Switching Gears

Or at least time periods. Three weekends of colonial events are finished and now I have to retool and gear up for the annual Confederate Navy weekend at the CSS Neuse State Historic Site and the Carolina Living History Guild annual business meeting. It appears that most of our members will be present this year and we certainly have lots to discuss, including a very busy schedule for 2012.

The Colonial Heritage Day at Brunswick Town went very well. Though the weather was cool and overcast at times, on Saturday afternoon the sun came out and it warmed up quite nicely. I enjoyed my day spent with the fine fellows of Capt. William Dry's Company of New Hanover County militia.

The men of Dry's Militia assembled for the manual exercise (yours truly closest to the camera)

The Celebrate NC program at the NC Museum of History was a great event! There were more artisans, craftsmen, historic sites, and entertainers than I've ever seen and the museum staff estimated 5000 visitors for the day. We saw plenty of those folks and had great conversations with a few of them, while representing Historic Halifax.

Yesterday's "Bath in the American Revolution" event went very well. Though I was only one of two militia men present, His Majesty's 64th Regt. of Foot had a very good turnout. Bath is a very small town that is off the beaten path, but they still managed to get 250-300 visitors out for the day. I talked to a lot of fine folks about militia service, both Loyalist and Patriot, in Revolutionary era North Carolina. The Brits did a fine job of drill and musket demonstrations, and musician Simon Spalding kept our ears perked up all day with his lively tunes.

All in all, its been a really fun three weeks.