Thursday, November 17, 2011

Pursuit of Floyd

This past weekend, about 20 civilians and 100 military attended an Immersion event hosted by the Genesee Country Village and Museum.



Set in a lovingly restored historic village containing 68 buildings and set on some 400 acres, it was the perfect setting for the event. Participants spent the weekend living in 3 of the historic homes and portraying the citizens of Mountain Cove, WV in 1861.

Some of my favorite moments from the event were seeing all the ladies package a care package for the soldiers and putting in the letters, baked goods, medicine, bags, food, and warm mittens and socks in. The other was Saturday evening's entertainment in the stenciled ballroom of Hosmer's Inn. The candle and firelight made the scene magical. I shall never forget the looks on the faces of the ladies and gentlemen as my husband recited Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart, nor the enthusiasm with which we danced as I scratched out a fiddle tune!

We did not expect to see much of the military that weekend, but we ended up seeing quite a bit of them! Some of the Confederate wounded were housed in the Inn and my house, full of Federal soldier's wives, was forced to put up ten Confederates Saturday night! They were civil and left rather early after keeping the fire going all night, but still, it was quite the invasion!

We had an active post service and money to pay for room and board at the Inn and boarding houses. There were plenty of things to do: make applesauce, cut down trees for rail-splitting, drip lye for soap, and sharpen tools. Each participant had their own individual goal to accomplish during the course of the weekend, I wonder how many got done?

If this event should occur again next year, please don't miss it! We hope to be able to use more buildings next year and have a real store to purchase things in!

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