A Day in the 18th Century

Saturday, August 30th, Rena, Jen, Javin, Scott, Stephanie and I attended the Fair at New Boston. People who reenact various late 18th Century and early 19th Century events gathered near Springfield, Ohio for a country fair and recreated battle. The fair was typical of an early 1800s gathering with various vendors selling wares and a number of entertainments including fire-eaters, clowns, contortionists, etc. No doubt you've heard of tightrope walkers; this fair had a slackrope walker.

The primary reason we went was to see my brother, Frank, and his wife, Carol, who participate in quite a few events such as this one throughout the year. Frank is known as Parson John and, at many events, presents a church service of the appropriate period. (The Parson's wearing the three cornered hat.)

Carol portrays the Parson's indentured servant, Maggie; a reminder of the harsh reality of being widowed by the death of a husband with debt. (A widow could be sold into servitude for up to 39 years or until the debt was paid. If she married a man who paid the debt, she would be freed.) Maggie wears a leather collar that signifies she had run away.

I didn't ask what Nation the Native American man standing by Maggie is. I know the Parson and Maggie have friends who are Delaware. The battle that was reenacted was in August, 1780.

Javin, my five year old grandson didn't mind the explosions of the musket fire, but the cannons were just too loud.

After a lunch of 18th Century "fair food" we attended another show in which a young lady did sword walking--the first time I'd even heard of it.

We stopped by a few vendors' tents, including one of a French lace merchant. Because he didn't have any of his lace makers with him, he had to show us how lace was made. (Normally, he would only sell lace, not make it, and thereby maintain the natural order of the cosmos.)

There were many more sights, sounds and smells to remember. It was really convenient to carry our 21st Century gadget called a digital camera to an event such as this. "Bytes" has meaning to us of which folks in the 18th and 19th Centuries had no idea.

One parting shot: What a fun way to learn history!