If I Had My Own Blue Box:

For the past few months I’ve been drooling over some great work, completely amazed by the delicate detail and craftmanship.

What has me so infatuated? The incredible patriotic cockades being made by the ladies of the West Side Soldiers Aide Society. I’ve long been impressed by the work this group does both in the 19th and 21st centuries. Their cockades just top that off.

These cockades began with Tom Arliskas’ research for a presentation at the March 2011 Ladies and Gentlemen of the 1860s conference in Harrisburg. Their in-depth research and fine work can be seen as they  follow the 150th anniversary cyle from the patriotic cockades supporting both the north and south during the first years of the War through to the 1864 election and then to mourning ribbons upon Lincoln’s death. Each ribbon is based on an original ribbon or period description with great attention to the details of construction. The digital reproductions on the ribbons are incredible.

Take a look at their wonderful work:

Wonder where you can get your own? Terry Klein Arliskas runs the Victorian Sentiments shop on Etsy. There you can see a variety of the cockades and ribbons she has to offer.  

I also highly suggest you take a look at the many wonderful things this group does by checking out their Facebook page.

Yesterday, Dan and I visited the Tinker Homestead in Henrietta, NY for their Civil War Days. This small event takes place on a site which combined a historic house museum including barns and garden with a nature park including woodland and marsh trails.

We both agreed this site is full of potential. Dan focused on the battlefield area which ran along the road for about 200 yards with a speckle of trees and a gentle roll of a hill to the east. In the center was a dry ditch running the full width of the field. It was just the right width and depth for men to hunker down in. On either side of the depression, a rail fence was run.  Along one side of the field is a walk way with spaced, younger shade trees perfect for visitors to observe from comfortably.

I focused more on the nooks and presentation spots along with the well layed-out walk ways and ample, well placed shade. The park had several wooden pavilions with seating. A couple had the traditional eating pavilion look while another was more rustic. These would be ideal for a variety of educational presentations through out the event. Each one is moderately to well shaded providing a comfortable area for visitors to sit. Upon first look each appears to be decent for a conversational presentation without the need for a sound system. There are several areas with nooks in the trees that would work nicely for civilian camping and interpretation.  The flow through the park provided by the walk ways around the historic site and the nature center is wonderful. The trails to different sections combine open space with wooded trails and a boardwalk over a marsh. I find this nice for moving people around a good sized space without creating that feel of needing to walk ‘all the way over there’. It also gives visitors and attendees to opportunity to stroll through shaded, cooler trails if the weekend happens to be a hot & sunny one.

As I said, the space is a good size. The parking is nice. There is a parking lot at the main part of the park at the historic house and nature center building. Directly across the street is a church with a large lot available for visitor parking as well.  On the other end of the park is another parking lot. This one is ideal for participant parking as it is connected via the boardwalk trail over the marsh and has its own pavilion which could be set aside for those who need a time-out or momentary escape. There is enough space to move some of the military camps to either the other end of the field on this little rise or to the small field/treed area just beyond the woods near the other parking lot. Of course this would just be if the attendance numbers increased significantly.

This event is in its 8th year. One would think in this time it would have grown to be a moderately sized event. But it hasn’t. We both think it is because there are just so many events in August within an hour drive of the area. There are just to many events for quality reenactors to choose from.

There are many things I liked about the site and the event. Upon entering the event area, you see the first of two gardens. You also see the food vendors which are local scouts offering pizza, water and ice cream all at affordable prizes. I love to see an event that gives this opportunity to the scouts. They used a tent/fly and the cutest wooden wagon for the food. There is a main trail headed east from the parking lot. As you enter the trail there was a raffle table. This was placed in a smart place for maximizing the number of people buying tickets. If this event were to grow, I would rather see this table next to the food vendors. To the right begins the three civilian set-ups,  two for the Christian Commission and one for a well done general civilian impression. These tents had great spots for talking with visitors and for comfort as the back of the tents could open underneath the shady pine trees. On the left as you pass the first garden, is the Union camp running along the back of the garden towards the raspberry garden. Almost directly across the trail is the pavilion they utilized for their dress and uniform discussions. We caught the tail end of the uniform discussion. It looked moderately well attended. There was one civilian who welcomed people down into the pavilion offering refreshments. This was well done. Next along the trail were two sutler tents. These are nice spots for the larger tents. I’ll skip over the types of sutlers. Moving beyond the honey bee house along the trail you find the Confederate camps. I noticed these were dressed to appear as though they were left just after a meal. Interesting. This brings us to the battle field and observations during the battle. About 300 people were in attendance for the skirmish which itself was light on numbers. It was great to see the number of children there. There were boy scout groups based the kids and leaders/parents in their recently acquired summer camp t-shirts. There were also several kids trying to dress for the event. In addition to the people who appeared to be comfortable along the tree line and wrapped around one corner heading up a little hill, there were a good number of cars stopped along the road for just the battle. After the end of the battle the kids were allowed on the field to collect papers. I don’t know if this was meant to be the scouts cleaning the field or a memento collection.

We did hear this event may change to June. This could help with attendee numbers. It could also give local schools to opportunity to attend with-in district. I do wonder what the grounds difference will be. I suspect the dry ditch won’t be dry in the early summer weeks. It may not be as hot or humid. We shall see.