Genesee Country Village and Museum holds an elaborate, weekend-long, Civil War reenactment. I’ve never gone in for reenactments but it seemed like fun so we gave it a shot.
It was definitely an experience! The entire place gets decked out with encampments and barricades and lots (and lots) of people in period costume. It seems like everyone is involved, whether they are part of the reenactment or they sell the cast iron cookware that the reenactors will use to make their meals for the weekend or they are at the makeshift hospital tents tending for the “wounded.” They have reenactors tell the stories of women who rolled bandages for the troops and of politicians who debated the war.
I was struck by the commitment of all the people involved and the level of detail everyone aspired to recreate. It was quite impressive and really sweet seeing generations of families involved in preserving our history.
The horses were nice too.
While not strictly the point here, I love these two photos. The trellis is just lovely and the Victorian with the Civil War tents just cracks me up–so many levels of incongruity!