Local News

A taste of Revolution: What Americans ate in 1776

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Tuesday, 25 August 2026

Written by Sheila D Barker

As Americans mark 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it is easy to picture 1776 through its famous names and defining moments: Thomas Jefferson and his quill, George Washington commanding the Continental Army, the ringing words of the Declaration, and a collection of colonies preparing to become a nation.
But history was also happening around dinner tables and campfires. The people living through the American Revolution still had to answer an everyday question familiar to us: “What’s for dinner?” The answer depended greatly on who you were, where you lived, and, increasingly, whether you were at home or marching with an army.
There was no single American diet in 1776. Food varied according to geography, season, wealth, and access to ingredients. Colonial cooks worked primarily with foods that could be grown locally, raised on farms, caught, hunted, preserved or imported.
Cornmeal appeared frequently in American kitchens, as did wheat and other grains. Beans, peas, squash, root vegetables and seasonal fruits supplemented meals, while pork was especially valuable because it could be salted or smoked for later use. Fish and seafood were important in coastal communities.
Food preservation shaped the colonial table. Without refrigeration, families relied on drying, smoking, salting, pickling, and preserving foods so they could survive beyond the growing season. Meals could therefore look quite different from the carefully arranged dishes we might prepare today for a Revolutionary War-themed dinner. For many Americans, food was first and foremost practical. For the men serving in the Continental Army, it became a matter of military necessity.
In 1775, the Continental Congress established an official ration for soldiers. The allowance gives us a surprisingly detailed picture of what military leaders believed a soldier needed each day. A Continental soldier's ration included:
• 1 pound of beef, ¾ pound of pork or 1 pound of salt fish per day
• 1 pound of bread or flour per day
• 3 pints of peas or beans per week, or an equivalent amount of vegetables
• 1 pint of milk per day, when available
• ½ pint of rice or 1 pint of Indian meal, or cornmeal, per week
• 1 quart of spruce beer or cider per day, with molasses provided as an alternative
Camp life made food considerably less appetizing than the official ration might suggest. Soldiers stationed in garrisons could have access to freshly baked bread, fresh meat, fruits and vegetables. Soldiers in the field were more likely to encounter durable foods that could survive transportation: salted beef or pork, dried peas and hard bread often known as ship's biscuit.
Ship's biscuit was about as basic as food could get. Made primarily from flour and water, the hard crackers were designed for durability rather than flavor. Soldiers generally prepared their own food. Men were organized into small groups called “messes” and shared cooking equipment. A camp kettle might serve six soldiers.
Although meat could be roasted, boiling meat and other ingredients together in a kettle was practical and required relatively little equipment. The result could resemble a simple stew or soup made from whatever ingredients happened to be available.
Supplying thousands of men before railroads, refrigeration, canned foods or modern highways was enormously difficult. Food had to be purchased, collected, preserved and transported by wagon over poor roads while armies continually moved. Salt shortages created another problem. Salt was essential for preserving meat and fish, making shortages of it a threat to the entire military food supply.
Conditions could become desperate. During the Valley Forge encampment, soldiers were officially supposed to receive bread, meat or fish, peas or beans, milk and beverages, along with weekly allowances of butter and vinegar. In reality, the army's supply system struggled to provide them. George Washington warned Congress in December 1777 that without major changes to the commissary system, the army faced three possibilities: starvation, dissolution or dispersal in search of food.
That enormous gap between the ration prescribed by Congress and the food actually reaching a soldier may tell us more about eating during the Revolution than any surviving recipe.

Making room for inclusion: Girls A.L.I.V.E. expands to Fayetteville

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Tuesday, 25 August 2026

Written by Tiffany Haywood

Rhonda Gee created Girls A.L.I.V.E. after seeing firsthand how isolation can affect neurodivergent girls. Now the organization is building a Fayetteville presence shaped by the needs and voices of local families.
Imagine being a parent and watching your daughter begin to remove herself from friends and family. She goes to school, comes home and heads straight to her room. And you know that much of what is pushing her away from the world is connected to something that makes her different — something she cannot simply turn off or change.
That was Rhonda Gee’s experience as she watched her daughter, Daniella, struggle with exclusion and bullying before eventually beginning to isolate herself. Gee found herself asking where girls like her daughter could go to connect with others who understood them and what they were experiencing.
That question became the doorway to Girls A.L.I.V.E. NC.
A.L.I.V.E. stands for Awareness, Love, Inclusion, Voice and Empowerment. Of those five words, Gee said inclusion most closely captures the need the organization exists to address.
“The problem that Girls A.L.I.V.E. is addressing, and the gap we’re trying to fill, is that isolation,” Gee said. “A girl can have a therapist. She could have accommodations at school, and she could have a supportive family, and she can still be lonely.”
Girls A.L.I.V.E. serves neurodivergent girls ages 10 to 18, creating opportunities for connection outside the clinical, educational and family supports that may already surround them.
That need for inclusion has extended beyond the organization’s Raleigh-Durham-area community.
Gee said families from Fayetteville and the Fort Bragg area had already been making the drive to attend Girls A.L.I.V.E. programming and interest meetings. In response, the organization began exploring how to create those same opportunities closer to home for Fayetteville families.
Jessica Taylor, a Girls A.L.I.V.E. parent from the Fayetteville area, was among those making the trip. Gee said Taylor saw a need locally and has since begun helping build community relationships and support the organization’s developing Fayetteville presence.
That growing interest led to a July 25 community interest meeting in Fayetteville. Creating an inclusive space begins with something simple: asking the girls what they actually like.
Girls A.L.I.V.E. uses interest forms to learn about the girls and incorporates those interests into activities and programming. Rather than asking them to change themselves to better fit an existing environment, the organization works to create an environment that has room for who they already are.
Gee recalled meeting one girl whose particular interest was raccoons.
“She just loves raccoons,” Gee said. “She wanted to find someone that could identify with her interests — like a raccoon lover, or someone that loves animals as much as she does.”
At Girls A.L.I.V.E., girls are encouraged to openly share the things that interest them while connecting with others who bring passions of their own.
“We try to just provide those safe spaces where girls can feel comfortable and safe in their interests without being ridiculed or made fun of,” Gee said.
Those spaces can include art and painting, bead-making, friendship bracelets, identity sessions, vision boards and social-emotional learning activities. The activities give girls something to do together, but the larger goal is creating opportunities for relationships to grow.
Gee has seen evidence of that connection in what the girls themselves say.
At the Fayetteville interest meeting, she spoke one-on-one with an autistic girl who uses a wheelchair. As the girl interacted with others in the room, she told Gee what she hoped to find.
“I just want to find other girls that are like me,” she said.
Another girl regularly approaches Gee with a hug and tells her, “I love Girls A.L.I.V.E.”
When the girl was asked what she wanted to do after high school, Gee said she answered that she wanted to remain with her Girls A.L.I.V.E. family.
The program currently serves girls through age 18, but Gee hopes girls who age out will eventually return as mentors, allowing those who once received support to help support younger girls.
Sometimes the strongest confirmation comes through parents.
Gee recalled a mother sharing what her daughter, Macy, said after participating in Girls A.L.I.V.E.
“I finally found a place where I fit in.”
Gee said it confirmed that what she hoped to create was happening.
The message from Fayetteville families has been similarly consistent. Gee said the girls and parents who attended the July 25 meeting wanted more opportunities for friendship, connection and interaction with girls who share similar experiences and interests. One attendee also expressed a desire for greater awareness surrounding autism, something Gee said Girls A.L.I.V.E. may be able to help address.
The Fayetteville presence continues to take shape. Gee said Taylor is helping develop community relationships and local activities, with museum visits among the programming already planned. Families interested in participating or learning more can contact Girls A.L.I.V.E. for registration information and upcoming opportunities online at www.girlsalive-nc.org
Gee has heard from parents whose daughters come home from school, go directly to their rooms and remain disconnected from other children and friendships. Girls A.L.I.V.E. is making room for something different.
And perhaps its impact is summed up best by Macy’s words:
“I finally found a place where I fit in.”

Spring Lake Jam Sessions program brings youth together through music, art, faith

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Tuesday, 25 August 2026

Written by Mahalia Cooks

Kids across Spring Lake, Fayetteville and the surrounding areas who love music and the arts are welcome to join Jam Sessions, hosted in the Spring Lake Recreation Center at 245 Ruth St. every Friday from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. These free sessions are open to anyone in the 6th grade and up (ages 11 and up) and allow participants to nurture existing artistic skills or discover new ones through faith-based mentorship.
Kenneth Hill is the Jam Sessions director, but he has also played many other roles in his life, including working as a licensed associate pastor and a juvenile court counselor. Creating Jam Sessions arose from a combination of his spiritual, military and youth counseling backgrounds and the musical throughline that has persisted across his life. He learned the drums as a child and played in the Grambling College Marching Band and the Army band.
“One morning I was praying and everything — Jam Sessions. The idea about Jam Sessions popped in my head,” Hill said.
The mission of the Jam Sessions program is to “cultivate creative excellence, character and community through mentorship, fine arts and faith-based programming for youth and families in underserved communities.”
The program has received major support from the Recreation Center’s supervisor Zefrim Lewis, also known as Coach Z, who was the “driving force” behind providing the necessary facilities for the youth to perform and learn in. Sessions began on March 6 and will continue as long as there are kids eager to get involved.
“No matter where you’re coming from, we’re just looking for people who want to come and participate with anything that we have going on here,” Lewis said.
As a free Community Fine Arts and Mentorship Program that has also recently gained 501(c)(3) status, Jam Sessions focuses on more than music. It allows young learners to get acquainted with different and unique forms of art, such as praise dancing, miming, poetry and drama. Those with an interest in communications can also prime themselves for the radio and TV fields through debate teams, public speaking opportunities and podcasting, all made possible by the media center provided by Lewis.
Through this communal experience, the young learners have developed and refined their skills, leading to the creation of their own band: JAMZ (pronounced Jam-zee). The musical outfit has already performed publicly at the Recreation Center’s Juneteenth celebration and Spring Lake’s First Friday on Main on Aug. 7. They have more First Friday performances scheduled through November, which they will balance with the return of the school year and other activities. JAMZ performs a range of music, covering artists like Bruno Mars, Michael Jackson and Coldplay.
“I’ve seen kids, through his mentorship, just totally transform,” Lewis said. “When we heard them play at Juneteenth, it was really my first time hearing them play, and it was mind-blowing.”
Several of the band’s members started with little or no knowledge of how to play instruments but quickly built their skills through Hill’s flexible mentorship style.
“What I do is let them come in and explore. I don’t teach them,” Hill said. “I teach them about music, about chord progression and all of that type of stuff, but I don’t give piano lessons, I don’t give drum lessons. I just expose them to it.”
Hill’s vision of providing access to creative arts instruction in a safe and affirming environment has made him an excellent leader to both youth and adults.
“He’s the right guy to get it done. We call him the Terminator — the Terminator is the person who makes sure he gets the job done, and he stops at nothing,” said Lewis.
He has also invested his own money in the instruments available at Jam Sessions, in addition to receiving donated instruments and sound equipment from the community, such as drum sets, guitars, and keyboards.
“I don’t look at money first. I look at the need first, and then I ask God to provide,” Hill said.
Jam Sessions exemplify a foundation of faith without requiring a specific denominational framework, so young learners can feel empowered to believe in themselves and believe in God’s purpose for their lives in a way that’s comfortable for them. Lewis believes this program has the power to spread to a national level over time.
In alignment with that goal, Hill said, “My desire is not just to come in and jam every Friday — which is good — my desire is to even have satellite programs.”
These satellite sites would allow youth living farther from the Spring Lake and Fayetteville areas to still benefit from program values such as creativity, accountability and excellence within their own communities.
For more information on how to get your kids involved in this program, reach out to Hill at 980-229-3425 or Coach Z at 910-443-1350.

(Photo: Children join in on Jam Sessions at the Spring Lake Recreation Center. The weekly get together teaches children about music. Photos courtesy of Kenneth Hill, Director, Jam Sessions)

Fayetteville PWC celebrates completion of Gray's Creek water project

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Tuesday, 25 August 2026

Written by Staff Report

The Fayetteville Public Works Commission (PWC) was honored to welcome North Carolina State Senator Tom McInnis and North Carolina State Representative Diane Wheatley to Alderman Road Elementary School on Friday, August 14, 2026, to celebrate the successful completion of the Gray's Creek Water Main Extension Project, connecting Alderman Road Elementary School and Gray’s Creek Elementary School to PWC’s award winning public water system and recognizing the transformative impact of the State's investment in the community.
The visit highlighted the project's significance to Gray's Creek residents, students, and businesses while recognizing the North Carolina General Assembly's commitment to expanding access to safe, reliable, regulated drinking water. Through a partnership between Fayetteville PWC and Cumberland County, the General Assembly provided $12 million in state funding to design and construct the initial phase of the project.
The completed project extends PWC's public water system to Gray's Creek Elementary School, Alderman Road Elementary School, and surrounding areas, providing customers with drinking water that meets or exceeds state and federal water quality standards. The new infrastructure represents a long-term investment in public health, environmental stewardship, and the continued growth of the Gray's Creek community.
"This project represents far more than the installation of new water lines, it reflects our shared commitment to protecting public health, investing in critical infrastructure, and improving the quality of life for the Gray's Creek community," said Timothy Bryant, CEO/General Manager of Fayetteville PWC.
"Simply put, this community deserves quality drinking water, and I am proud of the work PWC did to get the two schools connected. This is about our students, our teachers, and our support staff members' safety and well-being. I am looking forward to coming back and seeing more of the Gray's Creek community connected to PWC's water system, exactly what a thriving community needs." said State Senator Tim McInnis
Originally announced in 2024, the partnership between PWC and Cumberland County was established to provide a long-term public water solution for residents affected by Gen X contamination in private wells while ensuring area schools and future customers have access to high-quality drinking water. Construction began in late 2025 and has now been successfully completed.
“We appreciate the partnership of Fayetteville PWC, our state leaders and everyone who helped make this important project possible for our schools and community,” said Dr. Eric C. Bracy, superintendent of Cumberland County Schools (CCS).
The Gray's Creek Water Main Extension Project demonstrates what can be accomplished through collaboration among local and state leaders committed to investing in infrastructure that serves both current and future generations.
"Being able to get the funding to bring clean drinking water to the students and school staff in Grey's Creek is one of the accomplishments that I am most proud of. I will continue to work to bring clean water to all our communities. Thank you to Fayetteville PWC and Cumberland County Schools for this important partnership." said State Representative Diane Wheatley
PWC remains committed to delivering safe, reliable, and sustainable utility services while supporting the continued growth and well-being of Cumberland County. As an award-winning utility and long-time participant in the Partnership for Safe Water, PWC continues to invest in infrastructure that protects public health and provides customers with exceptional drinking water quality.

(Photo: Kevin Coleman, Cumberland County Schools associate superintendent, left; Timothy Bryant, PWC CEO-GM; Tom McInnis, NC State Senator; Diane Wheatley, NC State Representative; Richard King, PWC Board chairman; and Dr. Eric C. Bracy, Cumberland County Schools Superintendent, pose for a photo on Aug. 14 at Alderman Road Elementary School. Photo courtesy of PWC)