Pamela Holt , historical fiction writer
Living History Interpretor at Historic Pensacola​
Graduate Student at University of West Florida
English Creative Writing Major
Email:
Spring 2025 English Internship at Historic Pensacola
The internship at Historic Pensacola Village became an integral part of my research for my upcoming novel, Redsticks: Massacre at Fort Mims. While researching the history of the Creek Indian War of 1813-14, I found that I wanted more hands-on experience. Although I've studied my subject for over a decade, not experiencing the how-tos of colonial life limited my understanding of my character's life experiences. Over the past ten years, I have traveled across the southeast, visiting museums, historic sites, and even canoeing down the Alabama River to understand the setting and experiences of what the people on both sides of the war knew and understood about the (then) Mississippi Territory or what we know today as Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Northwest Florida.
​
Working in the village during my semester instilled a growing confidence in my subject and characters. Pensacola's port became an important factor for the Redsticks. The Forbes Company, formerly known as Panton and Leslie and Company, dominated trade with the Creeks and other southeastern Natives. In 1805, Pensacola was an active port of trade, and the Spanish colony was full of healthy businesses. Gaining more detailed knowledge of this time in Pensacola, which eventually led to the Redstick War, provided me with sensory acumen that I didn't have before.
Village Work Experience
February 7, 2025
Feb 7 12:28 pm
​
This week, I worked 10.25 hours, focusing on cooking, sewing, and organizing the costume room. I also kept focusing on the short story I'm working on for my creative writing class. Since I need to minimize modernity because of the public, I wrote my story ideas with a stylus and ink inside my leather journal. This worked well and helped keep me focused, as writing with the stylus and ink slows down my thought process.
Another challenge is keeping the fire going when I help in the kitchen. Kitchen fires (cooking) are challenging when you only have a basket of fire starter (pine cones and twigs) and large logs to keep the fire going. I'm missing mid-sized limbs to add to the heat. It's hard to keep it going and do anything else since I must continually feed the fire twigs and pinecones. I am bringing two five-gallon buckets of kindling and mid-sized limbs to the village next week to combat this problem.
Costuming is interesting. Everything is too big for me, so I wear six layers of clothing that swallow me whole. Luckily, the petticoats have a cinching cord. I plan to modify a few items and possibly make a short-sleeved top for the warmer months to come.
February 14, 2025
This week I worked 13 hours. Tuesday and Thursday were half days, and a full day on Wednesday. This week, I roasted a pumpkin in the clay oven. That was an experience I'll never forget. I had to heat the oven with an open fire for several hours to preheat the oven. Then I raked it into a metal tub, flames and all. This was scary at first because the oven floor is at chin height, and I'm wearing two petticoats. I pour water on the fire to stop the sparks from scattering the fire onto the ground. The pumpkin turned out well. I made pumpkin pancakes for my coworkers.
Next week I plan to bake soda bread and venison stew. I'm also planning a quilt with a coworker, so that will be fun to begin next week.
This opportunity has opened my eyes to the history of Pensacola, which is important for my novel.
February 22, 2025
This week I worked two full days, Wednesday and Thursday, from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.
The cold wind on both days made it difficult, but interesting. I cooked over the fire and made oatmeal, fried bacon, and scrambled goose eggs. I also baked a pumpkin pie inside a Dutch oven with the remnants of last week's Long Island Cheese pumpkin I roasted. This activity may seem simple, but it was surprisingly challenging. The cold wind brought everyone inside the small kitchen, causing great difficulty navigating around everyone, not putting on my drill-sergeant hat, and starting to bark orders. I'm proud that I kept a calm and somewhat cheerful attitude while trying to cook bacon over an open fire, with too many people surrounding the hearth.
We had an enormous number of guests both days, even with the cold. I'm learning how to be the single history interpreter in the kitchen and answer guests' questions. All in all, it was an excellent week.
February 28, 2025
March 14, 2025
Last week, I spent most of my time cooking. I made beef stew and corn bread over the fire. What was most interesting for me was how long it took from start to finish. It was amazing how labor-intensive cooking over the fire could be.
I also spent time cleaning the hearth. Ash and soot are hard on the hands.
​
This week, I focused on writing with a dip pen and a bottle of ink. It is difficult to explain how it works precisely, but I learned after a while that slanting my cursive writing helps tremendously. I wrote a fictional letter from a young woman named Patience, who lives in the Pensacola colony, to her sister, Abigail, who still lives with their parents in Mobile, in 1805. For fun, I included some bits of information that came from Abigail's earlier letter. Incidentally, they have an aunt, Rose, who lives on the Tombigbee River, whom they chat about visiting. In the letter, Patience tells Abigail about a new family with six children who moved into the colony. Still, the most precocious is a four-year-old boy named Timothy, who is causing trouble in their vicinity by climbing on blooming blueberry bushes and stealing sorghum bread from the central kitchen! It was a fun letter to write. It was easy to write the letter because writing with a pen and ink in this manner was laborious and gave me plenty of time to think up the scenario.
I finally made sofkee on Thursday, a Muscogee meal of venison and fresh corn. I planned to do this last week, but it didn't happen. It was simple but had lots of flavor. I cut the corn off the cob, and I'd never done this before. The venison was easy to prepare, and I added enough salt to the pot. After making the meal, I focused on sewing. We had a lot of guests in the village, and I had an opportunity to talk about life in the village kitchen in 1805.
I asked to be on spring break next week. I plan to visit my parents on the Warrior River in Alabama.
March 22, 2025
I spent the week at my parents' home in Alabama. However, I went fishing with my dad, caught a nice bass, and watched him clean and fillet the fish. It was interesting because I'd never been interested before. Also, I edited the novel and did some much-needed reading
March 29, 2025
April 11, 2025
​
This week, I cooked and interacted with guests visiting the village. This was a meaningful experience for me because I had an opportunity to share my knowledge of Pensacola in the early nineteenth century. Until now, I felt a bit shy about being this outspoken, but not anymore. I worked on Wednesday and Thursday this week.
-
​
This week was interesting at Historic Pensacola. I feel like I've learned more than a contribution at the village, but the other students there seem to enjoy my cooking. Maybe I am making a difference for them.
This week, my time in front of the fireplace stood out, as I used a new cookbook by Amelia Simmons, The First American Cookbook. On Wednesday, I made Indian Pudding for the first time, along with gruel, bacon, and scrambled goose eggs. Thursday's menu was bread pudding with caramel sauce, goose eggs, chicken sausage, and grits. Everything turned out well.
My most interesting scenario was on Thursday afternoon when a man from Russia visited the kitchen. He told me he was originally from Russia but now lives in Atlanta. I told him I had lived in Atlanta a long time ago and told him where I lived back then. He then told me that he remembered the Soviet Union very well, and the living conditions were similar to those at his home when he was a boy.
What? I said.
"Yes. What you have here is a lot like it was when I grew up in Soviet Union." I was struck by what he said. Then, he turned to me and smiled. "I like modern conveniences," he said.
Later that afternoon, a travel reporter arrived. A freelancer named Terri Guthrie from Dallas, Texas, interviewed me for a magazine. I don't know what periodical it will be in yet. She was interesting to speak with and very positive. I could tell she had a television production background because she spoke positively yet aggressively. I enjoyed talking with her. However, I'm unsure how good the interview will be because I got distracted when my insulin pump began making noises! I had to tell her to stop where I could push the button on the pump. I was terribly embarrassed, but she said not to worry. I hope she has great editing skills.
Blockhouse at Fort Mims
Stockton, Alabama
​
Education
2024-Present
Master of Arts
University of West Florida
Thesis: Redsticks: The Massacre at Fort Mims
Historical Fiction Specialty in Creative Writing
Assistantship in British Literature and Creative Writing
Internship at Historic Pensacola Village
​
2021-2023
BA University of West Florida, English Writing
Summa Cum Laude (3.97)
Minor—Kugelman Honors
AA Pensacola State College, English, Robinson Honors
December 2021 Magna Cum Laude (3.9)
University of West Florida
University of West Florida Spring Writing Contest for Fiction: “Tale of Little Crow”
John C. Pace, Jr. Honors Scholarship
Member of Phi Kappa Phi
Member of Kugelman Honors Program
Pensacola State College
Pensacola State College Walter F. Spara Writing Contest Winner
Short Story Fiction; Kilgore Review Literary Magazine
Florida All-State Academic Team
Member of Phi Theta Kappa
Member of Robinson Honors Program
Pamela Holt
Kitchen hearth at Historic Pensacola Village
Writing Portfolio
Redsticks: The Massacre at Fort Mims
Chapter One
Posketa
A Short Story
​
Work History
City of Milton, Milton Florida March 2016 to Sept. 2020
Public Information Officer and Marketing Director
-
Managed routine and crisis communications with the media and the public
-
Modified and monitored city website and increased social media presence, applying communication and branding strategies to maintain consistent voice and messaging for residents, increased social media advertising, resulting in 63 percent following the first two years of employment
-
Initiated new marketing campaign, “Warm it Naturally” for Milton Natural Gas
-
FEMA Certified Public Information Officer
Gatehouse Media, Santa Rosa’s Press Gazette, Milton Florida Nov. 2013 to March 2016 Editor
-
Managed content production, editorial staff, freelance writers, yearly budget, and website marketing
-
Sustained and enhanced publication performance and fostered reliability, transparency, and fairness
-
Organically increased social media following by 53 percent in fiscal 2015
-
Established editorial direction, publication policies, and procedures, and monitored and maintained functional consistency
-
Initiated new marketing campaign, “Clotheslines to Combines” to increase sales within rural communities of Santa Rosa County, increasing social media awareness and regional ad sales, provoking national Gatehouse discussions regarding increasing advertising efforts towards small town, rural communities for hometown news
​
Let's Get
Social
Jack returned his eyes to Nila. “Where are they? The women?”
“Eating,” Nila answered. “Why haven’t you fed them on your travels?”
“We fed them,” Red Shoes interrupted as he approached. He greeted Nila with warmth. “Don’t allow them to tell you otherwise,” he teased.
His hearty chuckle brought a smile to Nila, who looked at her cousin with pleasure. Nila marveled at their demeanor; even after the massacre, they were peaceful and obliging. Nila led the two visitors to their temporary shelters behind the square and brought them a meal of sofke: venison and hominy stew. After cooking the meal in a Dutch oven on an open fire, Nila served Jack and Red Shoes. After, she went directly to her cabin, which was larger and more luxurious than the others. Her home was plastered on the outside with white clay etched with children, plants, flowers, and deer. As a display of her husband’s wealth, the door was covered with a European rug with blue and red geometric patterns. It was soft to the touch, a weave of unparalleled richness. On the floor of the cabin lay deerskins braided with feathers and beads. Beside the deerskins, Nila’s bed was raised from the swept earth, and a heavy bearskin was lying on the bed. Beside the bed rested a pot of red vermilion, weaved baskets of hawk and eagle feathers, and clay pots of gardening and cooking implements.
Addie and Viney sat on the deerskin closest to the small fire that warmed the lodge from the shifting winds outside, huddling together for warmth. They’d eaten all of their hot sofke. Nila masked her concern for their benefit. Though the light wind cooled the air, it was not winter; the women were still chilled.
An excerpt from Redsticks: The Massacre at Fort Mims
Chapter Seven by Pamela Holt