Coldwater, Veils, and Gettysburg!

It has been a while since I posted last. Somehow now that summer's here I'm busier than ever! Anyhow, the weekend of May 24th-25th, I was planning on going to Greenfield Village. Last minute, I heard of a reenactment in Coldwater and decided to go there instead, seeing as how I'd been to GFV before. I don't have a lot of pictures, but it was a nice reenactment. Certainly smaller than GFV, but there were several interesting things about it, including the mourning talk we went to and the large amount of artillery present for such a small reenactment. If you've never been to it, consider it recommended! :)

Mourning veil

Fashion veil

I finished a veil for my bonnet the night before and tried it out that day. I am pleased to report that it works splendidly! While bonnet veils are most commonly thought of as mourning veils, such as the one on the right, ladies also used fashion veils (left) for modesty and to keep the sun off their faces. They work rather like sunglasses do today. I didn't feel like I was squinting in the sun at any point during the day. Mission accomplished! Plus, it was just fun to wear. I think veils add a bit of mystery and intrigue to the wearer.

While I am hardly an expert on the matter, it is my understanding that mourning veils are thicker and generally opaque from the outside whereas fashion veils are quite see through and often have a decorative lace edge on them. Fashion veils are often semi-circular or crescent shaped while mourning veils are square or rectangular.

The veil in the picture on the left is an original that was being sold on ebay a while back and the one I based my own veil off. I found some dotted tulle at the fabric store and some black lace and carefully basted the two together.

I wasn't sure how sewing the veil to my bonnet would work, and if the veil didn't work well, I wouldn't want it on all day, so I ended up using straight pins to pin in to the brim of my bonnet, which worked well. It's quite fun to wear!

And one more inspiration picture, just because. :)

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In June, my family took a much-awaited trip out to Gettysburg! I have been wanting to go for a few years now, so I was very excited to go! I finished sewing a dress for Mom in the car on the way out (nothing like procrastination! ;) ), so she and I both wore our period clothing while touring the battlefield. It certainly makes the past come alive - to be in the very place where so much conflict and terror took place wearing the same clothes the citizens of Gettysburg would have worn... I highly recommend it!

Some of the lovely painted buildings in town.

That three-story brick building was the one that Abraham Lincoln slept in the night before he gave his famous address in Gettysburg.

To see the sheer number of graves at the Gettysburg National Cemetery was quite sobering. The picture below shows maybe only a twentieth of the graves there.

The above picture was, if I remember correctly, at Little Round Top, somewhere along the left-most flank of the Union Army the second day of the battle. Colonel Chamberlain was in command of the troops.

The view from the top of Little Round Top. 

Looking up towards Little Round Top. Now imagine that you are an infantryman wearing a wool uniform in the summer heat and you have to climb up there to take the hill while carrying your knapsack on your back and your rifle in your hands. And to top it all off, there are men holed up at the top shooting down on you as you climbed.

 Look familiar?

(Not my picture!)

Monument to the Pennsylvanian troops...

...With a great but very windy view up top!

An original oxidized cannon

This picture shows the 'High Water Mark' of the Confederacy. On the third and final day of the battle of Gettysburg, the Union troops held their position behind the stone wall. While the Confederate forces broke over the wall a few times, the Union ultimately held their ground.

The edge of the forest, a mile away, was where the Confederates started their charge.

Mom and myself. Doesn't she look great? :)

Also while we were in Gettysburg, we stopped by the Jennie Wade house. Jennie Wade was the only civilian to be killed during the battle of Gettysburg. Her sister with a recently born daughter, along with their mother and Jennie stayed in this house as the battle raged on outside. One morning Jennie was kneading bread for the soldiers when a bullet passed through two wooden doors and struck her in the heart, killing her instantly. 

There were still bullet holes in the bricks, both inside and outside. In the picture below you can see some in the mantle above the fireplace.

Jennie Wade is on the right in this picture. 

All in all, it was a fun trip. I enjoyed it all, but I think my favorite part was seeing Little Round Top. We watched the movie Gettysburg before we left, so everyone knew what had happened where. Coldwater  is the only reenactment I've been to this year, so I am looking forward to Charlton Park in two more weeks! I'll definitely be there Sunday, not sure about Saturday yet. Until then, dear readers, have a fabulous summer! :)

Greenfield Village

Greenfield Village had their annual Civil War Remembrance this Memorial Day weekend, so of course I had to go. Although it's a good two hours drive for us, it was so much fun and I'm glad we went. I had been there before when I was little (around eight or so), but I didn't remember any of it, so it was nice to go back.

The majority of this post is going to be pictures, just for your information. I apologize in advance if it kills your computer. :) I'll make them small, but you can click on then to enlarge them.

First we headed over towards the Town Hall to see the fashion show. We were a bit early, so we watched the soldiers drilling on the Village Green while the stage was set up. Then the fashion show started!

I enjoyed learning more about clothing for men and children. It's not really my area of expertise. After the show was finished, Mom and I walked over to a building in which a large collection of clothing was being nicely displayed.

I'm pretty sure the green outfit in the center is a wrapper, based on the ties down the front of the skirt. Anyone else know for sure? 

Edit: The green dress, though similar looking, is not a wrapper. It's from the 1840's-50's.

The blue winter bonnet on the table is my favorite of them all! Doesn't it look so cozy?

My favorite of the ball dresses.

They also had a few mourning dresses, which I love, but somehow I didn't get a picture of those. After that, we walked around the village and saw as many of the buildings as we could.

The 1832 Ackley Covered Bridge.

They had Model T's driving around the village. Mom and I came to the conclusion that someone should make modern reproductions of old cars like these. 

One of the flower boxes.

I believe these were some sort of mulberry trees Henry Ford planted in hopes of getting silk worms growing on them.

Aren't they neat looking?

Near the mulberry trees was the civilians' camp. There we had the pleasure of meeting Becky from The Victorian Needle as well as Ken G. from Passion for the Past and some of his family. It was nice to finally see them in person, after following their respective blogs for quite some time. (Go check them out!)

After talking to them both for a while, a visit to the train yard was in order!

I also found a convenient step to model my split-skirt. :) Firestone farm was next on the agenda.

I wish I could live there year-round. Without all the people though. :) Just me, my sheep and my chickens! There were two ladies in period dress making cookies inside, which smelled delicious!

The lovely organ in the parlor of the Firestone farm.

After seeing the working farms, we went back towards town and saw the rest of the buildings, like the Wright cycle shop and one of my favorite places, the millinery shop! The two ladies there were wearing two-piece outfits from the 1890's. (Big shouldered-sleeves) We talked reenacting and corsets for a while, which was fun.

Beautiful thimbles...

I had a very nice time and I can't wait to go again! I just wish it was a bit closer. One of these weekends I'll have to take the family to see one of the historical baseball games they have.

Have a safe Memorial day weekend!