Where is best?

[pipascus]

What's your opinion as to the best place to live for Historical Trekking and Reenactment, especially French Indian War through Rev War? I figure it's mainly in the East, but let's see ...

 

[musketman]

I would say from Pennsylvania to upper New York, thereabouts...

 

[Swampman]

Nashville, TN is within driving distance of the very best sites in the country. Most of the better suppliers live close by too.

 

[hawkeye1755]

ABSOLUTE NOT IN GERMANY!!!!!

 

Nashville only has 4-5 events within driving distance on a good year. I lived there for 50 years and wound up driving 200-500 miles to get to good events. That middle ground bunch puts a lot of miles on their trucks every year!

Close to home, the best doin's were private invitation only affairs. A few well studied, good and trusted fellows out in the woods, and you can do that anywhere.

Most of the "good suppliers" around there are out of touch with reality on their prices. No middle ground reenactors from around there actually use their stuff. That jumk is like a Corvette. You can't afford it until you are too old and broke down to get the full advantage from it! Then you realize it is too expensive to take to the woods. Besides, most of the best reenactors want their gear to look like it just went through two wars and an earthquake! They only buy that fancy stuff for the resale value.

I have some good items by those well known makers, but I bought it back when they were unknown and scraping to make ends meet. Hershel House sold his poor boys for $300-500 back when God was a kid.

North KY and southern OH are probably in the list of top 2-3 areas for good events. I now have somewhere to go every weekend without driving more than 200 miles. Serious historic site events and fun rondys both.

Boonesboro militia once each month, Ceasar's Creek once each month (both 1 1/2 hours away), 45 minutes from Friendship, ID. Within 1 1/2 hours from home I will do the Boonesboro Seige, Battle of Blue Licks, Grassy Run, Painted Stone Massacre and probably 3 or 4 more my wife has not told me are on the schedule.

A quick long trip will get me to WVA sites or the East TN, NC, VA corner in three or four hours. I can be at Mansker's Station in 4 hours, Martin's Station/Cumberland Gap in 4, Sycamore Shoals in 5.
I can turn north and be on the Great Lakes sites in about the same time. I can probably hit a dozen good quality Rev War and War of 1812 events within 4 hours drive time.

I also get to camp with many of the assorted "experts" that post on the various forums and write the various magazine articles. Be informed that what they do and what they say are two diferent things!!!

 

[pipascus]

Wow! Sounds great. I am in Arizona, Flagstaff area, and it is nice. But I must be honest: I miss that month I spent in NC. It seems that, while the West is vast and beautiful, places back east are "friendlier" for historical trekking and reenactment. I may go out there this summer for that stuff, but it is one hell of a drive!!!

 

[marmot]

I enjoy going out West to hike and fish, and I miss Alaska for the opportunities to really get away from it all, but here in NW North Carolina I live with a 4 hour drive of more events than I have time to go to, plus have access to some pretty good forests to go wander in. Rev War is picking up in the South as more historians reasses the importance of the South in that war, but F&I is a bit slim. Sure, NC was affected by the F&I war, but most of the "action" was the retreat of frontier settlers to the east in fear of Indian attacks - and nobody seems to want to do a reenactment of a general retreat with very little fighting! :grin:

Undertaker, you're going to just have to bite the bullet and come visit for a while - I'm sure we can find enough folks to put you up (or at least park you in a camp!) for a grand tour of the Eastern Frontier...

M

 

[Ridge]

Anywhere near Cumberland, Maryland.

All the military expeditions in the beginning started from there. If it was close enough for them to walk it's close enough for you to drive to in a short amount of time.

 

[Slake]

New York State...I say it that way so you stay away from NYC

 

[TRIN]

I'm from Cumberland, Maryland and Ridge is right lots of history here and the surronding areas.

 

[Big John]

Where the first muzzleloader shoots started.... Massassachusetts! :rotf:

 

[pipascus]

How is it with trekking out East? Can you grab your gear and flinter and head into the woods, or are there restrictions that forbid trekking armed (with a flinter)?

 

[graybeard]

Depends on what you mean by East. In Michigan, the only restriction is the need for a small game license to carry a rifle in the woods. We have lots of public land, thanks to the lumber barons who cut down the white pine and never paid any taxes. Huge tracts of tax-reverted forest exist. graybeard

 

[Big John]

Things have changed for the better in Ma. as far as muzzleloading goes: 18 days of muzzleloading only combined with muzzleloaders can be used during the shotgun season, making a very long B.P. season if wanted. Many shoots in New England weekly if you look for them.

 

[David Teague]

Anchorage isn't the best place to be for historic events... and I for one, sure wouldn't want to do the Russian Fur Trade... they way they treated the locals natives was appaling. :shake:

 

[Okwaho]

For me I like East Tennessee because of it's proximity to all the great F&I events.On the west there are Fts. Toulouse,Massac,and De Chartres the fartherest being De Chartres at 443 miles;On the North there is the Great Lakes area and in the Northeast there are Fts.Ticonderoga {just above Albany},Niagara,and Crown Point,with Ti being the fartherest at 900 miles;on the Southeast there is Fort Toulouse at 383 miles.These are all premier F&I events and there is also Canada now and again.I will be at Fortress Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia in August and hopefully again in 2008 for their 250th aniversary event.Since I very rarely do anything after 1763,I have to travel a fair amount.I was in Quebec City last summer for a big BAR event BUT we got to camp and fight on the Plains of Abraham.
On the home front there is Ft. Loudoun,an hour away and Manskers,2 1/2 hrs. away.There's a lot of travel involved but these colorful and often big events are worth it.Louisbourg is a helluva way off but there's nothing on the North American Continent to equal it.
Tom Patton

 

[pipascus]

How is it in the Tennessee-Kentucky-North Carolina area as far as race problems? I was in N Carolina for a month, camping off of Grandfather Mountain and everyone was very nice. But I keep hearing stuff about the KKK and or raacist stuff. Is this stuff really prominent there or has it calmed down?

 

[Johnny Tremain]

Western PA.

Cant wait to go back there

 

[David Teague]

Well, it is the site of one of the largest Clan rallies in the US...

The Grandfather Mt Highland Games!


:rotf:

The "KKK" is just a shadow of it's former self...

Estimated size: No more than a few thousand, organized into slightly more than 100 units.

" By 1921, the Klan numbered almost 100,000 members and money flooded its coffers. At its peak in 1924, 40,000 uniformed Klansmen paraded through the streets of Washington, D.C., during the Democratic National Convention. Like a modern political lobby, the group was so influential that many politicians felt compelled to court it or even to join, particularly in the Midwestern states. Senators, congressmen, governors, judges at all levels, even future President Harry Truman donned the hood and robe (though Truman shortly quit, apparently disgusted by an anti-Catholic tirade).

As the Klan grew, so did the number and intensity of violent acts committed by its members. The group's image suffered; the hypocrisy of a self-proclaimed "law and order" organization that utilized lynchings and vigilantism did not escape public censure. Additionally, the central leadership proved incapable of effectively controlling the organization's fringes, largely due to their own infighting and competition over the enormous revenue the organization was generating. Scandal followed scandal and the rank-and-file became alienated by the sexual and alcoholic exploits of its leaders. By the outbreak of the Great Depression in 1929, the Klan had fragmented into dozens of independent realms and membership plummeted.

I wouldn't worry to much if you like the area, as the current Klan is just a handfull of nitwits (IMO) spread over all 50 states.

 

[Okwaho]

From someone who lives in the middle of the area you mentioned and whose job took me all over upper East Tennessee I can only say that I doubt you have any problems.To say that there is no racism wouldn't be true.There is racism here,but you have to dig down a good ways to find it.The Klan is all but nonexistent and it's been a very long time since it has made an appearance generally on strictly local issues and these are very rare.You needn't be concerned about this area.You will be by far safer than in the Bronx,Times Square, and some other areas up North not to mention Los Angeles.Come ahead and enjoy and remember our motto:Keep the South green,bring money.If you will post before you come and say what interests you have folks here will be glad to inform you of places of interest.
Tom Patton