Posts Tagged local history
Arthurdale New Deal Festival 2010
The 2010 edition of the Arthurdale New Deal Festival took place on July 10. As usual, Eleanor Roosevelt was there and was accompanied this year by her husband, the President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt. For those of you who don’t know, Arthurdale was a planned community which was proposed by Eleanor Roosevelt [...]
Let Me Tell You About My Vacation…
As some of you may know, I spent a week in Maine last May. Anyone who knows anything about the American Civil War knows that Maine made a major contribution to the Union war effort in many different sectors. Maine was one of the first states in the northeast to be aligned with the Republican [...]
Philippi Races 2010
The following is a report on the annual Blue-Gray Reunion in Philippi, WV by our correspondent, Bill Donegan: On June 3rd through June 6th Linda and I attended, and participated in, the 149th Annual Blue & Gray Reunion in Philippi, West Virginia. Linda and I started this year’s preparation back in March when we began [...]
Save the Justice William Smith House (continued…)
Here is a short update from Karen Ramsburg concerning the ongoing effort to save the Smith House in Mercersburg, PA.: To all: We are pleased to have received a letter of support from Professor of History, Kevin Kenny of Boston College, author of the recently published book on the Paxton Boys titled Peaceable Kingdom Lost. [...]
Adding a Civilian Impression
In getting ready for Arthurdale Heritage’s New Deal Festival this coming weekend, I have been forced to do something that I have been wanting to do, but have been putting off for some time: developing a period civilian impression. Admittedly, this is a new area for me and I welcome any advice from the readership. [...]
GATHERING OF CIVIL WAR EAGLES JUNE 4-6
The following is a report from our correspondent, Nick Korolev: The 6th annual Gathering of Civil War Eagles held at the Old Courthouse Civil War Museum in the Old Town location of Winchester, VA took place the weekend of June 4-6. This premier educational event is history brought to life by living historians from across [...]
Julia Pierpont Day in Fairmont
The Marion County Historical Society held it’s annual Julia Pierpont Day in downtown Fairmont at the Society’s headquarters on May 29, 2010. (See 2009′s coverage for more details.) Governor Pierpont and, of course, Julia (Art and Pam Dodds) were in attendence, as well as Senator John Carlisle and Mrs. Carlisle (Gary and Millie Goetze). The [...]
Local Events You Don’t Want to Miss!
I wanted to give everyone a quick preview of some great events coming up in North Central West Virginia over the next few months. First of all, is the 5th Annual WWII Living History Weekend in Rowlesburg, WV on the weekend of June 19, 2010. This is West Virginia’s premier WWII event. Located in the [...]
A Hidden Treasure
On April 24, Mark Tennant and I drove to Oakland, MD for a scheduled Civil War living history. We were to meet up with some other reenactors at the gazebo by the train station, however, to our dismay, we learned that there had been a glitch and the event had been cancelled, but no one [...]
Return to Jollytown
Last year, on May 4th, to be exact, Mark Tennant wrote in this space, about our trip to the villages of Brave and Jollytown, PA to visit the graves of Civil War soldiers. On Sunday, April 18th, Mark and I once again journeyed to these villages to again visit the graves of Union Civil War [...]
Civil War Ball- WVRA 2010
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 [...]
Stonewall Jackson’s Birthday
Thanks to Sue Prager for forwarding the following announcement to us: A public buffet and a program by noted Civil War historian Dr. Bob Meadows will be held on Friday, January 22 at WVU Jackson’s Mill to mark the birthday of Stonewall Jackson. The buffet will run from 5-7pm at Mount Vernon Dining Hall, featuring [...]
Does Anyone Care About American History Anymore?
The following is a link sent to us by Karen Ramsburg concerning the Smith House in Mercersburg, PA. We ran an article about it earlier this year. It would appear that things have taken a turn for the worse. Once again, we seem to have short-sighted local officials who don’t seem to give a hoot [...]
Cumberland Goes to War 2009
From November 6th to the 14th, Cumberland, MD held its second ‘Cumberland Goes to War’ event to commemorate the city’s part in WWII history. While there were activities occuring all week, I attended only on the weekend of November 7-8. This weekend was also the first time that I spent the whole event in my [...]
Victory at Old Bedford Village – Report from the Front Lines
The following is an email that we received from Roger Kirwin, the director of Old Bedford Village regarding the efforts to save the Village over the past few months.The Reenactor Post is proud to be a supporter of OBV and we salute them on their success in keeping the doors open! Dear Jim, Good to [...]
Troops and trains – Strasburg PA 2009
Bill and Linda Donegan file this report on the “Troops and Trains” event at the Strasburg, PA Railroad attraction. Linda and I made our yearly pilgrimage to Strasbourg, PA for the “Troops and Trains” living history event on November 6, 7 and 8, 2009. Surprisingly, I took few photographs this year, because my impression was that of a [...]
Bulltown Civil War Reenactment 2009
The weekend of October 10-11 saw the bi-annual reenactment of the battle of the 1863 Battle of Bulltown in Braxton County, WV sponsored by the Stonewall Jackson Reenactment Unit. Despite heavy rains on Friday, There was a decent turnout of reenactors and a goodly number of spectators for the weekend. There was also a quality [...]
Portersville Steam Show – 28th Infantry Living History
The weekend of October 3 and 4 marked the first time that Co. K of the 28th Infantry Division, 110th Regiment, participated in the Portersville Steam Show at Portersville, Pa. This is a very nice event which is put on by the Northwest PA Steam Engine and Old Equipment Association Inc. It offers an opportunity [...]
Upcoming Event – The Battle of Rich Mountain
The weekend of July 11-12 will once again see the biannual reenactment of the Battle of Rich Mountain near Beverly, WV. In June, 1861, Major General George B. McClellan took command of Union troops in Western Virginia and on the 27th of that month, set out for Randolph County to engage the Confederate forces there. [...]
Rowlesburg, WV WWII event 2009
Despite the obligatory rain on Friday, the weather was quite nice for the rest of the weekend for this event. There were several more reenactors than last year and for many of those who had been there before, the displays were bigger and better than ever. Especially impressive was the camp of the U.S. Navy [...]
Rowlesburg WWII Living History
Just a reminder that the 4th annual Rowlesburg, WV WWII Living History event will take place on this coming weekend, June 26 and 27. This is a fun event and extremely Reenactor-friendly. If you are not signed up as a participant, then make plans to come as a spectator. It’s a small, laid-back, but quality [...]
Julia Pierpont Day, Fairmont, WV
On Saturday, May 23, 2009, I and three other Union Reenactors went to the Marion County Historical Society in downtown Fairmont to serve as color guard for a recognition day for Julia Pierpont, wife of Francis H. Pierpont of Fairmont, who was appointed as Governor of the Restored State of Virginia after the secession of [...]
Grafton National Cemetary Lantern Tour
On Friday, May 22, 2009, I took part in the annual lantern tour organized by Mark Tennant. This tour focuses on the many Union soldiers buried in the Grafton National Cemetary located on the south side of downtown Grafton (not the new cemetary at Pruntytown a few miles away). For this year’s tour, we had [...]
Battle of Lewisburg – Report
The following is a report from our correspondents, Bill and Linda Donegan in Southern West Virginia: Report of the 147th Anniversary Battle of Lewisburg Living History and Reenactment May 14-17, 2009, Lewisburg, West Virginia By Bill Donegan This year’s event celebrated Abraham Lincoln’s 200th Birthday. This was my experience at the 2009 event. Linda and [...]
WWII Living History – Brownsville Steam and Gas Assn.
This past weekend was National Road Festival weekend for the communities along Rt. 40 in Pennsylvania. I fell in with the local 28th Infantry Co. K for a living history encampment as part of the festival. We set up at the Brownsville Steam and Gas Association’s fairgrounds located 4 miles west of Brownsville, PA. There [...]