Three of my friends and I took a short trip to Williamsburg this past weekend. We had a great time eating/drinking in the taverns. Here we are at the Kings Arms Tavern (I'm the big guy on the left).
I'm about 3/4 through James Grant's wonderful bio of our second president, "John Adams, Party of One". I also in the last couple of years have read several other great books on the period. I have slowly felt gropwing inside me the desire to own a full outfit comparable to the plain suit Adams or Franklin would have worn, plus, of course, a good quality three cornered hat. I have links, somewhere, to a couple companies that make good ones.
Soooo cool!
I have done a bit of living history over at the Claude Moore Colonial Farm park in McClean Va. Cool place. It is a working(ish) 18th century tobacco farm.
When I lived on the east coast, I used to do Revolutionary reenactments as well as even earlier (aka Roger's Rangers). Nothing says manly power like a tomahawk and a musket.
Well I've built four front stuffers from kits and had at one time a persona as an eastern long hunter. Made most of mu gear and learned to track and hunt via Mark Baker in his series in Muzzleloader Magazine. I spent a good part of two years playing with the AMM out in California as well. It was a lot of fun and would like to get into the competitive flintlock shooting again.
I used to do some 18th Century Russian fur trader trekking back in college. I also used to dress in 18th century clothing every day, 24/7 in college, took my notes in class with a feather quill dipping it in ink etc. Others guys get an earing or a tattoo, I wore knee breeches, go figure...
My wife and I have been doing a middle-ground (KY) frontier family persona for nearly six years now. I carry a .50 Jackie Brown and over the years we've put together a good kit (so we feel) for our persona. Our son has been "reenacting" all three years of his life and he tends to "steal" the show from mom and dad, which is fine with us.
Martin's Station in SW Virginia is our favorite site but we seldom get to go there because of the distance. We are mainly in Indiana and KY.
I don't do reenacting or anything or the sort, but I was almost an 18th-century historian! In graduate school, I began focusing on women's roles during the American and French Revolutions. But the fact that I didn't speak or read French would have hindered me greatly in my research and as I didn't have the time to learn French properly, I almost went with just women's roles in the American Revolution. But then the WW2 bug bit me and that, as they say, was that.
I still am torn at times between my love of the 18th century and the Golden Era. I am fascinated with the Colonial Era and American Revolution. Working at Colonial Williamsburg would be another dream come true.
^^^
for me, the 18th century is a hobby but the Golden Era is more of a lifestyle, that is my home and daily dress are more along the styles of the Golden Era. I have yet to wear knee breeches and a cocked hat to work
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