wandering reenactor

[MsReese]

Hi all,

I was hoping for some advice here, I'm going to my first major reenactment, and I'm camping with mostly married women and single men. My husband is not interested in reenacting. So anyway my question is, Can anyone help me find a purpose?? lol. I've never camped with them out of town, and I'm alot younger than most in the group. Being a woman, there is not a whole lot to do so I'm trying to get an idea of how I'm going to be filling up my weekend.
thanks

[jenna]

Reese, I would be happy to chime in here, since I am a female re-enactor, but have the benifet of my whole family coming out with us. Here are a few suggestions for you:

1) Living history! You don't have to always have a senario. Spectators ask allot of questions that just can't be answered in first person personas, so you have to step out of characture, and that gets to be cumbersome. My mom, dad, and I all talk about every aspect of the war, but mostly about life as an upper middle class persona. Heck this weekend we were at Old World Wisconsin and talked with over 1800 people in two days, and boy did we talk. We talked about Belle Boyd being burried in the Dells up here in Wisconsin, and we talked about our chatalines and what they were used for. We talked about how it's hard for us to pull a Victorian house along with us so we have to stay out in tents, but show what finer people would have used. And we talk about the war and the affects it had on life. My father flys both the Union and Confederate states flags and that is always a big conversational piece.

2) If you wish to do first person there are allot of things you can do, depending on your charactures status in society. If you are just a common woman then a laundress is perfect of a seamstress would be appropriate. For ladies of the middle class you could talk about life in the middle class which would include visiting friends, shopping, but also sometimes working as a teacher or a seamstress in the cities with high end clients, or another great job was a telegrapher. It would take some research on your part, but that is a great middle class job. See Dawna's posting in "Phenominal Women" I remember her having something listed there on a female telegrapher. If you wish to do high society, well that is etiquette big time. Talking about things like how to act at a ball or soiree, having tea with the govenors wife, speaking of whom your daughter would marry and what the servents have done. You could speak of how well your household is run and what gowns you recently had made at the shops. That was a life of liesure. And again, just like myself, you could somehow mention that you are simply visiting the generals wife and that is why you are in camp.

As for husband not wanting to do this, well, what the heck is wrong with him!? :-) This is one of the best hobbies out there. But anyways, you could say that he is off with the commanders or drilling. Spectators don't need to know that he's not there.

But when you are out there, don't expect the spectators to come to you. They don't usually know what to ask, so bring them to you. That's what we do. My mom and I usually start the conversation with: No we would not have been women who followed the military, but it's hard to bring a big Victorian home out with us where ever we go. That usually gets chuckle and a conversation struck up.

Any time you do anything in camp, whether it be sewing, embroidery, or cooking, people will stop to look and ask.

I hope that helps you somewhat. Now, work on getting your man into this and it will be much nicer.

Jenna

[scone]

Ma'am you could wear black all th time : ) and say your husband is dead.

steven

[ole]

And you would have a great time describing where and how he bought it. Maybe you could get your husband to specify the battle in which his heroic leadership of a division caused him to meet his fate.
Ole

[blue_zouave]

Reese, I play both sides of the field (soldier and civilian) and one of the best civilian roles I did was as an herb doctor. I sat under my shade fly and compounded my formulas (using sugar and cinnamon, mostly), made up papers of these powders, then took them around to the camps and "peddled" them. The thing that went over best was papers full of jelly beans!

I was working on a phrenologist impression, reading people's head bumps, but my reenacting got derailed for a season. I have all the stuff, including a poster, and I really gotta get this impression going. I bet the public would love it.

I'll post more as I can think of them.

Zou

[MsReese]

Wow, thanks for all your ideas guys, some verrry interesting. And actually I do alot with herbal medicines....lol
although the idea of wearing all black and saying my husband is dead is appealing, I do like the color black..........lol
hmmm....he wouldn't even notice, he'd be off to his friends or martial arts.......lol
ah well.

[MsReese]

Hello again,

Was wondering if someone could help me compile a list of things to bring with me to Corinth. I need to pack light I think (I suppose it depends on who I am riding down with) but I already am bringing a giant tent so I don't want to overload someone with all my things. Anyway, all suggestions will be helpful and I appreciate them

[jenna]

Well Ms. Reese, even after 3 1/2 yrs you still don't know what to bring and what not. IT all depends on how much you wish to carry. For me the basic check list goes like this:

Cooler with beverages in it and possibley food for the weekend.
Dry box with my dry goods in it, like cereal for my hubby and snack for the kids.
for me personally:
-two to three dresses
-two pairs of pantalettes
-two pairs of stockings
-I have two hoops, which comes in handy for wet weather (I hate putting on wet clothes)
-two chimeses
-two pairs of undersleeves
-a tackle box, which comes in very very handy to carry all of your jewlery, reticules, fans, gloves and mits in, plus your chataline, and I throw my deoderant and brush in there if there is room.
-corset!-a must!
-parasol-a must!
-hats/bonnet (I am not a bonnet wearer, but others are. I prefer the pamela hats and riding hats. much sassier.)-another must. A proper woman never went out in public without a head covering.

Now if you plan on changing into modern clothes after hours, then you need to take that stuff with you as well.

We have a 5x8x8 trailor and we are upgrading after this season to a double axel 10x12x8 trailor, but we also carry around about 2500 lbs in a blacksmith shop. We also take along one large officers tent, a large A, and an 1812 tent that is the size of an officers tent but with only 18" walls that we use for a supply tent for the group, and the blacksmith fly, so that's allot of lumber.

Pack in rubbermaid containors that can be hidden under blankets for starters, or find yourself some wooden boxes with nice rope handles and possibley skids on the bottom so that you can drag them yourself.

You'll also have to decide what you are going to sleep on out there. Some people I know use cots that can be broken down, but also can be covered very nicely with quilts. We ourselves use the air mattresses and make them up just like a bed, with period looking quilts. No one is allowed in our tents, and when they ask, we just tell them that they are feather mattresses. No one knows the difference at that point. We also use the the three draw carts that you can buy at Wal-Mart and then I make slip covers to go over them. It hides them real well, and people don't know the difference.


Hope that helps,
Jenna

[MsReese]

wow, thanks for all your help I'm going to have to get with whoever I'm riding with and figure out what I'm going to need, don't think I can bring all that