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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Fort attacked by Shawnee war party

I participated in my first re-enactment this past weekend during the Fall Festival here at the fort. I was working outside the stockade, gleaning the field for the last few ears of corn and gourds. Some distance away, a young woman from the fort was collecting buckwheat kernels into a basket. It was hot, and [...]

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molding a mess of musket balls

With heavy rain and wind much of the day keeping us mostly inside, Michael and Okey make good use of their situation by molding a mess of musket balls.  The method and tools used are identical to what a longhunter or farmer would have employed on the frontier.  Michael sets up a tripod over a hot [...]

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Memorial Day observations

In honor of Memorial Day here at Pricketts Fort, Okey Simmons gave a brief talk about the sacrifice made by the original militiamen and their families at Pricketts Fort during Lord Dunmore’s War and the American Revolution.  After the talk he hung a memorial wreath on the front of the fort, after which the current [...]

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These past two days . . .

These past two days have really taken it out of me.  Giving talks to several hundred children from four schools, followed by a long afternoon of hauling a wagonload of mule manure from one field to another in a wheelbarrow and hoeing it into the sod.  My brain is numb and every other part of me [...]

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miserable, wet & cold

A cold wet miserable Saturday morning — just the sort of morning I especially enjoy at the fort, particularly after a long hectic week of school tours and crowds of children.  Saturday means no field trips and a cold miserable rain means few visitors to speak of, and a chance to catch up on essential tasks.  The passage [...]

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living history (within limits)

As the previous post made clear, there are practical limits to recreating the life of the past, whatever the period.  I confessed to our resorting to the use of a tractor in plowing our field.  But let me explain a little further.  We didn’t resort to using a tractor because  we lacked the wherewithall to plow the ground according [...]

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a mingling of eras

On this day, two hundred and thirty-one years ago, in 1777, when the original Pricketts Fort was only about three years old, Daniel Boone and about a dozen men were ambushed and cut off from the stockade at Boonesboro by over a hundred Shawnee warriors.  In the resulting melee, Boone’s life was saved by another legendary [...]

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busses roll in, kids roll out . . .

About sixty children today, from Jane Lew Elementary.  Coward that I am, I mostly lay low in the library doing paperwork, hiding from the hubbub.  But only for a time.  Just down the hill from my open window is the open-air ampitheatre and as I pecked away at my keyboard I grew slowly aware of numbers [...]

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a new season

We just opened here at the fort a couple of days ago.  The weather has been about perfect, sunny but not too warm, and with great cumulus clouds sailing slowly overhead to temper the sun.  Already busloads of children are arriving, and will keep arriving nearly every day until the end of the school year. In addition to the [...]

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