Strolling through the old camp ground: scenes from the Civil War Weekend at Pricketts Fort

In this 150th anniversary year of the commencement of the Civil War, shades of the Blue & Gray were recently seen on the “Old Camp Ground” at Pricketts Fort.  Activities included ladies’ tea & tatting, artillery demonstrations by the Jacob’s Meadow Battery, weapons demonstrations, Civil War dance demonstrations, Civil War music by Wha-ke-we-nn, and various [...]

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Memorial Day observances at Pricketts Fort honor war dead of five early American wars

On May 31st, Memorial Day, Pricketts Fort held observances in memory of the men from Pricketts Fort who served in the following wars: the French & Indian War, Pontiac’s Uprising, Lord Dunmore’s War and the American Revolution. The ceremony also memorialized the descendents of these men who served in the Civil War. At the time [...]

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Scenes from the Christmas Market

Despite the blustery winter weather, the annual Pricketts Fort Christmas Market was very well attended this year. At least, the indoor market was well attended. On that first day in particular, when the raw wind whipping across the open field between the Visitor’s Center and the Fort put one in mind of the Siberian steppes, [...]

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Squire Miller killed in Shawnee attack; Mistress Rebecca taken captive

It all begins peacefully enough on a mild October morning, with Squire Miller and Mistress Rebecca picking beans in the field outside the fort. Little do they suspect that the fearsome Shawnee Two Hawks and his band are skulking up through the forest only yards away! At just the right moment, when his intended victims have their backs [...]

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Dairy Day

Dairy Day at the fort dawned particularly hot and muggy, and it never improved. Notwithstanding the heat, however, the proceedings were well-attended, with about a hundred visitors passing through during the day to observe the milking of the goat by its owner, Judy Wilson, and the making of cottage cheese and butter. Once the milk [...]

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On the 4th of July, a recruiting party at Pricketts Fort

Recruiting new militiamen for an expedition against the Shawnee in the Ohio Territory, on the Cuyahoga River, took place on July 4th and 5th at Pricketts Fort, with indifferent success reported. Although a fair number of interested men initially stepped forward to join the ranks, once it was explained to them that, at the end [...]

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The ghost of Ostenaco spotted at Pricketts Fort…

Participants in the 2009 Woodland Indian Camp at Pricketts Fort were witness to a rare event on Wednesday evening, July 1: the appearance of one of the most widely renowned and honored of Cherokee chiefs, the mid-eighteenth century orator and warrior Ostenaco (portrayed by historian and re-enactor Doug Wood). During the early 1760s, Ostenaco moved [...]

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Idyllic days on the old Virginia frontier . . .

It’s not all tomahawk throwing & telling tall tales around the campfire out here on the romantic Virginia frontier, not by a long shot …. Day to day life at the fort is just a bit more prosaic. Take Two Hawks here, passing an idyllic Spring morning mucking out the sheep pen — ah, that [...]

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Ancestral Wars

On May 25th, Memorial Day, Pricketts Fort held observances in memory of the men from Pricketts Fort who served in the following wars: the French & Indian War, Pontiac’s Uprising, Lord Dunmore’s War and the American Revolution. The ceremony also memorialized the descendents of these men who served in the Civil War. At the time [...]

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Strolling through the Old Camp Ground: the Civil War weekend, continued….

There are really two different periods of American history to be found here at Pricketts Fort. The first period, of course, is the frontier period, centered around the year 1774 during the uprising of the Mingo and Shawnee tribes under Chief Logan and Lord Dunmore’s War which immediately followed. This was the year when the [...]

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