The West Virginia Reenactors Association held its annual Spring Ball on Saturday, April 10 at Christ Episcopal Church in Clarksburg, WV. The dance is held in an annex which built around 1870 and probably served as a venue for Christmas and Easter plays and other church and Sunday School productions. The main part of the church was built several years prior to the Civil War and still retains much of its original appearance, which gives a nice period feel to this event. According to one of the parishioners, the commander of the Union Army garrison in Clarksburg, had a grudge against Episcopalians and quartered a calvary unit, complete with horses inside the church, at least in the early part of the war. It is also said that it was used as a military hospital at times during the conflict.
Despite a lighter than usual turnout, the participants all seemed to have a fine time. There was a great deal of period food, including cucumber and pepper sandwiches, shortbread and gingersnap cookies, with lemonade and sweet tea to wash it all down. Music for the evening was provided by the Rich Mountain String Band, a snappy group, who play a large repertoire of CW tunes. The dances were called by Phyllis Baxter, who does as good a job as anyone in the business by my estimation. In addition to the military, there seemed to be more of a variety of quality civilian impressions than in the past, including men, one of the Sisters of Mercy and a pioneer lady minister. Governor and Mrs. Pierpont were also in attendance.
This is a nice, well-organized event staged in a perfect venue. I had a good time, danced a lot and ate too much. Its too bad more people didn’t come out this year. They missed a good time.
Leave a Reply