Highlights Mark your calendar for June 30, Hampshire Family Frontier Day A bookstore with a strong business model Please volunteer your services The Newsletter of The Fort Edwards Foundation Volume 16• Issue 3 The Fort Edwards Gazette June 2012 A Letter from President Clyde H. DeWitt, Jr. I am somewhat confused . but that is a normal state for me. This is the third letter I have written to the membership and our 2nd quarter newsletter. Again, normal for me is confused so I guess everything is O.K. Well, spring clean-up came and went on the 26th of May, and I must say it was a rather meager turn-out of members and volunteers. Board member Jeanne Barb did get some folks who were doing community service work for the county to help us out, and the three of them did a great job for us. The next big event is opening day on the 30th of June, 2012. Hampshire Family Frontier Day looks like it is going to be GRAND turn-out with lots of artisans, re-enactors singer/musicians. See page 2 for more information about our exciting opening day. Just prior to opening, we will again have a “set-up” day: put up tents and get the museum ready for the opening. That will be on the 29th of June commencing at 6:30 P.M. If you can volunteer some time and effort, it would be greatly appreciated and make the work go faster and easier for all concerned. Unfortunately, because the opening is on the 30th, the rain day for set up will also be the 29th of June. My wife Judi and I were away most of the month of May, visiting family and friends in Illinois. It was really a great visit, as we got to go to some historical sites there, not nearly as old as ours, but nonetheless interesting and educational. We are back now and shall continue our activities and projects in the interest of The Fort Edwards Foundation. The Colonial Feast at the Capon Valley Ruritan Club, and the Wine and Cheese Fundraiser at the Asa Cline House B&B in Yellow Spring, were great successes this spring. We had an enervating time at both events, with respectable turn-outs for both. In addition, and of signal importance, the two events helped us raise about $2,000 to further the Foundation's programs. Please don't forget: Membership in The Fort Edwards Foundation runs from January 1 through December 31, each year. Please send in your dues and help keep us, if not solidly in the black, at least not a glaring red. We aim for something like mauve. The membership renewal form is on page 4. I look forward to seeing all of you at our opening on 30th of June, 2012, 10:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. Bring some friends when you come. Clyde Hampshire Family Frontier Day Board of Directors Opening day for the 2012 season at the Fort Edwards The current Board Members of the Visitor Center is Saturday, June 30, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. A Fort Edwards Foundation are tenured wide range of activities for adults and children, and an through November of the year given in excellent food vendor, will make this an outing to remember. parenthesis. Some of the performances to catch are: Madeline McNeil, nationally prominent hammered- and mountain-dulcimer Clyde Dewitt (2014) artist, will perform. This engaging artist is guaranteed to hold Mark Tooley (2013) any audience’s attention; she will be playing and singing old Mark Jones (2014) favorites, likely some of her own compositions. Don’t miss Judi DeWitt (2014) Maddie’s concert, 12:00 o'clock on the back porch. Charles Hall (2013) Andrew Montour, French & Indian War linguist, translator, Jeanne Barb (2013) and diplomat among the French, English and Indian tribes— Bon Flanagan (2013) born of a Native American father and a French mother—will Julia Flanagan (2013) provide a view on the conflict through the eyes of the Indian. Fred Berkeridge This portrayal, a persona enacted by Bill Hunt of Charleston, (Appointed, town of Capon Bridge) will fascinate all ages. Those who’ve seen and heard Bill’s David Pancake mesmerizing performance must be sure to see it again; if not (Appointed by Hampshire County seen, now’s the time. Presentations, 10:30 and 1:30. Commission) Many other Fort Edwards friends plan to demonstrate: Paul and Elissa Parish—he’s an 18th century surveyor and she a Officers and Committees seamstress; the Maryland Forces regimental troops in bivouac (Officers for 2012 are as follows) and on the march; Col. Frank Walizer displaying his musket President: Clyde DeWitt collection; Ranger Roy Moose (Snake Man) with his sinuous Vice President: Mark Tooley friends; Melonie Desmond making flax; Anna Kiefer, camp- Secretary: Mark Jones follower washer woman; Rob Wolford, blacksmith; and our Treasurer: Judi DeWitt favorite bagpiper, Brian LaFollette. Artisans of Fort Edwards will demonstrate their crafts/arts. Standing Committees and Chairs: We've invited the following: Abby Chapple, calligraphy; Grants: Mark Tooley Clyde and Judi DeWitt lace-making; Julie Flanagan, rug Grounds: Fred Berkeridge hooking; Mary Painter, weaving; Barbara Wilfong, rug Hospitality: Mark Jones braiding, and who knows who- and what-all Kitchen Garden: Julie Flanagan Take the walking trail down to the replica stockade wall; a Membership/Database: Judi DeWitt new bridge at the beginning ensures access to the trail for all Newsletter: Jo Ann Tooley our friends with disabilities, and the trail is hard-packed blue Research & Publications: Charles Hall Visitors Center: Bob Flanagan stone that encourages wheelchair and walker maneuverability. Webmaster: Charles Hall Check out the Colonial Kitchen Garden, with herbs for ------------------ culinary, medicinal, and drying-preserving-coloring utility. Be sure to visit our website at Entrance to all events is without charge; come on in the www.fortedwards.org Visitor Center, watch the video, get a docent tour; buy books and maps and other interesting objet d’curiosité Read the article in this issue about the Museum Shop’s book store; come in the Visitor Center and browse; the selection is guaranteed to delight and inform any student of history and culture. 2 Colonial Classics Unlike many bookstores in the U.S. that have been forced into bankruptcy, the Fort Edwards bookstore is flourishing—and advancing the mission of the foundation. Most readers of The Gazette already know of the Fort Edwards Foundation’s many accomplishments since its beginning in 1995, but few are aware of the important role the Visitor Center Museum Shop has played in achieving the prominent position the foundation enjoys today. The core of the Museum Shop, the bookstore, has become one of the best sources for colonial history in West Virginia, now stocking more than 200 titles in this critical field. It has become an important source for historians and others interested in the colonial period, not just in West Virginia, but throughout the nation. Many sales are made through the Fort Edwards website. Not only have the proceeds made it possible for the foundation to advance its programs, it has contributed to the foundation’s mission of educating the citizenry about colonial America. The man who is almost single-handedly responsible for creating the bookstore, assembling this impressive collection and overseeing sales, is board member Bob Flanagan who assumed responsibility for the Visitor Center and the Museum Shop a little over 10 years ago. An author of six books himself, Flanagan had owned a bookstore in Annandale, Virginia for several years and already knew the convoluted world of book sales. He also has a burning interest in military history; searching for books on colonial history is more a labor of love for him than a task. A second factor contributing to the bookstore’s amazing growth was the 250th anniversary in 2004 of the beginning of the French and Indian war. A barrage of titles on colonial America suddenly became available; readers began re-discovering the almost- forgotten war. There had previously been little interest even in major figures of the period, such as George Washington, Christopher Gist, Daniel Morgan and Robert Rogers who commanded the famous Rogers’ Rangers during the French and Indian War. But that changed after the anniversary. The range of books in the Fort Edward collection spans the very limits of colonial history, from Fred Anderson’s critically acclaimed Crucible of War and other present day authors, to earlier works, such as Maud Pugh’s Capon Valley. Its Pioneers and their Descendants 1698 -1940 and Francis Parkinson's Montcalm and Wolfe: The French and Indian War. In addition to the many historical and biographical works, the store stocks a few novels, powerful portrayals of that contentious period: the frontier novels of Allan Eckert, and others often featuring Native American subjects. And it is not only an impressive collection of books that can be found in the Fort Edwards bookstore; there is a selection of maps of the French and Indian War, two of which were created by founding member and former foundation president, Charles Hall. Also a line of Colonial American music, performed by the husband-wife team, David and Ginger Hildebrand.. There is artwork that makes the colonial period visually come alive: limited, signed prints from an original oil painting, “Caudy’s Castle,” by Winchester, Va., artist Gary Drake are available. This painting captures the legendary local 3 hero and Indian fighter, James Caudy, in action on Castle Rock in Hampshire County. Also for sale are digitally mastered Membership Application/Renewal prints of local artist James Lancia's original oil painting—on display in the Visitor Your Name Center— “Halt at Joseph Edwards’s on Cacapehon.” This stunning artwork is a PO Box or Street depiction of young George Washington as Colonel, Commanding, The Virginia City, State, Zip Code Regiment and troops deployed at Edwards’s Fort ca.