It's Finally Here!

Ever want something so badly you can't talk about it because, even though the rational part of you knows you're being ridiculous, you're afraid to jinx it? That's how I've been for the past several months about the Monocacy Living Historians.

Our group evolved from some volunteer work I was already doing at the park and from some volunteer work Diane was doing at a different park. When I first began volunteering at the battlefield, they  had a few military units that would help out with firing demonstrations, but the park itself just wasn't set up for civilian living history.

While Diane and I had a lot of ideas, we decided to scale our approach to something that would be just a step above what the park was already doing. Since the  houses on our battlefield are usually closed to the public, we pitched the idea of being outside docents: someone who could greet visitors outside the house, point out interesting tidbits to visitors, answer questions, and help create a visual to promote understanding. Our acting Chief of Interpretation tentatively approved the idea, so I rolled up my sleeves to dig further into my research while Diane rolled up hers to assemble a mid-19th century wardrobe.

The word that drives us is respect. Respect for the park service, their mission, their assets and limitations; respect for the families we were talking about; and respect for our visitors. This drove our decision to be as accurate as possible with our impressions, both appearance and activities.

The four primary families living on our battlefield at the time of the battle are (in the order of social prominence): the Thomas family, the Gambrill family, the Worthington family, and the Best family. As we grow, we can branch out to neighbors, friends, business associates, etc. That gives us a nice range of socioeconomic backgrounds to portray, and a seemingly endless need for more research.

As we make progress with our group, we plan to post about our events, our research, and our projects. I hope you'll join us on our journey!