Charlotte Slinkard sews up Cape's past

It's up to docent and curator Charlotte Slinkard to stitch together pieces of history for display at the Cape River Heritage Museum in Cape Girardeau.

Slinkard of Cape Girardeau and her husband, Bill, have traveled to New Orleans and Quebec, she said, collecting chronological information from 19 research facilities.

They've served as volunteers for nearly six years at Cape River Heritage Museum.

"Someone came in and said, 'Cape Girardeau, that's an interesting name. Tell me about it.' And I realized I didn't know anything," Slinkard said of her early days at the museum.

She was determined to find out more.

A mannequin's costume is seen at the Cape Girardeau River Heritage Museum Friday, May 24, 2019, in Cape Girardeau.TYLER GRAEF

Slinkard's love for days gone by was sparked by her first discovery on a rainy afternoon in Washington, D.C.: Jean-Baptiste Girardeau's service record, which proved he was a soldier, she said.

And "that started the whole thing," she said. "From there, we just began looking."

Slinkard loves to sew, and using pictures and historic descriptions, she assembles exhibits with mannequins dressed in time-specific attire.

She lays out the pieces to be sewn together in her home. It's a time-consuming process.

"It's easy to find pictures of the way French women dressed," she said. "They always wore a hat; they always covered their head. They never went out without their head covered in some way."

TYLER GRAEF ~ tgraef@semissourian.com Charlotte Slinkard, who is responsible for making the costumes for figures at the Cape Girardeau River Heritage Museum, is reflected in a painting Friday, May 24, 2019, at the museum in Cape Girardeau.

Girardeau was born in 1684 in Molins, France, which is "really old for this part of the county," she said.

"He came here in 1720," Slinkard said. "In 1722, he marries Madame Girardeau (Therese Nepven). I never knew he had a wife. And she has a fascinating story."

The model couple stands shoulder to shoulder, with Girardeau clad in a grey-white greatcoat lined and cuffed in deep blue with brass buttons. He also wears blue stockings, completed by white canvas gaiters and leather shoes -- and a tricorn hat.

His counterpart, Nepven, is dressed in a white and dark blue dress, floppy hat and a large gold cross necklace. She is holding one side of her dress in one hand and holding a basket of grapes and bread with the other.

"This is a replica, and it's pretty close," she said pointing to the display. "There are a lot of descriptions about how the coat was made and so forth, and also the fur trader."

She said the couple had two children, Jean Pierre and Pierre.

Jean Pierre Girardeau -- depicted by a bearded mannequin covered in pelts with fur in hand -- was born in 1723 at Kaskaskia in the Illinois Country of Louisiane. He was a soldier, fur trader and served as an interpreter for the English document.

According to Slinkard, there is ample documentation regarding how they were dressed.

"All these mannequins, when you buy one, they're 6-foot," Bill Slinkard said. "Well, these people were short. So I cut him down about three inches."

So, "Bill does a lot of the work," Charlotte Slinkard said with a laugh.

Slinkard said many times out-of-towners will visit the museum and inquire about Cape Girardeau, and she has to be very clear Cape Girardeau was never a French city, she said.

"He had a trading post there, but we were never a French city like St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve," Slinkard said. "But, we have the French name, and as far as I know, we're the only city named after a French soldier, which is cool."

Out of the several exhibits on display at the museum, Slinkard said her favorite to work on is the one featuring the Girardeaus, adding she's up to her ears in the project.

And a project down the line for the Slinkards will be in celebration of Missouri's Bicentennial in 2021, with prepping beginning soon.

"That's our next focus," she said.

Toy Empire Strikes Back

Collectors, get ready. Hasbro is re-releasing its classic Star Wars action figures from the 1970s.

Entertainment reports Hasbro has reissued six of the classic action figures from the first series of toys to come out after the debut of "Star Wars" in 1977.

Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Han Solo, a Stormtrooper, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker -- both with lightsabers -- are up for grabs.

According to the report, the toys are available at Target and will become more widely sold at other retailers starting in the fall.

The Yellow Brick Road

Now you can once again saunter the same course as Dorothy and Toto from "The Wizard of Oz."

In celebration of the 80th anniversary of the classic sepia-turned-Technicolor classic, the once-abandoned amusement park based on the film is set to reopen this summer, Newsweek reports.

Land of Oz, in Beech Mountain, North Carolina, was opened by the Carolina Caribbean Corp. in 1970. But five years after opening, the company filed for bankruptcy.

The owners of the land began restoring the park in the 90s, as well as hosting the annual 'Autumn at Oz' event.

The interactive "Journey with Dorothy" experience will allow visitors the chance to play a character from the movie and explore the park with Dorothy as a guide, according to the Land of Oz website.

We just got a letter

The iconic host of "Blue's Clues," Steve -- and Joe -- has come and gone, but now there's Josh alongside lovable co-star, Blue. The pair is set to debut on the small screen soon with "Blue's Clues & You," a reboot of the 90s-based Nickelodeon phenomenon.

CNN reports Joshua (Josh) Dela Cruz was in "Disney's Aladdin" on Broadway as the understudy for Aladdin and a member of the ensemble.

But don't fret; with all the changes, "Blue's Clues & You" will still encourage you to help solve the in-show mysteries.

Small town, big time

Hometown female country artist Jessie Ritter dropped her latest single today, "Nothing But You." The song was written by Abbey Cone, Daniel Ross and Jimmy Thow -- produced by GRAMMY Award-winner Julian Raymond.

Ritter released her first full-length album "Coffee Every Morning" in 2018.

Find the interview at semissourian.com.

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