Day: December 16, 2013

Recipes for National Chocolate Covered Anything Day.

There’s a national food day for everything.  This is definitely in the top 10 favorite list.

Frances Chocolate Logs-Peace Cookbook

Frances Chocolate Logs from Peace cookbook.

Chocolate Balls - Carolina Cuisine

Chocolate Balls from Carolina cuisine : a collections of recipes.

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Crackers - Company's Coming

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Crackers from Company’s coming : a recipe collection from North Carolinians who enjoy company coming.

grandma's 13-layer chocolate cake - Columbus County Cookbook II

Grandma’s 13-Layer Chocolate Cake from Columbus County cookbook II.

Truffle Bars-Welkom

Truffle Balls from Welkom : Terra Ceia cookbook III, a collection of recipes.

Chocolate Eclairs - Capital City

Chocolate Eclairs from Capital city cook book : a collection of practical tested receipts.

Chocolate Chip Cake - Pass the Plate

Chocolate Chip Cake from Pass the plate : the collection from Christ Church.

Jamie's chocolate gravy - Buffet Benny's

Jamie’s Chocolate Gravy from Buffet Benny’s family cookbook : recipes, stories & poems from the Appalachian Mountains.

Artifact of the Month: Santa’s Land souvenir decal

Where can you find North Pole resident Santa Claus fraternizing with a lion and a puma? Only on this souvenir decal from Santa’s Land Park and Zoo in Cherokee, NC.

Santa's Land decal

The undated decal, our December Artifact of the Month, gives us Santa-as-cultural-icon, as opposed to Santa-as-symbol-of-Christmas. Aside from Mr. Claus, nothing in the image is remotely Christmas-y. And the park itself is open throughout most of the year but not during the winter holidays.

While the park’s opening date is elusive, the decal’s graphics and this postcard from Flickr user Jacob…K indicate that Santa’s Land has been around for several decades.

The amusement park at Santa’s Land offers innocent fun like the “Rudicoaster” — a roller coaster that approximates the experience of riding in a sleigh pulled by Rudolph. But Santa’s Land’s zoo has been in the news recently, due to complaints from Cherokee tribal elders over the park’s treatment of its captive bears.

This travel decal is one of many from the Lew Powell Memorabilia Collection, which is rich with wonderful North Caroliniana. Stay tuned: In the coming year we’ll launch a digital collection featuring a selection of items from this collection.