This coming Thursday, June 25th, our original clay Civil War cats, Generals Lee and Grant, will turn 25 years old! Help them celebrate all weekend—come in on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday (June 25-27, 2020) and mention “Birthday” and we’ll give you 15% off admission AND 10% off all merchandise!

Gen. Lee – we had to remake his uniform (it was turning green!)

Gen. Grant – still completely original!

This week in 1995, Rebecca was reading The Story of Robert E. Lee by Iris Vinton and The Story of Ulysses S. Grant by Jeannette C. Nolan. After finishing the biographies, she made two cats out of clay. One wore the beard and blue uniform of Gen. Grant, and the other the beard and gray uniform of Gen. Lee. They needed men to command, so she made ten Union cats and ten Confederate cats. Little did we know, she was starting us on a road to 8,747 cats and a museum in Gettysburg!

Rebecca (left) and Ruth (right) in 1996

The Civil War bug bit us hard. While Rebecca was the first to become interested in the war, Ruth followed suit and began making cats too. Since Rebecca liked Generals Lee and Stonewall Jackson, she claimed the Confederate cats. We’ve always joked that Ruth “got stuck making the Yankees ’cuz someone’s gotta do it!” In reality, we have always done things together, and so it was natural for us to share cat-making and to split up the task along army lines. But the split has never been exclusive. For example, one Christmas, Rebecca made a horde of Union cats and Gen. Lew Wallace as a gift for Ruth.

The original 10 Union cats

The original 10 Confederate cats