Travels Into Our Past: America's Living History Museums & Historical Sites. Wayne P. Anderson

      A young re-enactor and cook prepare treats

      for the visitors to Colonial Michilimackinac.

      Touring Michigan was remarkably fun because of the number of times we visited sites where we had the sensation of traveling back in time. Our most authentic sense of reliving history was in Mackinaw City at Colonial Michilimackinac. This fort was founded in 1715 by the French and destroyed by the British during the Revolutionary War; the British then moved everything they could to a base on Mackinaw Island.

      What they couldn’t carry away they burned. Archaeologists, however, are doing a commendable job of reconstructing the original fort. The site already is impressive, but they are still in the process of uncovering items in places where they intend to restore even more buildings.

      As visitors, we were involved in three kinds of interactions. First, we took the audio tour that gave an introduction at each significant spot, such as the water gate, the king’s storehouse and the soldiers’ barracks. By punching an additional key, we would hear a re-enactor explain his or her relationship to the fort. For example, a man portraying a British officer in charge talked about his life and read some of his poetry, and another portraying a Scottish doctor explained why he decided not to return to Scotland, where his people would not understand his decision to marry an Indian woman. Often we heard music of the period.

      The second way of involving the visitors was the displays in most of the buildings, not just artifacts and commentary but in many cases mannequin displays depicting how the everyday tasks of this period were performed. The most striking was a basement in the Northwest Rowhouse with the Treasures from the Sand Exhibit. More than a million items dug up by the archaeologists have been grouped into classes such as tools, weapons, household items and trade goods. One magical display first showed the walls of the buildings, which then disappeared, and we saw only the diggings of the archaeologists followed by the reappearance of the buildings’ walls.

      The third most important part of the program involved the re-enactors, few in number but well-trained and personable. After the cannon firing and musket display, a sergeant took us on a tour of the buildings and introduced us to a cook, who was using the fireplace for cooking and baking, a priest, and the lead archaeologist.

      Later, the sergeant played a violin at a wedding, a re-enactment of one that really had taken place there. The bride and groom led us in a merry dance on the parade ground. Back in the kitchen, we watched a boy of about 11 make flatbread. He cooked it on a grill placed on hot coals and then shared it with the audience after smearing it with butter, sugar and cinnamon.

      A film introduced us to the period, and brief films were shown at other stops. The French had established good relationships with the Indians, and the fur trade benefited both groups. The French learned American Indian ways and respected them and often intermarried.

      The British, however, didn’t follow these customs when they took over. In revenge, the Indians pretended to play a game of lacrosse outside the gate. When they tossed the ball over the wall and rushed in to retrieve it, the women threw off their blankets and handed the men weapons, which they used to kill the soldiers in the fort. After that, the British decided it was in everyone’s best interests to pay more attention to local customs.

      Re-enactment of a wedding that had taken place

      in Colonial Michilimackinac

      5. The Moravians Built a City

      Old Salem, North Carolina

      On our visit to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, we concentrated our attention on the Moravians who had settled the area in stages. We went first to their original 1753 settlement Bethabara, which has a visitor center, several reconstructed buildings including the church, and ruins that have been uncovered by archeologists.

      The Moravians were a group of German speaking immigrants from Moravia who broke off from the Catholic Church a hundred years before Luther and who to escape persecution came to America. Originally settling in Pennsylvania they bought a large piece of land in North Carolina and sent a team of men to settle it and prepare for the others to come.

      They sent highly trained men--a blacksmith, potter, carpenter, farmer, gardener--and when they were established, the other members of the church came. The visitor center’s 15-minute film gives the background including the problems with the Native Americans in the area.

      The Palisade Fort the immigrants used for protection has been reconstructed. A guide in a period costume took us through the area that has cellars reconstructed in the early 1960s by Stan South, a North Carolina state archeologist.

      Most interesting to us was the church the Moravians built that also included the home of the minister, both refurnished with artifacts of the period. We were introduced to how their church services were run and how marriages were arranged. As seems to happen to us with some frequency, as we sometimes travel in the off-season, there was only one other person on the tour so we could ask lots of questions.

      We were also introduced to the Moravian Medical Garden that has a variety of plants growing that were used as the pharmacy of 1761. The Moravians were obviously among the highly skilled settlers in the new world, coming prepared with the knowhow to start a successful community.

      We then went to Old Salem, which is considered to be one of America’s most authentic and well-documented Colonial sites. We walked down streets with over 100 restored buildings from the era. Many of these are private homes, but sprinkled throughout are several dozen buildings staffed by costumed re-enactors giving the visitors a look into the past.

      We started at the visitor center where we purchased a green card allowing us entry to the different buildings where we were met with either guides to take us through the building or artisans who could demonstrate skills of the period. Wayne was impressed with the gunsmith who was making flintlock rifles of the period which could be purchased for 2500 to 7500 dollars.

      We visited the oldest standing black church in the nation where the guide pointed out this was one of the few places that blacks had an opportunity to learn to read and write. In the Vogel House, the most modern house in the area, being built in 1819 and modernized in 1840, we saw the John Vogler’s silversmith tools. One costumed artisan was demonstrating quilt making. Half a dozen gardens are spread throughout the area.

      Not on the tour but within the town is the Salem Academy and College (Single Sisters’ House, 1786) one of the oldest educational institutions for women in the U.S.

      6. A Step Back in Time

      Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia