Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Living History Park, North Augusta, South Carolina (Christmas in the Back Country)


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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