colonial Valentine” and will focus on the traditions of the past.

The idea for the event came from Chad Bogart, the museum’s curatorial assistant.

“I try to come up with fun little activities people can do that don’t cost much money that let them learn about history,” Bogart said. “So I wondered how they celebrated Valentine’s Day in colonial America, and I did a little research and found interesting and odd things they would do that we certainly don’t do anymore.”

At the event, attendees will be told of the unique traditions people did during that time and will be given a chance to make some Valentine’s colonial Americans made.

One such tradition that Bogart will speak on is women pinning five bay leaves to each corner of her pillow and determining her valentine based on who she dreamed of. Another included taking a boiled egg, opening it up to take the yolk out and replacing it with salt, which they would then eat before bed without water. Whoever they dreamed of that night after eating the boiled egg was their valentine.

Some of the art people will be able to make include love tokens, which were woven from two pieces of paper to make a heart basket, heart in hands, which are also woven, and puzzle purses, which favor modern day origami art that contain little notes that people could even mail out. According to Bogart, the puzzle purses are similar to modern day valentines.

One tradition that Bogart found to be equally as interesting, but will not be in the event, were acrostic poems. Bogart said these poems were sentences beginning with each letter of a person’s name. Men in colonial times would often write these and submit them anonymously to the newspaper on Valentine’s Day, which women would then hurry to buy and read.

Bogart said that while some in colonial times did not celebrate any holiday not in scripture, most people in the southern areas did, such as with those that will be learned about at the event.

The event was set to allow 12 people to attend due to needing to know in advance the amount of supplies to provide, as well as planning purposes. Bogart said the event sold out rather quickly. This is the first themed event like this at Sycamore Shoals, but Bogart does see this happening again.

More information on future events at Sycamore Shoals and their related groups can be found on their website at www.tnstateparks.com/parks/sycamore-shoals and on their Facebook page.

“I want folks to look at something we do every year, Valentine’s Day comes every year, and see how different it was back in the old days and maybe revive some of the old traditions.”