Читать книгу Travels Into Our Past: America's Living History Museums & Historical Sites - Wayne P. Anderson - Страница 5

Most living history museums people their era with costumed re-enactors, but they do so at different levels. The most frequent role-players we have encountered in our travels have been costumed individuals who are well rehearsed in the knowledge of the time and who give visitors background information, answer factual questions and perhaps more importantly demonstrate skills of the period such as blacksmithing, cooking, glassblowing and leather-working. Some of the museums involve the visiting children in tasks such as spinning, basket weaving, and cooking with recipes of the period.

We have been especially entertained by re-enactors who dramatize scenes such as a trial, battle or wedding, staying in role so realistically that at times we have felt as if we have met real characters from the past. Costumed guides who tell stories of the era are impressive especially those who tell ghost stories as they lead visitors through the grounds at night, making even nonbelievers like ourselves feel the presence of the unhappy dead.

When you are at an historical site, be on the lookout for any special presentations by re-enactors. Some of the best ones are given on holidays or for special commemorative events. The most frequent ones are often reenactments of Civil War or Revolutionary War battles, but other large scale reenactments are also presented.

For example, for five days in May of 2004 we followed in the footsteps of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark as we previewed preparations for a three-year commemoration of their voyage of discovery. From 1804 to 1806 their travels took them nearly 8,000 miles, beginning and ending on the Missouri River near St. Louis. Among the re-enactors in the encampment in St. Charles, we particularly enjoyed seeing Charles Clark. In his blue captain’s uniform, he bears a strong resemblance to his famous ancestor, William Clark. He claims he is a thoroughbred, descended from William Clark on both his mother’s and father’s sides.

Charles Clark is frequently asked to appear as his ancestor, and like most of the re-enactors his costume is authentic. It felt strange to be sitting at dinner with Clark because it was easy to forget he was playing a role. His knowledge of Lewis and Clark has been carefully researched, and he has answers to many puzzling questions such as what happened to Pomp, the baby of Sacagawea, the Shoshone woman who traveled with the expedition.

After dinner, Charles Clark as Captain Clark walked us through the encampment of soldiers and river men that stretched along the Missouri in St. Charles. The men’s responses to him gave us an even more powerful feeling we were time-traveling as at the flickering campfires the men called him “captain” and took their hats off to him. Most of the men had been doing this boat trip together since 1996. Many of them had beards, were dressed in rough boatmen clothes and were eager to share stories of their previous trips.

We experienced another example of a great re-enactor a number of years back. It struck us that we had seen most of the great parks of America but had missed Yosemite. We soon remedied that by signing up for a weeklong Elderhostel in the area. Here we met John Muir as performed by Lee Stetson—his one-man show was a high point of our visit.

The actor suddenly appeared out of the darkness in a pose associated with John Muir. Stetson’s straggly beard and face are very similar to Muir’s, and the well-worn clothes and beatup shoes added to the illusion that we were in the presence of the real Muir. Stetson talks with a mild Scottish accent, and his props were all from the period. The material was taken directly from Muir’s books, and the use of language, particularly his metaphors, was so clever that as a writer Wayne was depressed by his inability to produce anything nearly as good. How Muir accomplished so much when he had so much time to just enjoy the surroundings is impressive. We left the performance feeling Muir was a true genius and would have made a name for himself in any number of fields.

In 2003 while writing a number of stories on Jesse James, Wayne was walking the grounds at the Jesse James’ home in Kearney, Missouri, when a man in a western outfit struck up a conversation with him. He seemed to know an unusual amount about the farm and the James family, and Wayne felt some of his responses were a bit strange since he seemed to have no knowledge of the modern era. What was happening fell into place when another visitor came up and addressed him as Frank. Wayne was talking to Jesse’s brother Frank, a re-enactor Wayne was to see later as Frank when the gang “robbed” a local bank.

The same year Wayne visited the home of a professional reenactor in Lexington, Missouri, who had costumes and guns to fit the variety of roles he plays, such as a member of the James gang, a Civil War participant and a World War II soldier. He also appears in historical movies as long as they attempt to present a realistic picture of the times.

Most re-enactors we have met have done extensive research on their characters; they often bear a striking physical resemblance to that historical person and are good at staying in the role. Re-enactors are famous for their attention to detail. If they are 19th-century soldiers, their uniforms are wool and their weapons are exact copies of those used during the period. In some cases, as with the boatmen on the Lewis and Clark keelboat, they might even cook meals using 19th-century recipes. Pride is taken in getting it right.

Rarer is the person who in some way was an actual part of the living history. When we were touring a mining area in West Virginia, our guide, a miner who had spent 27 years working underground, told us personal stories about the dangers and problems.

An odd occurrence was at the home of the millionaire family that Tifton, Georgia, was named after. An older woman with refined speech who was giving the tour had raised her children in the home, donated it to the museum and was back as one of the hosts. More recently at Oak Ridge, where uranium was refined into the original atomic bombs, we encountered a number of guides who had spent their careers there and were able to give us an insiders’ tour.