“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin
and culture is like a tree without roots.”
Marcus
Garvey
This
past Saturday, Joe and I along with our daughter, Jeannine and all
her children went to the “Christmas in the Back Country” event at
the Living History Park in North Augusta, South Carolina. None of us
had ever been to this park before except for our granddaughter who
came here to play Pokemon during its the time when it was a big thing
in this area. This is a lovely 7.5 acre park that has natural
springs and was opened in 1999.
This
park was an abandoned water works that was an overgrown and swampy
area twenty-five years ago. A small group of individuals came
together in 1991 as volunteers and formed a nonprofit organization
known as the Olde Town Preservation Organization and put their ideas
into motion. Their mission was to create a park that could bring
history to life through live demonstrations of Colonial life. They
also wanted to make it a nice calm green space that had an 18th
century feel. They made this park to represent the period of time
from 1716 to 1785.
Over
20,000 people visit this park each year to just a stroll through or
to come and see one of the many events. All the events at this park
are free. Their fall event is called Colonial Times: A Day to
Remember on the third weekend of October. There is also the Under
the Crown event in June which is recreating the uncertainty the
Colonist felt after the Siege of Charleston on May 12, 1780. These
are the big events that occur at the park where the volunteers dress
as militia and colonists. They have homemade items for sale as well
as food, and have living demonstrations in the various buildings
showing how they lived during that time.
This
park makes you the feel that you just stepped back into time. There
are different shops to visit like the Blacksmith shop where you can
see men working their skills, a woodworking shop, print shop,
meeting house, Mercantile, Grist Mill, church, smokehouse, and Pub.
The Grist Mill was recently added in 2014 and is a beautiful
building. With the donations that are received for this park,
additional buildings will appear and the park will be able to stay
well maintained.
Even
though today was a dreary damp day it was still fun to see the living
demonstrations and listen to the history of this area as told by many
of the volunteers. We enjoyed seeing the trees starting to show
their fall colors making the area look a little brighter on a chilly
drizzly day.
We
went inside the pub to warm up where they were serving hot chocolate,
hot apple cider, and cookies to be purchased as a fund raiser for
this wonderful park. Inside the pub was a couple of soldiers who
were rolling papers to put gun powder in as they would have in the
18th century.
Near the entryway was a pantry set up with
their dishes and cooking items closed off in a separate room. They
had the pantry lit up so you could look through one of two windows to
see how they had it set up. The pub was set up with long tables
and benches to relax and enjoy the grub. Just outside the pub was a
huge fireplace for cooking under cover since they would rather cook
outside in those days.
You
can walk through the park 365 days a year from dawn to dusk but the
buildings are only open on special occasions. It is still a lovely
park to see whether the buildings are open or not. Many schools in
the area do field trips to this park and give children a chance to
have hands on experiences. The church has services on occasion also.
They did a great job with making this feel like a small village and
you feel as though you really have stepped back in time.
If
you get a chance, stop by and see this little gem right across the
Savannah River in North Augusta. Check them out at:
www.colonialtimes.us.
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