Fort McKavett Frontier Days, March 27, 28, 29, 2009

Fort McKavett Frontier Days, March 27-28-29, 2009

We left Midland on Thursday and took our trailer to Ft. McKavett where we would stay until Saturday. As is usual with our travels, we faced head winds all the way to the Fort. We arrived and set up to find a problem with our electrical system and did not have electricity for the weekend. However with the gracious help of the park staff we were able to be comfortable using the DC converter.
.The first day of the event saw 650 school children from the area descend on us. Chuck set up on the porch of the headquarters building and I put up my sewing machine inside the building. I was joined by three other ladies, Donna Hector who shows the kids domestic home items from the 19th century, Ann Johnson who showed off cross stitch while Stella and I displayed antique sewing machines to help the kids understand the roles of women at that time period. I showed the kids quilt squares and used them to tell a brief story about the settling of Texas. After a demonstration of my cotton combs, each class got to turn the crank of my sewing machine to make a quilt square. The park and their friends group provided us with very good meals and we enjoyed meeting new people and friends after the students boarded the buses. The weather, of course, was windy and cold.

The public day on Saturday was the best attended in recent years. Their new addition was a group of young Indian dancers who really put on a good show. Again, it was windy but that didn't stop the fun. After most of the public left, a couple of the soldiers got rather rowdy but the chaplin put an end to it. He was actually the rector at a tiny Episcopal church on the grounds of Ft. McKavett who reenacts and talks to visitors on the Sundays he is at the church. A true circuit riding preacher.

The camels were at the fort this year and as always quite a draw. To think--camels might have been a prevalent as horses had the Civil War not begun.

At the end of the event we got a group picture of many of the reenactors on the porch of the headquarters building. When we started getting ready for the shot, spectators appeared out of nowhere to join in the picture taking. Reenactors pulled out cameras and handed them over to the public for their own version of the scene to take home.

The dogs came with us and really enjoyed romping on the Parade ground after the public was gone. Ulysses was extremely comical this trip. The trailer door opens in two parts. When I would take Autie out for "business", Ulysses would pop up and down trying to see what we were doing. Just like a jack-in-the-box, this black head and bright eyes would appear. They both were very good in the trailer.

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