2018 Windows to the Civil War
Experience hands on history at the 3rd Annual Windows to the Civil War on November 2-4, 2018 at the Middletown Mansion Event Center in Middletown, California. Friends of Gibson Museum volunteers will underwrite reenactments of Civil War battle reenactments by the American Civil War Association (ACWA). This year, in conjunction with the Lake County Historical Society (LCHS) and the Museums of Lake County, the Friends group will at last be able to bring historical information to young people in an engaging, informal way. Guests are encouraged to come in period attire to add to the fun.
Gibson Museum & Cultural Center has been joined in sponsorship this year by the Museums of Lake County, which also operates the Historic Courthouse Museum in Lakeport and and the Historic Schoolhouse Museum in Lower Lake, and the Lake County Historical Society which provided support for the founding of Gibson Museum prior to its joining the county system.
Admission
$15.00 Adult
$8.00 Children 7 to 12
Free – Children 6 & under
Tickets to the event are on sale October 1 at all three county museums, in Lakeport, Lower Lake and Middletown.
Public Hours
Saturday: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Sunday: 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
“Windows to the Civil War” Activities (Saturday & Sunday):
- There will, of course, be reenactments of Civil War battles by the American Civil War Association, with vintage weaponry and harmless black powder to provide theatrical smoke and noise, at 1 and 4 Saturday and at 11 and 2 Sunday.
- Visit with the Union and Confederate soldiers. Ask questions and share their years of learning depicting living history at Civil War reenactments.
- Event visitors can tour the encampments, the weaponry, the sutlers stores and a period village before, after, and in-between battles, in addition to enjoying the speakers and demonstrations. Children especially seem to enjoy questioning the soldiers.
- Learn about Lake County’s connection to the war and California’s participation.
- Hear the Confederacy explained, and the myths that have grown up about it.
- Marvel at food fashions and availability from 150-200 years ago.
- Learn about women soldiers, black and immigrant troops and more fascinating little-known facts.
- An old-fashioned Contra Dance, lauded as fun even for those who “don’t dance,” will be open to all Saturday evening from 6 to 9 p.m. A donation of $5 is suggested to help compensate the Cobb Stompers musicians.
“Windows to the Civil War” offers little-known facts from history. A raft of probably surprising information will be available to visitors to Gibson Museum’s upcoming Civil War event:
- California, just eleven years old with a fewer than 380,000 residents, mustered a higher percentage of volunteers for the Union army than of the other 34 states. It is likely that an equal or greater number of Californians joined the Confederate forces, though hard data is scarce.
- Lake County was created five-and-a-half-weeks after the war was started by the firing on Ft. Sumter, yet it had a significant role in the Civil War.
- Food, its preparation and the trials of foraging for it, was the subject most commonly included in soldiers’ letters home.
- Concerned and curious onlookers watched sham battles or actual bloody encounters of the war while noshing from their picnic baskets or on goodies bought from strolling “huxter women.” Ladies wore their Sunday best for the occasion.
Explanations of these and similar facts will be offered to visitors of the third Civil War event sponsored by Gibson Museum & Cultural Center, this year known as Windows to the Civil War.
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- Dean Enderlin, in his role as local commander of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, will explain our local connection to the war.
- Phil Smoley will share his lifelong study of the Civil War with insights into the rationale of the Confederacy and the controversy over the issue of slavery or states rights.
- Carolynn Birilli brings surprises about 19th century culinary history and its effects on military, civilian, and enslaved populations.
- Barbara White will again offer the dressing demonstrations that have been a favorite of Civil War event-goers throughout northern California for decades, including the past two years at the Mansion.
- Voris Brumfield will assume the persona of her great-great-grandmother, a slave, to explore the poplarity of the folk song “Goober Peas” and read the Proclamation of Independence.
- Other presenters will afford equally illuminating and entertaining fare.
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Windows to the Civil War School Day (Friday)
Schoolchildren will be brought to the event site, the Middletown Mansion Event Center, Friday for a “school day” a day before the event opens to the general public. LCHS will draw on funds from a grant extended by Lake County’s Wine Alliance to provide buses for middle school and high school students.
American Civil War Association participants will be on hand for the School Day to play teacher to the about 300 middle-school and high school students expected to arrive by bus, a donation of the Lake County Historical Society.
Groups of students will rotate through eight outdoor “classrooms” formed of hay-bale seating where “instructors” from ACWA will teach them about weapons and uniforms, marching and drilling, women as soldiers, telegraph communication, women’s clothing, camp hospitals and how a cannon is fired.
Location
Middletown Mansion Event Center
20650 Highway 29
Middletown, CA 95461
(707) 263-4555
For More Information
Call 263-4555; Email info@friendsofgibson.com; Gibson Museum Website.
Mark your calendar today so you don’t miss the next Windows to the Civil War in November at the Middletown Mansion Event Center in Middletown, California.
Tags: Windows to the Civil War, California Civil War Reenactment