What would you like to see in 08 or 09?

[LindaTrent]

A similar question was raised last year (or two years ago) that resulted in the upcoming 1864 trial event. So now I want to ask it again and see what results. :D

What would be your ideal event? an event that you'd want to attend no matter what? This is a serious question and I'd like to try to keep it in the realm of serious possibilities.

Thanks,

Linda.

[Guy Gane III]

Re: What would you like to see in 08 or 09?

49th New York at Spottsylvania.... hands down.

[John Legg]

Re: What would you like to see in 08 or 09?

I would seriously want the Fort wayne event to come back.

[GreencoatCross]

Re: What would you like to see in 08 or 09?

I must have been sleep-walking when I posted that! Sorry!

Brian White
Wambaugh, White, & Co.

[LindaTrent]

Re: What would you like to see in 08 or 09?

Thanks guys, but did anyone notice this is in the civilian folder? :tounge_sm

Linda.

[Charles Heath]

Re: What would you like to see in 08 or 09?

Thanks guys, but did anyone notice this is in the civilian folder?

Best laugh I've had all day. I suppose if I made a few civilian event suggestions it may scare folks. :p

[Annette Bethke]

Re: What would you like to see in 08 or 09?

Pre-war event. Perhaps 1858-1860. An event that would illustrate the build up to the war as well as the every day antebellum life; what life was just before. It could be urban or rural.

Or a seccession election day. That would take a lot of people though.

[LindaTrent]

Re: What would you like to see in 08 or 09?

Best laugh I've had all day. I suppose if I made a few civilian event suggestions it may scare folks. :p

Go for it Charles! All I hope is we can stir someone into doing the organizing. I'd like to just be a participant for a change, and not have to worry about the inner gears of the event.

And don't get me wrong, I have nothing against civilians at military events -- when they can be documented as having been in the immediate vicinity at the specific time and place. :D

Linda.

[Hank Trent]

Re: What would you like to see in 08 or 09?

Come on, Charles. Let's hear it!

I'd still like to see something having to do with the underground railroad.

The following ideas aren't original with me, but I'd still like to see them happen. A feud. Or a coon hunt.

Or anything that doesn't involve sitting around talking about modern stuff!

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Charles Heath]

Re: What would you like to see in 08 or 09?

Hank & Linda,

If you ever do that Underground Railroad event the way you described it after the 1857 Camping Trip last year, then please keep me in mind. Fascinating, controversial, and probably will generated about the same amount of post-event buzz, at least within the LH community, as Willie Balderson's precedent setting slave auction in Williamsburg over ten years ago. I even liked the land you pointed out.

Although not necessarily our era, per se, the Mormon handcarting expeditions are reenacted several times every year. I wouldn't mind doing that some time, but with some folks who have worked out a lot of the modern kinks in that system. Did I say that nicely? The word "arduous" comes to mind, but years later we'd look back with a sort of fondness. One of the rangers at Kisatchie does this, and she rekindled an interest in such an event.

Steve Tyler's various posts about the plight of abolitionist movement related structures in western NY have made me wonder if we couldn't have some sort of a Meeting House event where certain notables spoke. From time to time in CW News and other publications, it's obvious a few people do take on fairly serious impressions of this genre. Who wouldn't want to go see and hear a good quality Frederick Douglas, for example, speak to a crowd? These events are also done from time to time, but are they executed with any real attention to detail?

Continuing with the abolitionist theme, my interest in John Brown cycles around from time to time. While quite a bit happens here in the Harper's Ferry-Kennedy Farm-Charles Town area, I'm still fascinated with the brief time (all too brief) I spent out in his Kansas stomping grounds a few years ago. One of the stats mentioned out that way was the "eight days" travel time it took for the mercenaries to get from New England to Kansas. The canals are pretty much gone, as is much of the other mid-19th century transportation infrastructure, but what fun it could be to piece together some form of travel oriented event down the Ohio. Having been on the Belle of Louisville for a few hours back in 1978, it is easy to put together 2 plus 2 and come up with 5.

A good Whig ox roast would be enjoyable, and again a pre-war activity staged about the time this political party was about to disassemble itself. I don't know if folks are interested in that sort of thing beyond reading a copy of Two Roads to Sumter now and then, and we may need to settle on a steamship round rather than a dressed steer, considering the number of folks who are likely to be involved.

My own desire for a "reunion" event will be partially satisfied later this year, but in all the little GAR halls and UCV meeting spots across the land, I can't help but think of the value in recreating a meeting or two using their original minutes, rosters, current events of the day, and in some cases the furniture and facility itself. Some interesting act to be discussed would make a nice focus, be it the need for a monument somewhere or perhaps a book that revised history a little too much for the veterans who were actually there, and perhaps saw things differently. What treasures must be buried in those file cabinets. Considering many of us are reunion age and beyond, this may be entirely possible.

I've done enough planting, harvesting, and farm events to last a lifetime and then some. Many of the boys haven't done these things, and it appears we'll finally get some form of upstate NY agricultural event on the slate in September 2008. I'd like to raise some tobacco again, but that's not a period event. It's just something to fool with in the garden, process, and give away at some future event as hands or books. It would be fun to have a weekend where cigars are made in a period fashion. The small scale production equipment is still readily available and in fairly good condition.

The last trip to Steamtown, as relocated in Scranton, PA, from Bellows Falls, VT, encouraged the thought of a train trip of some kind. True, the equipment is most likely going to be post-war, to include some of the 20th century variety, but the thought is there. A decade or so ago, a number of dinner train excursion businesses came and went about as fast as the soup course, and we may have missed an opportunity there. Quite a few concessions to the modern world would be required, and perhaps too many. Then there are those who will jump up and say "we already do that, and we have a train robbery, cowboys, Indians, blah, blah...." Noooooooooo!

Several grist mills around the country have events where folks are shown how grain, primarily corn, is ground. Tide mills are fascinating, at least one working windmill exists, and even with ignoring some of the modern features around the mills (suspended disbelief is our friend), it may be too difficult to find find folks willing to do such a mundane job for an hour, let alone a couple of days. Couple that with the ground needed to grow a few wagonloads of Gourdseed corn, and the preparatory challenges begin to mount.

Just some thoughts. We certainly haven't scratched the surface of the things that could be done.

[Drygoods]

Re: What would you like to see in 08 or 09?

Mr. and Mrs. Trent,
What a great post, solicit ideas for folks to suggest something new. I'm not being sarcastic, just that I think it's a good idea to get civilian folks thinking more of what civilians should be doing first, rather than following an army event. I liked a good deal of what Mr. Heath suggested, but one thing I'd like to see is the Confederate Congress and election that was held in Mobile AL.

But if wishes were horses.......
I'd really like to see more western events, of course wouldn't we all. I can think of some nice rural places, but that is the trouble, far too rural for most people. I mean to say that where I live, you'd have to fly in to Sacramento and then drive 7 or 8 hours north, part of that drive is 3 hours between gas stations, and forget about markets or bars or whatever people look for when on vacation.

Whatever folks come up with, rest assured that there are people willing to attend immersion events:D

[NoahBriggs]

Re: What would you like to see in 08 or 09?

Week long wagon trek west. Not necessarily Mormon. 1846- 6X. Again, terrain and suspending belief of modern roads and it might require gentle negotiations with farmers and the like. Someone has a wagon, someone else might have oxen. I read somewhere ESC had mentioned this, and it takes a while to organize but it'd be worth it. Rusty memory reminds me there are a couple of companies who do "westward trek lite" for the tourists.

I am willing to compromise and spend a weekend at one of the western forts, simulating a rest stop. That I definitely remember.

Otherwise, I'd like to see what it's like to run an historic village for a week. Take Old Bedford Village, assign houses, take on jobs, have period currency, and interact for a week. That way we get a better idea of day-to-day stuff which nobody bothers to record in diaries, because it's, well, day-to-day.

Those who do not want to stay for the whole time can be boarded at the tavern. Their coming and leaving adds to the ambiance.

Regardless of what is picked and organized it would actually make for some groundbreaking reality TV, as opposed the the unscripted BS you see today.

[ElizabethClark]

Re: What would you like to see in 08 or 09?

There are some Western US resources for handcart and wagon treks, though quite a lot of them have modern bits added in, and I don't know how possible it will be to eliminate them--it's either in the handcart construction, or the folks who own/drive the wagons not really "getting" full immersion. There are some trek spots on original ground, already laid out (and rutted), but most have a tourist quota each year, so things would have to be reserved well in advance, and even then, they require modern toilet arrangements.

I am definitely interested in helping to organize a Westward Trek out here in my home territory; it would need to be 2009 to be practicable for my family, though.

One event option I'd like to explore is that of an election day/charity fair, late 1850s, down in Salt Lake City at Old Deseret Village... but I don't know how amenable the current administrators might be.

[Annette Bethke]

Re: What would you like to see in 08 or 09?

I am willing to compromise and spend a weekend at one of the western forts, simulating a rest stop. That I definitely remember.

We have done a fort event here in Texas using one of the more remote forts. So remote some, including me, could not get to it due to flooding. However, we would like to do this again next spring. The fort has several structures we can use and the site manager is open to just about anything we would like to do. We are thinking post-war. Is this something you would be interested in?

[Drygoods]

Re: What would you like to see in 08 or 09?

Regardless of what is picked and organized it would actually make for some groundbreaking reality TV, as opposed the the unscripted BS you see today.

Now Mr. Briggs, do you think America is ready for folks like us on television? What, cameras in front of folks who do not care for electricity, cosmetics, refrigeration, and feel just as easy with a commode table or chamber pot instead of double-sinked rest rooms? The idea of cooking something over a hearth fire, (sans the $2K stainless steel grill) for several hours and then eating it within a half hour? Oh, no, I doubt the world is ready for a show about how serious LH folks can be -- those TV crews would make us all look like we fell off the turnip truck and seriously hit our heads.:D

Mind you, I'd watch the show, that is, if I had a TV set or cable. But all kidding aside, I enjoyed your comments. I do know that there is a wagon train that runs every year, or other year, through the Sierra's over Sonora Pass and finishes in Twain Harte. I know that they've done it for 25+ years and when I met one of the participants next week, I'll try to get you some more information (hope that I see her).