November daily life event in Missouri

[Silvana Siddali]

I'm sorry about the very short notice of this event. I just learned about an hour ago that we were finally granted permission to take over the Boone Village near Defiance, Missouri, during the weekend of November 9-11. This event has been in the works for some time but because the village belongs to a local University, it took a little extra time to get all the permissions we needed so that I could announce it publicly.

The theme of this event is simply daily life in November, 1861, in a rural village. Essentially we'll be getting ready for winter. Some of the chores include chinking log cabins, weeding and digging in the garden, and repairing fences. We have a schoolhouse and two excellent young school mistresses who will be teaching lessons in geography and the natural sciences (so children will be very welcome); we also have a dressmaker's cabin, a potter's shop, a grist mill, and a summer kitchen, as well as barns & other outbuildings. There's a great opportunity for a variety of authentic impressions.

We have the village entirely to ourselves for the weekend, so we can stay in the houses (which are clean and in good condition.) We're planning a Thanksgiving-style supper on Saturday night and a church service on Sunday morning.

For those of you who aren't too familiar with the Boone Village, it's a small town with about two dozen historic buildings. It's about 45 min. west of St. Louis. There are few modern intrusions (none that are really irritating, anyway.) The village was composed of antebellum farm houses and buildings, which were brought to the site of Daniel Boone's last home. That in itself is worth seeing. The village is set in a rural area, so you won't be bothered by a lot of traffic, and I don't remember any planes flying overhead.

Again, I really regret the very short notice, but it just couldn't be helped this time around. If you think you'd like to come, please feel free to send me a message or ask any questions. I think this will be a pleasant and interesting event.

The standards are about the same as for any other authentic civilian event, but if you need more information or details, you might check out the civilian guidelines for Marmaduke's Raid:

http://starofthewestsociety.googlepages.com/marmadukes

Edited to add: the standards for "Marmy's Raid" are intended to suit a refugee event that takes place in the woods of southeastern Missouri. Of course people living in a rural village would be able to wear clothing that might not work for a refugee event. The reference was meant only as a general guideline.

[Old Cremona]

Re: November daily life event in Missouri

This sounds good. I'll try and wheedle a kitchen pass. Bringing my daughter will help. Hopefully Rev. Pompey can come and bring Megan and Co.

[Silvana Siddali]

Re: November daily life event in Missouri

Yes indeed, Frank's children will all be there. We have folks coming from Wisconsin (members of the ONV) and North Carolina, as well as the usual suspects from Kansas City & St. Louis. It would be wonderful if you and Katrina could come! She should have plenty of other children to play with.

We can't charge anything for the event, so we're asking everyone to bring food and drinks to share. I'll take care of that individually with folks as they sign up. Saturday night will be a big church-supper meal; of course Thanksgiving wasn't instituted as an official national holiday until 1863.

We will have mail service, a Mercantile (we'll purchase items with period money) and services in the chapel on Sunday morning.

Anyone who feels that they might like to come should contact me as soon as possible so that I can get them situated in the various buildings. Because this event was posted so close to the date I don't think it's necessary to put a cap on it, but I assume that once we have the houses filled we'll have to ask people to set up a camp of convenience outside the village.

[M_Kupsch]

Re: November daily life event in Missouri

If there are any Masons interested in attending this event, please let me know as it would be nice to set up a Widows & Orphans table similar to what was done at Shaker Village.

[MrsArmstrong]

Re: November daily life event in Missouri

[QUOTE=Silvana Siddali;70324]

"Saturday night will be a big church-supper meal; of course Thanksgiving wasn't instituted as an official national holiday until 1863."

Silvana,
It is my understanding Thanksgiving would be celebrated after the harvest. Depending on your area they picked when it may be celebrated. One area may celebrate it on one day and another county may celebrated it a week later/or earlier. People could celebrate more than one Thanksgiving if they had family/friends in another area and went to visit. The national holiday status only set it on a particular day for all.

Susan Armstrong
19centfood

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Re: November daily life event in Missouri

Not trying to hijack this good idea of daily life in the autumn of 1861 but if one is interested in more about Thanksgiving I invite you to check out Virginia Mescher's article on the subject: http://www.raggedsoldier.com/thanksgiving.pdf

But back to the reguarly scheduled program of event news...

[Spinster]

Re: November daily life event in Missouri

What are y'all mixing with the cabin chinking mud up in that part of the country?

We pack and mix with fully retted Spanish Moss down here---strongly documented even back into the French/Spanish periods. ( That mixing is a dandy muddy job for elementary aged children too:D)

Retted moss not being a ready option in other areas, I'm wondering what the holding medium was.

[BrettKIllinois]

Re: November daily life event in Missouri

I am interested as long as I don't get accused of theivery and you all agree to attend my tea party.

[Silvana Siddali]

Re: November daily life event in Missouri

Yes, of course, Brett, you will be an honored guest. I'm so sorry about missing your tea at Athens. We ladies had set up a little scenario for those folks who really did the stealing. Unfortunately we got caught behind the militia muster on our way back & couldn't return until all the drilling was done. By that time you and your friend had already left.

It would be great to see you at Defiance! I really hope you can come.

Susan, think of it as a "harvest home" kind of supper. It'll be a pot luck, like a church supper, in celebration of all our hard work bringing in the crops and so on. It should be a nice convivial evening. Any chance you might make it?

Here are some photos of the village:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/7109/Boonesfield.html

The people in the photos are volunteers who show up at Boone Days and frontier type events. They're not CW reenactors.

[Anna Allen]

Re: November daily life event in Missouri

I'm definitely planning on this one. It's really a lovely little village. The first event we had there I almost felt as if I stepped back in time...

Looking forward!

Here's some pictures from a few events we've had in the past at the Boone Village:

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/509385927eYCojS?vhost=good-times

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/548758065AAfXJO?vhost=good-times

[Silvana Siddali]

Re: November daily life event in Missouri

We now have enough participants for our event, so if anyone else is interested, we'll put you on the waiting list. As we all know, things can change at the last minute, so it's entirely possible that a place will open up. There is one position that still remains open: running the potter's shop. If you have skills working with clay, by all means contact me.

[M_Kupsch]

Re: November daily life event in Missouri

I have to say that this was the best civilian event I have ever had the pleasure to be a participant. This was Silvana's first time at putting an event together and she did a bully job. It was so easy to really place yourself back in 1861..from the excellent mercantile put together and operated by Deborah Hyland all the way to the capstone Saturday night supper complete with 2 huge turkies provided by the Sorchys.

The site was also part & parcel to having numerous magic moments, with it rolling hills and fall foliage..just as picturesque as one could imagine. The village just makes one feel like he or she has stepped back 140 or so years and I would encourage anyone simply to stop by and visit the site if passing though eastern Missouri by way of St. Louis. Better yet, why not be a participant as Silvana indicated that the site administration wants us to do more living history programs.

I could go on and on about this event, but you just have to experience the next one. I am sure you will hate seeing it end as I did.

[Abrams]

Re: November daily life event in Missouri

I did not find this website until too late to see this event. I hope your event went well. The weather was nice anyway. :)

Now, time for a new-guy dumb question or two. I ask here, because even though this is was civilian event, and I was attracted originally by the military side, your event is close enough to me to go easily. So I apologize in advance if my questions seem totally un-informed. Its only because they are, as I have never been to any Civil War era event.

1-Are spectators "only" allowed/encouraged to attend an event like this?
I understand that the people coming and participating in the event want to immerse themselves in the times and trials of living in those times, and I am not 100% sure if this is a private affair or if you are "performing" these skills and trades to show to "modern people" that come to observe and learn, or if you wish to not have people in modern clothing with cameras destroying your immersion.

2-A guy like myself, that is just beginning to get into this, wanting to purchase or get materials for crafting their own gear went to this event, are there suttlers or vendors attending to assist me in the aquisition of good quality period gear?

These questions may seem obvious to you-all that have done this for years, but it seems to me, that sometimes you may not want "modern" folk breaking the mood and feel of some of these events. Most events I can understand are done specifically for the education and entertainment of modern people, and so gawkers like myself would be welcomed and expected.

But it also makes sense to me to do an event where no one not in period clothing and such are welcomed. To attempt to maximize the feeling of "being there" and not being photographed and asked questions that break the mood.

So are there both types of events? And if so, how would I tell which is which? Again, I apologize for asking what is likely obvious to most here.

[M_Kupsch]

Re: November daily life event in Missouri

Ron,

Your questions are not silly at all, and I will be happy to answer them.

The site was open to the public during the normal hours of operation, so we were interpreting life in 1861 while the general public were present. We would interact with the public as we went about our daily routines. Our interaction with each other, meaning participants, was in first person. After hours, we were able to focus more on the immersion aspect of the event.

Deborah Hyland ran a mercantile shop, selling authentic items that one would find in a mercantile. So you would not find cartridge boxes or uniform items in her shop. There were no other "sutlers" etc there on site. So you could not have outfitted yourself at the event, but would have had to come with the proper impression. Genereally, at living histories, you will not find sutlers & vendors. You find these at mainstream events. That being said, you will often have authentic vendors selling uniform & gear at immersion events PRIOR to event kick off at registration.

Hope that answers your questions.

[Silvana Siddali]

Re: November daily life event in Missouri

I agree with Mike that this is an excellent question that may deserve further discussion in another thread. Lately there have been some good conversations about first-person vs. historic interpretation, so your questions are timely.

I'm going to report on the event in a day or two (when I have started to excavate my living room floor again) but for now I just want to say that there are a number of these historic villages around the country, and I feel they present excellent opportunities for authentic civilian reenactors who want to recreate the 19th century past as it was really lived. These villages are usually owned by educational or private groups who survive by bringing in visitors & running tours. So it's rare that you could take over a village like this without doing some interpretation. However, that is a useful and important "arm" of our hobby, & it's our way of giving back for the enjoyment we gain by reliving the past.

In this case, Boonesfield is owned by a university & serves as an educational site for both spectators and for interns who are learning about historic preservation. One nice thing about having the event in November: we weren't overwhelmed by lots of spectators. Those who did come were fascinated by the displays & activities and asked intelligent & thoughtful questions. They really did not interfere with the overall first-person element of the event. When our group does events for the NPS, then we don't have as much control over what goes on & we have to follow their scripts and information packets. That's still an extremely valuable educational experience for everyone, but of course it's a different kind of event & tends to have more third-person than first-person.

Your other question raises the issue of preparedness for an event like this. You should always feel free to ask for loaners, especially at first. Some of our participants have been at this hobby for a long time & are very willing to help out. Living history events don't tend to have sutlers, so you'd want to ask a lot of questions ahead of time. The problem and delight of the civilian end of the authentic reenacting community is that there are fewer regulations. That means that as you build your unique individual impression you'll have to do more of your own research. That can be enormous fun but also frustrating. Just keep asking questions.

Also, Ron, contact us about our next few events -- you're in our neck of the woods & probably would enjoy some of what we do here.

I am so excited about the way this part of our hobby is developing! I see more and more opportunities for civilian-military crossover. We're seeing more and more of the "people's war" as Abraham Lincoln called it in 1861. As some of the military guys explore the civilian side of things, they gain a greater appreciation for the fact that they're portraying a volunteer army. And we civilians play a more serious & authentic role, far removed from the tea parties and fashion shows of yore.