Davy Davis holds artifacts from the era and location of the original Fort Chiswell.

On Tuesday, March 20, the Wythe branch hosted a history night. We would like to thank Davy Davis, Wythe County History aficionado, for his entertaining and informative presentation on the MacGavock Family (a founding family of Wytheville) and their notorious reaches into other areas of both history and place.

As with all our programs, we took a break between the program and our business meeting, which is accompanied by the culinary delights of the meeting hostesses. Though we have not tried the following recipe, Mr. Davis provided us with a MacGavock “plain cookie” recipe. He was kind enough to let us publish it here.

MacGavock Plain Cookies

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup margarine
1/4 cup Crisco
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 flour

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Cream sugar, margarine, and Crisco
3. Add egg and salt – beat together
4. Add vanilla and baking powder
5. Add milk and 2 1/4 cup of the flour
6. Place dough on well floured board or table top and sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of flour
7. Roll out and cut into desired shapes. Cookies may be sprinkled with sugar before baking or iced when baked and cool. Good just plain as well, though.
8. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.