My eighth year of dancing my "little dance" begins....

It's the end of April and time for The Battle of Plymouth Living History Weekend again. This year's event marks the beginning of my eighth year reenacting. Boy, has it been an eventful period in my life! As I write this entry, I have began to reminisce about my journey, thinking about how I got started and how my life has been influenced. In early 2001, several local citizens including myself, Tom Harrison and Nevis Leary, helped create a group of local ACW naval reenactors to portray the crews of CSS Albemarle and USS Miami so as to take part in the annual living history weekend in Plymouth. For years, troop numbers for the event had been uncertain and the thoughts were if we could "grow" our own, we would always have a base group on which we could depend. The plans were that we would do things at the museum periodically for the public and serve as the navy during Living History Weekend. Well, it worked....and grew much bigger that than we ever expected. Our baptism of fire was at the Plymouth reenactment. All it did, though, was ignite a fire inside, a desire to do it more! Our group of Confederate sailors, which I commanded, developed much faster than our Union counterparts, with myself, Nevis Leary, Creston Simmons and Mark Sheppard helping form the foundation. We started not only attending the Plymouth event but also other events up and down the Carolina and Virginia coast. What we found out is that we became "defacto" ambassadors for the Plymouth event, making contacts wherever we went. Typical reenactor numbers at Plymouth prior to our "birth" ranged from about 30 to 75. Once we started participating at other venues, our Plymouth event numbers grew to an average of 250 reenactors. We adopted a name which more accurately described this band of brothers, the NC Naval Squadron. Our membership expanded with new members coming from such locales as Fayetteville and Kinston. We also started further refining our group's identity, which was that of a naval artillery detachment, once the group purchased our first cannon. We travelled from place to place, participating in living history events, reenactments and other programs such as the burial of the Hunley sailors in Charleston, SC. We continued to attract new members and made many acquaintances along the way. In 2004 , the group participated in the filming for the documentary about the CSS Albemarle and the man who sank her, Lt. William B. Cushing, called "The Most Daring Mission of the Civil War". I had been involved in the project from the start, helping advise the producer during several phases of production. It was a labor of love. In September of that year, the filming was finally over. I was exhausted, glad it was over and happy that the story was finally going to be told. But I was also unhappy. Some of it came from stress of working on the documentary. However, it was more than that. I was caught up in the logistics of running a unit, worrying about keeping the members happy and worrying about the product we were producing for the public. I needed a change. I had stopped having fun. So, I decided to take a step back and resigned as Squadron's commanding officer. Friends were shocked to say the least. They asked me what I was going to do now. I told them that I was going to focus on my true love, living history education. I told them I was going to start traveling to various events setting up my displays on ironclad construction, torpedoes and navigation. Also, I wanted to develop a Union navy impression as Union navy contingent had not been truly developed at Plymouth, plus my old bunch needed someone to shoot at as Union reenactors are hard to find in the south. I told them that they were all welcome to tag along with me as long as they promised me that they would make sure they had fun. Within a few weeks, a group of like-minded folks coalesced to become what is now known as the Carolina Living History Guild. I never thought I would help start another group. The Guild travels across NC and VA, "singing our songs and doing our dances", which is basically sharing our love of history with the people we encounter. We have standing gigs at a variety of places including the Museum of the Confederacy, NC Maritime Museum at Beaufort, NC, Historic Edenton, Historic Halifax, the CSS Neuse/Richard Caswell Memorial Historic Site, Ft Anderson/Brunswicktown Historic Site and several others. We've developed a variety of impressions including ACW era navy, War of 1812 era navy, AmRev navy and Continental Line (yes, even infantry). Our membership includes historic site/museum employees, artifact conservationists, historic site/museum support group board members and the list goes on and on. I've learned so, so much over the past several years. Not only about the history of the area but also about myself. I have also met many fine folks and made many dear friends. Much like Robert Frost said, "Two roads diverged in a woods and I...I took the one less travelled by and that has made all the difference". I chose the least travelled road and it has so richly impacted my life. If you have time this weekend, come to Plymouth and enjoy the event where I got my start. I'll be there with my friends having loads of fun!