Westville Updates 4-28-08

[Jim of The SRR]

Please check out the Sparks of Secession - Westville 1861 event website for new updates at:

https://www.geocities.com/scar_civilwar/WestvilleIndex

Updates include:
- Updated registration list with roles.
- Area sites when visiting the area.
- Info on 21st GA Infantry.
- Westville Site photos.

We are also still seeking reenactors to fill the following roles:
- Lawyers
- Potter (one who is knowledgable on the subject as there is a working shop)
- Blacksmith (one who is knowledgable on the subject as there is a working shop)
- Shoe Maker (one who is knowledgable on the subject as there is a working shop)
- Court Clerk
- Tax collector
- Postal worker
- Returning wounded veteran from the 2nd GA Infantry
- Full-time mustered troops in the military camp.
- Ladies to form a Soldiers Aid Society

We also have many other roles that can be filled, but these are ones we need filled for specific vignettes. Remember, only your paid registration actually locks in your role. All roles will need be approved by Vickie Rumble.

Thanks,
Jim Butler

[Victoria Rumble]

Re: Westville Updates 4-28-08

I'm getting inquiries from ladies and some children about participation which I'd like to encourage. There is room for people who want to make a contribution. This is the time to learn specific crafts of the era to add to your impression and your personal enjoyment. In our heydey I used to put together an annual learning event for the Homespun Living History Guild at my house which always was loads of fun. I once took them to a dairy to learn to milk cows, taught them to make molasses taffy, took them to my Mennonite friend's farm to learn to hook up the horses/wagons, how to make candle wick and treat it so that it burned longer, to brew ginger beer, and scores of other things.

Along those lines I'd like to encourage participants who haven't arleady registered to offer me something of substance for this event - rendering lard, making soap, processing lye from an ash hopper, drying fruits and vegetables, pickling vegetables or making jam, making butter, sorting and selling eggs, piecing quilt tops, sorting and saving seeds, basket weaving, find and perform a tableaux for the Sat. evening get-together, dyeing with natural dyes, discuss your child's discipline problems with the school master. The setting is early enough you could still be concerned with artful work which later may take a back seat to more basic concerns like feeding your family. Lace-making, tatting, netting, making sachets or toilet water, etc. fall into that category.

There are a host of social situations that might be addressed if done so accurately - breach of promise, difficulties associated with being a recent emigrant and finding employment, the necessity of a woman assuming a lucrative trade after finding herself in need through widowhood or otherwise, discussing with a husband a household budget and difficulties of running a house on that amount of money, directing servants, etc. It will be October - a prime time to think about the significance of Halloween and how your character feels about the holiday. Are you offended by jack-o-lanterns or feel that is harmless fun? Can you document children's activities in association with the holiday? It is not too early to be working on secret Christmas gifts for loved ones, (which you might actually give for the holiday when the time comes) learn to style your hair in a different period "do", make a netted head-dress to take home with you, organize the children in playing period games, someone of a little prominence might bring some lady's magazines to share with your less affluent neighbors - circulate them and each person choose a new sewing project, etc. Corn-shuckings, etc. could be part of the weekend. If there's something you'd like to learn at the event offer me that and we'll see if I can find someone to instruct a group of ladies in a new craft.

In short, put on your thinking caps, read and take notes, ask questions etc. and this event can be whatever you make of it. The possibilities are almost limitless. If you haven't done an immersion event but feel you'd like to I'll help find a role you're comfortable with and can enjoy. I can be reached at thistledewbooks@comcast.net.

Vickie Rumble