CivilWarTalk Throwback Thursday, 11-29-18

James N.

Colonel
Annual Winner
Featured Book Reviewer
Asst. Regtl. Quartermaster Antietam 2021
Joined
Feb 23, 2013
Location
East Texas
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This time of year I think back to one of my unit's annual activities, Candlelight Christmas in Old City Park near downtown Dallas, Texas. Dating back over a century, the park was just what its name implies, a city park for Dallas in an upscale neighborhood east of downtown; unfortunately construction of freeways in the 1950's or 1960's cut this area off from the city and the neighborhood which was already on the skids hit a new low, most of the houses disappearing into warehousing or vacant trash-blown lots. The city saw it as a possible dumping ground for antique structures that would otherwise have been leveled by constant urban renewal, and people began to rediscover it as a historic site. The first building to be relocated was an antebellum ca. 1857 "mansion" (for frontier Texas anyway) called Millermore from across the Trinity River in neighboring Oak Cliff.

Soon other structures joined Millermore, creating a sort of Nineteenth-Century faux "village" where our group, The North Texas Reenactment Society, began to meet for drills and to participate in holiday events. During the weekend of Candlelight Christmas we would usually set up a camp with tents, cannon, and campfire and stroll the grounds in uniform greeting visitors. In the ca. 1980 photo of our group above, posed in front of a small bank, the front row consists from left to right: Brooks Whitten; Yours Truly, resplendent in my then-brand-new greatcoat; the late David Dunnett; and Lt. Ed. Owens. Rear rank on the steps: Michael Hubbard and John Gattis. In future weeks I'll post more of our Candlelight activities!

Anyone else having (preferably) old Civil War-related photos, mementoes, or memorabilia is welcome and encouraged to post them in this thread too!
 
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This time of year I think back to one of my unit's annual activities, Candlelight Christmas in Old City Park near downtown Dallas, Texas. Dating back over a century, the park was just what its name implies, a city park for Dallas in an upscale neighborhood east of downtown; unfortunately construction of freeways in the 1950's or 1960's cut this area off from the city and the neighborhood which was already on the skids hit a new low, most of the houses disappearing into warehousing or vacant trash-blown lots. The city saw it as a possible dumping ground for antique structures that would otherwise have been leveled by constant urban renewal, and people began to rediscover it as a historic site. The first building to be relocated was an antebellum ca. 1857 "mansion" (for frontier Texas anyway) called Millermore from across the Trinity River in neighboring Oak Cliff.

Soon other structures joined Millermore, creating a sort of Nineteenth-Century faux "village" where our group, The North Texas Reenactment Society, began to meet for drills and to participate in holiday events. During the weekend of Candlelight Christmas we would usually set up a camp with tents, cannon, and campfire and stroll the grounds in uniform greeting visitors. In the ca. 1980 photo of our group above, posed in front of a small bank, the front row consists from left to right: Brooks Whitten; Yours Truly, resplendent in my then-brand-new greatcoat; the late David Dunnett; and Lt. Ed. Owens. Rear rank on the steps: Michael Hubbard and John Gattis. In future weeks I'll post more of our Candlelight activities!

Anyone else having (preferably) old Civil War-related photos, mementoes, or memorabilia is welcome and encouraged to post them in this thread too!
Love when old stuctures are saved. We can learn so much from material history!
 
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