New Market Battle Reenactment 2011

Some Lovely Ladies

New Market has a reputation of being a wet event--so much so that it is generally referred to as "Mud Market." With a forecast of  thunderstorms all weekend we suffered the five hour trek with the intention of trying to have as much fun as possible.

The first night we encountered only drizzles and the morning was lovely. In the middle of the day, the men said their last goodbyes and tramped off into the distance. With clouds overhead, the entire area seemed to start baking. Steam rolled off the  grass and we were left with humidity so high that it felt degrees hotter than in really was. I went on an expedition to find some ice. None could be found, which left me stumbling back to my tent, where I took a nap until after the battle to escape the high heat of midday.Many times it is to hot to want to cook or to even think about food.

The battle of New Market is most well known for the VMI cadets that fought along with the Confederate Army. This reenactment is on the original battlefield and the modern VMI cadets play a big part in hosting the event. After the actual battle, the field was dubbed the "Field of Lost Shoes," due to the large percentage of men who lost their shoes in the mud there while fighting. We escaped this muddy existence that is characteristic of New Market until we were packing up to leave and the rain fell in buckets.

It really is a fun event and its beautiful scenery gets overshadowed by the messy mud that the reenactment is known for. There is a house on the property that was used at the time for a hospital. There is also a blacksmith shop with a working blacksmith and other interesting buildings. The field also is host to a museum which displays weapons, uniforms and dioramas depicting the battle. It is nice getting a chance to see period uniforms up close.


Pictures from the Event:

Note*- I wish I could identify these ladies in the photo at the top. I don't like posting close-up photos of people without their permission. In the reenacting community it is normal for us to end up on the internet and in publications from spectators and other reenactors. The photo on the top was just too picturesque not to use.

Mother's Day Hike with my Mum

For Mother's Day me and my mum went for a walk in Okenhocking Preserve, a nature reserve in Southeast Pennsylvania
The 180 acre park has a mixture of grassland, woods and water. The park is deceiving as it is right off of a busy highway and looks a lot smaller than it actually is.

We saw tadpoles, ducks with ducklings, vultures, red-winged blackbirds, barn swallows, gold finches. The park was created due to the building up of the area. I hate when areas get built up unnecessarily: there is a shopping center going in nearby that is right next to a shopping center that they can never keep businesses in.


It is cheaper for contractors to build  new structures than it is to fix old ones. Unfortunately what you end up with is a lot of dilapidated, abandoned structures. 
 

Even knocking down buildings and building new ones in their place has become wasteful. It has always killed me to watch a buildings get knocked down and see all of the materials piled in a dumpster, even when perfectly reusable. It is cheaper and less effort for people to buy new products than to sift through old ones. I feel that this is such a waste of the Earth's resources. I love seeing recycled structures in history. Many structures in ancient Egypt were dismantled after a pharaoh's reign and reused to make other structures.

Up north, I have seen little shops that sell antique fixtures from old houses but I've never seen recycled stone or wood around here. I was very excited to read about a man in Texas who builds affordable homes for the homeless out of recycled materials. While it is nice that he offers these homes to homeless people, I realize that giving a homeless person a home is treating the symptoms but not the disease. I do hope that this becomes popular among homeowners.

If you would like to read more about his project:

• One Man's Trash
• Dan Phillips: Weaving Dreams from Discarded Things
• Texan Builds Artful Green Homes

10 Ways to Interest Spectators at Reenactments

Ignoring spectators has been a big problem in the reenacting/ living history community. Lately many reenactors have been trying to think of ways to interact with the public. It is increasingly important that we keep the public interested with new budget cuts and park closings.

One of the biggest barriers to interacting the public is finding a way to call them over. Frequently, visitors will walk on pathways through the camps but won't come up to you directly or they will approach only to take a photo and then scurry off.

Here is a list of ways to interest or engage spectators:

1. If you have some bored men in camp, you can establish a picket to stop all trespassers and invite them to talk for a bit.

2. Ask them for help. We ask for help when doing dishes, baking bread, ect. Make sure it is a safe activity; we are insured, they are not.

3. "You might not want to go that way, I hear there are some Yankees/Rebels nearby and you know how they treat young ladies/men/women ect." Tell them all of the nasty things that Yankees/Rebels are known for.

4. If they are taking a picture you can ask what they are doing. Make sure to tell them that they surely can't be done yet and that the picture will just be a blur and that you wished they hadn't of taken a picture of you in this ugly dress and that you had such pretty dresses before the war. :D Just give them something to work with. If you have a tintype or CDV of yourself, you could show it to them.

5. If you have two ladies you can comment to each other that the people in this city are "practically naked" or as naked the people of India of which you saw a stereograph of at your neighbor's house. If you are teenage girls, you can giggle and act embarrassed.

6. Ask the spectator if they have any news from where they came.  Tell them that you heard cannon in the morning and fear that there might be a skirmish sometime this week.

7. Have interesting items in view of the spectators. I've seen a group bring out a period still. Would it have really been possible in the Army? No, but it does give spectators an insight into an aspect of Civil War Era life that they otherwise would not have been able to see and helped interest spectators. Try to keep these things period and plausible.

8. Some reenactors create scenes and have a set script that they follow to interest spectators. We don't do this but I think it is a good tool as it involves numerous reenactors and all can participate and not have to worry about improvisational speaking.

9. Simply greet them and invite them to join you in whatever you are doing. If I do get a chance to take a peak at a battle, I will catch up to some spectators on the way. They usually ask what side you are on, where you are from and how long you've been reenacting. It's a good chance to tell spectators if there is anything going on after the battle as many spectators leave thinking that there is nothing after that.

10. This is my personal favorite, so don't steal it. :D If I see a woman with a man or a mom with her boy I'll ask the lady if she's trying to get rid of her man. I'll then inform her that it was the best $11 I've ever made and that the Confederate army even takes the little ones as musicians.    

The more I thought about this the more I realized that it is much easier for men to call over spectators. Women tend to have the added but justified fear of "creepers." Some men are so lonely that if a pretty girl smiles at him, he thinks that she is partial to him, even if she is just doing her job. I believe this is a big reason that women tend to ignore spectators.

I had a man stalk me for a while. He was a Civil War spectator but a WWII reenactor. He found out my IM, showed up at both of my jobs and even sent me a photo of himself with an  underage reenactor (who I think I know in the blogging community.) This is a very real danger. I do not recommend inviting spectators to talk when you are all alone. Remember to be careful.

Library of Congress

 If you are a reenactor, please add some ideas in the comments. If you are a spectator, please tell us what you would like to see.

Rockahominie, Hominy and Grits

 

Grits is one of those American foods that people don't think about when trying to identify "American Cuisine." Grits is essentially parched, ground corn porridge and was introduced to the settlers at Jamestown as Rocahominie.

 The name "grits" comes from the terms used to define the grain size of sand and grain particles. In the early 1800s it was known as "grits," "groats" or "fine hominy." Fine Hominy seems to be the most common term but don't confuse it with what we know as hominy today, which is hominy before it is ground. 

Today it is seen as a Southern food but it was eaten by the Shawnee in modern-day West Virginia and the European colonists in the coal regions of Pennsylvania. Foreigners commented that it was a popular food in all regions of the United States. It was popular all through the 19th and 20th centuries but today the majority of grits is sold in the South.

I was originally researching this as part of a short study on Civil War Era foods that do not have to be refrigerated. We have an event next week where I will be the only lady present in my group and I am considering giving the men period rations. :D It would never be allowed with the other ladies but the men have fun with it sometimes. I'll eventually write up a post of period food that does not have to be refrigerated and how modern inventions can help with the things some people have to have (coffee creamer, eggs, meat ect.)

We are going to be down south and it looks like grits are on the menu. In her diary, Sarah Morgan, a wealthy Southern refugee during the war noted on March 21st, "To be hungry is there an every day occurrence. For ten days, mother writes, they have lived off just hominy enough to keep their bodies and souls from parting, without being able to procure another article-- not even a potato."

Grits is one of those foods that we just never thought to cook at a reenactment but is a good food as it doesn't have to be refrigerated, can be kept in a period container without risking the integrity of it and a small amount makes a lot of food. 

You can also tell the spectators how sick you are of hominy. 

P.S. I am using "grits" in the singular as in "a bowl of grits." There are no set grammar rules for grits.

   

Neshaminy Civil War Reenactment 2011

This weekend was the Neshaminy Civil War Reenactment. The weather was very nice and it didn't rain! It almost always rains at Neshaminy and we end up moist all weekend. The park does not charge an admittance fee for the public and the park is very pretty, located right on the water.

While it is not an actual battle site, all of the proceeds go towards preservation efforts. We were surprised by getting to meet David Kincaid, who our whole group *LOVES.* He performs Civil War Irish music that is absolutely stellar. I think I have written about him on here before. I wish I would have thought to take a picture, I have my camera with me and just didn't think about it.

We bought his newest CD, which is a live album. Sometimes live albums are terrible but we were pleasantly surprised at how good this album was. There is no fiddle on this one but the fiddle parts are played on Uilleann pipes!

   
I don't know if any of you know this, but Andy and I live an hour away from each other. On our first date, I gave Andy my David Kincaid CD, The Irish Volunteer to listen to on the way home.

He had never heard of Irish music before but was instantly in love with it and it was that CD that led to Irish fiddling, bagpipes and Gaeilge. (At least I can pretend that his Irish music obsession reminds him of me. :D)  

The event was very fun. They did have to stop the battle for a real-life casualty which we heard was a broken eardrum from taking a hit. Ouch!

Photos from the Event: