Thanks to a heads up from a friend, we attended a unique event this past weekend, a County Fair set in 1859.
Gearing up for the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War, Virginia planned a series of events historic to that day in the way, 150 years prior.
Although the war began in 1861, tensions were ripe in 1859.
Our homeschool sesquicentennial of the Civil War
Through coincidence, my kids and I began our own sesquicentennial by deeply studying the war between the states with our dialectic classical homeschool studies, as we moved from Texas to Virginia.
We literally walked through the footsteps of Texas soldiers who marched to Virginia.
While waiting for our Virginia house to close, we toured many Civil War sites: Fredericksburg, Wilderness, Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania, and Williamsburg.
Later we learned that our house was very near the Battle of Bristoe Station, which the Confederates lost while led by Lee and AP Hill.
Located in historic Spotsylvania, my kids and I returned to the site of the famous Civil War battle we visited last spring.
1859 Medicine Show
After entering the grounds with our map and schedule, we heard the Medicine Show beckoning to us.
Pleasantly surprised, we knew some of the actors in the Medicine Show from Colonial Williamsburg!
Dr. Murdock played old songs on the banjo, like Old Dan Tucker.
Taught 19th century audience ettiquette, we cheered loudly and vocalized encores and boos!
Trying to sell various cure-alls like pain pads, hilarious sales techniques pushed the sale of their powerful elixir.
Historically elixir, a popular concoction sold by Medicine Shows, was made of alcohol and laudanum.
Derived from opium, laudanum was highly addictive.
This was before the government regulation.
The pirate puppet story was great!
Afterwards we got to meet the actors, two of whom we recognized from Colonial Williamsburg…and thanked for always all the fun and learning!
Another also was from CW, and yet another was a director at the Mariner’s Museum, which we had just visited.
Wow, such depth of knowledge with a wide range of talent! And their clothing! Wow! So historically accurate! Huzzah!
1859 political debate
Next on the stage was a debate of the many hot political topics of the time, which led to the Civil War.
1859 photography
Next we visited the photographer finishing a photography session of one of the soldiers, mid-19th century style!
The most fascinating part of the process takes place behind the black cloth, which provides the dark room.
A common misconception is that people didn’t smile for pictures in the 19th century because because they sat a long time.
Actually the pose only takes a few seconds.
Back then, people dressed up and posed seriously for the dignified occasion of photography.
I asked a million questions. He gave me his card…He is the director for Pamplin Civil War Park!
The photographer explained the entire process to us.
The Wet-Plate Photographic Process:
- Collodion was used to coat the plate glass in order to sensitize it to light.
- In a darkroom, the plate was then immersed in silver nitrate, placed in a light-tight container, and inserted into the camera.
- The cap on the camera was removed for two to three seconds, exposing it to light and imprinting the image on the plate.
- Replacing the cap, the photographer immediately took the plate, still in the light-tight container, to his darkroom, where he developed it in a solution of pyrogallic acid.
- After washing and drying the plate with water, the photographer coated it with a varnish to protect the surface.
- This process created a plate glass negative. Once the plate-glass negative was made, the image could be printed on paper and mounted. -by American Battlefield Trust
Through special lenses from the mid-19th century my son sees this picture in 3D, also described by the American Battlefield Trust, here.
1859 Baseball Game
The next day we returned to watch vintage baseball!
We certainly enjoyed watching and cheering on our favorite team from Williamsburg, incidentally made up of Colonial Williamsburg employees doing this in their free time.
They are a new team and this was their first game!
The other team was from Maryland.
The rules were extremely different back then: no designated hitters, swearing, cussing, or gloves.
Therefore to catch a ball, you may allow the ball to bounce once then catch it, for it to count as an out.
Nevertheless, several times the guys caught the ball in mid-air, even without the glove.
You can’t overrun first base.
The ball is a bit different, a bit softer, but not much for bare hands.
Considered a gentlemanly sport in the Victorian era, baseball was played merely for the enjoyment of the game.
Actually he injured his thumb before the game. Yet he was a great sport and was the “Thumbs Up” guy!
,After a great game, the players gathered around while the team captains gave speeches.
After they shook hands, the Colonial Williamsburg team came over to meet us!
Although several spectators came and went, we stayed the entire time to cheer them on.
Telling them we recognized them from our many visits to Colonial Williamsburg, they asked lots of friendly questions.
Assisting the photographer with a 19th century photo of the Colonial Williamsburg Baseball Team
Then we followed them to the photographer for a team picture, 19th century style!
Surprised to see me return, the photographer put me to work as his assistant in the dark room for the Colonial Williamsburg employee team!
Can you imagine the thrill I had, considering how much I love Colonial Williamsburg?
There are no pictures of my part of the process, because I was in the black room.
The photographer told us that with the relatively sunny day, but with the clouds covering the sun at that moment, would require a 3 second exposure instead of 2 seconds if the sun came out from behind the cloud.
The team was ready! The camera was ready! Action!
He took off the lens…
…counted 3 complete seconds…
…and replaced the cap.
I heard exclamations of, “That’s it? No kablewy? Where’s the “Poof!”? You could have said ‘click!'” They are so funny! Their picture came out great.
I don’t have a copy of their 19th century picture, but a photo from our own camera is in the header (top of blog post).
