Bowens Mill

This previous weekend, myself and some of the family headed over to Bowens Mill, for one of the last reenactments of the year. Bowens Mill is a working 1864 Grist Mill and Cider Mill. The site has 19 acres of beautiful wooded property, along with several historic buildings. They have an 1850's schoolhouse, an 1840's house, several log cabins, and the beautiful 1860's Bowens' house, which is still in use today.

The weather was a bit on the chilly side. I wore my bonnet, but I almost could have worn my hood. The majority of the trees had turned, making for some lovely scenery!

The inside of the mill and the knowledgable miller! He ground some corn into cornmeal while we watched, as well as giving us an overview of how the mill worked.

The lovely hitching post

Here you can see another view of my bonnet, a pair of cute little ponies, and the gray yarn that I purchased. I think a pair of proper garters will be first on my list of things to knit!

The 1860's (built and furnished) Bowens' house was also open for touring.

This is how my dream home will look someday...

I had a very fun summer of reenacting. I can say that I am most definitely hooked! I finished a complete set of undergarments, a bonnet and a winter hood, as well as taking apart my bodice and re-fitting it. I still need to take the top of skirt up another inch or two to get my waistline sitting at the proper height, but that can wait until the winter months. 

My cringe worthy, pre-reenacting picture on the left, and the result of a season of reenactments on the right. I, for one, am quite pleased with how far I've come. I hope next year will be just as productive!

The next post will be a peek at my next 1860's work dress! (Or slat bonnet, or apron, depending on which I start on first.) My Halloween costume will make an appearance as well. 

Fall is Upon Us - An Update

The leaves are more orange than green, the apples are ripe, the geese are forming their "V"s and flying south for the winter - fall must be here!

Lately I've been sewing like crazy. Between finishing my straw bonnet form (and trimming it) and making a wool winter hood and a flannel petticoat for colder reenactments, I've kept busy. I recently started volunteering at Historical Charlton Park as well, which has been a lot of fun. (You can read my post about the reenactment here.) I love the old buildings there, and being in them in period dress is just amazing.

My family also had the opportunity to pick apples at a friend's house, then press them for cider. We never really counted how many bushels we picked, because we picked into all sorts of different sized boxes and baskets, but we ended up with 49 gallons of cider. The gentleman at the farm where they pressed estimated that we had apples that gave three gallons from a bushel. It was a fun experience and we are already talking about doing again next year!

That's about all I can think of to write, so I'll just show you the pictures of my bonnet and hood. :)

Here's the back. The tip comes down into a cute little scalloped point, but it was caught in my shawl for this picture and I didn't notice it before I took it off. There is a bow at the back of my neck as well.

And the side

The scalloped edge. I freehanded the scallops, so some of them are a little less than round...

I really like this picture, except where my bonnet is bowing out in back... It never did that at home! 

It looks like I have a bustle on in this picture... I blame my three petticoats!

Not too shabby for my first bonnet, if I do say so myself. I'm still not 100% sure I like the tulle in the front... We'll see if I change it or not. The pattern for the hood came from an 1862 Peterson's, while the bonnet pattern came from the Dressmaker's Shop. The trim is my own creation, with inspiration from a few different originals. I have one more reenactment planned for this fall, then I will be (sadly) off until next May at Greenfield Village. May seems so far away...

In other news, I am at a stand still with my sewing now that I've completed my bonnet and hood. I do have some royal blue velvet to make a medieval dress with (my original Halloween costume idea), but cutting out my pattern and the fabric is my least favorite part of sewing a dress. Ugh. One of these days I'll get around to it. I also picked up another pattern at the fabric store recently that I will most likely start first. Take a look:

Here is the original that I fell in love with. I plan to make mine as close as possible to it as I can. The pattern is roughly 1890's while the original was circa 1900. I will shorten the skirt on mine because I like the look of the bloomers peeking out.

The pattern calls for cotton, but I am going to go period-correct and make mine from wool. I found some lovely tropical-weight (I think - the bolt didn't say) navy blue wool at the store that jumped out at me. Now just to find white wool for the ties, back, and edges and some narrow navy blue something-or-other for the trim. Any suggestions on what I could use?

Hope your fall is going well. Thanks for reading!

Historic Fort Wayne

Built in a four-pointed-star shape in 1845, Fort Wayne stands across the river from Canada. It was constructed to protect Detroit from attack if need be. Luckily, a treaty was signed with Britain even before any cannon were procured. The new Fort was re-commissioned as an infantry garrison, but did not see any troops until the outbreak of the Civil War, when the first Michigan soldiers reported for duty. 


Because of new relationship with the Britain and later Canada, Fort Wayne never saw a shot fired in anger. The peaceful location became a primary induction center for Michigan troops entering battle in every U. S. conflicts from the Civil War to Vietnam. Among other duties over the course of its 125 year use as an Army base, it served as an infantry training station, housed the Chaplin school for a few years, and was the primary procurement location for the vehicles and weapons manufactured in Detroit during both World Wars. Also during WWII the Fort housed prisoners of war from Italy.

The houses in "Officer's Row."

Inside one of the houses.

Outside of the fort

Exploring the fort

Mom and I went to go watch the battle, but instead I was kindly invited to play some parlor games with some of the members of the 21st Michigan in one of the officer's homes. The games were quite fun and it was nice to be a bit farther away from the cannons. They shook the house we were in!

The smoke and horror of war outside...

...in contrast to the smiles and laughter inside. (Picture borrowed from Ken G.)

If only our brothers and fathers weren't off fighting this dreadful war and they could join in our merriment... We met Dr. Richard Gatling who gave an explanation of his new invention of a gun with revolving barrels which is supposed to quicken the end of the war. I found something that I think will work even better...

This is a Sherman, if you were wondering.  :)

The Van Raalte reenactment

On the 8th Mom and I headed over to the Van Raalte farm, a large 160 acre farm in Holland. The grounds are a mixture of fields and forests of apple trees. The apples were ripe and as you walked beneath them, you could smell the sweet scent of them. (They also tasted pretty good!) I believe the event is a newer one, but it was very well put together. On to the pictures!

One of the Union cannons overlooking the battlefield. The reddish-brown thing in the middle is part of a wooden split-rail fence put up as a prop. 

In addition to the apple trees, there was also a lot of poison ivy!

Some of the lovely cavalry mounts. 

A sign in the Confederate camp.

I'm not sure who set it up, if it was the park who did or something reenactor-related, but there was a tent with 1860's games. Mom and I played the game of Graces for quite some time. Here is a link to more information if you want to learn how to play. 

It was very windy, which is why my skirt looks so weird...

At 11:00 was a concert by the 5th Michigan on the farmhouse steps. You may remember them from my Jackson post. They played quite a few new songs and also some of our favorites.

After the concert we listened to a speech by President and Mrs. Lincoln.

My dress fabric

Southern men marching off to war. 

Led by General Lee! Traveler was taking the day off.

The boys in blue getting ready to meet the Confederates on the battlefield.

Southern artillery

Here you can see one of the fences I referred to earlier.

If I remember correctly, the first part of the battle was Pickett's Charge, while the second part was the battle of Little Round Top. There were three Southern cannons and four Union. One of the Union cannons was sending out a smoke ring with almost every shot! 

The smoke ring is in the middle of the picture, above the trees. This was about a quarter of the spectators - quite a good turn out!

Aren't they a cute couple?

The circa 1870's farmhouse

This reenactment is definitely one I will go to again. It was very nicely organized and well planned in an interesting setting. The only thing that Mom and I agreed on was that there were too many Gators driving around. It takes you out of the 1860's mindset when you have to keep stepping off the road to let one pass. I can see, however, how people who have a hard time walking would miss out on a lot of things on the beautiful grounds if they didn't have the four-wheeled access. It's a fine line to tread.