First off - I didn't write this. I don't think I've ever said or written
anything significant or original about the Civil War . . .    And I rather
agree with the author's observation that the American Revolution (which I do
write about) was at least equally important.....

That said, yes there are many things that living history conveys well.
Richard Schuman at CW is amazing as Patrick Henry!  The guys who recreate
the Liberty or Death Speech at St. John's Church are wonderfully
effective.  The volunteer docents at Red Hill, when I was director there,
did a wonderful job showing school-age visitors 18th-c hearthside cooking,
medicines, blacksmithing etc.  And though I insisted that no one ever take a
picture, I used to don a wig, knee-britches, and the rest to greet busloads
of 4th graders and engage them about Patrick Henry and his legacy.  There
are lots of aspects of history that folks in costume can help us
understand.  And there are some that will probably never work: Imagine a
Thoreau reenactor at Walden telling visitors about solitude.

That said, when I stand on the battleground at Chalmette and try to imagine
what it was like  to advance toward the entrenched American cannon, or when
I stand on the south bank of the Rappahannock in Fredericksburg and try to
image what it was like for Union troops to cross that river against enfilade
fire from three sides, or when I stood in the Crater at Petersburg, still
visible almost 150 years later, or when I stand inside the bounds of the
rediscovered fort at Jamestown and try to imagine what it must have been
like to watch the ships weigh anchor and sail back toward England, or when I
stopped along the Natchez Trace in the deep swampy gloom where Meriwether
Lewis took his own life, or when I sat in the sun listening to a lot of
proud citizens talking about their sense of history at the unveiling of the
Slave Trail markers a few weeks ago, or when you crawl through that tunnel
to the reconstructed hiding place in Richmond Holocaust Museum . . . or when
I lose my breath and my knees weaken up close to that wall of names at the
Vietnam Memorial -- at times like those I'm too deeply moved about what I
know really happened in those sacred places to want to interact with anyone
in a period costume -- in the same way, I suppose, that when attending the
funeral of someone I knew and loved, I embrace the liturgy, music, prayers,
and silence rather than the efforts of some clergyperson imposing his or
her interpretation on the life of someone he or she may never have know.
But that's just me. . . .

And my friend Glenn Lafantasie's reflection were his. . . .  So I posted the
link to the VA-HIST list because I thought it was food for thought.

All best,

Jon Kukla
________________
www.JonKukla.com <http://www.jonkukla.com/>



On Mon, May 16, 2011 at 2:16 PM, James Burnett <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Jon
> I am curious. Is it because of the lack of authenticity that you are uneasy
> about this? Certainly some of the change is to make the re-enactments more
> visitor friendly. Frankly I would not want to be close to a mortar or
> cannon
> firing full charge. When was the last time it was tested at full charge?
> Given the lack of appreciation for our country's history in the present
> education system I think all  these folks can do to give our youth a small
> taste of what it may have been like is great.
>
> Have you been to one of the living history sites such as Plymouth MA or St
> Augustine FL? There the people dress and teach and respond as if they were
> in the time period they are portraying. Again a great learning experience
> even if it is not quite 100% accurate.
>
> Not to be rude but if you don't like it don't go. If you do think you might
> like it join one of the groups and then press for realism.
>
>
> occasion. To a very large degree, I confess to some unease about all this
> > playacting . . .
> > Jon Kukla
> > ________________
> > www.JonKukla.com <http://www.jonkukla.com/> <http://www.jonkukla.com/>
> >
> > ______________________________________
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> at
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> >
>
>
>
> --
> Douglas Burnett
> Satellite Beach
> FL
>
> ______________________________________
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>

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