Kingsley

Kingsley
Originally uploaded by stevochicken86.

Hello,
This has been a great weekend. I participated in my first living history/re-enactment event. Friday morning, I left with the group (4 others) for Florida. Once we got to the hotel in Jacksonville, we discovered the entire state of Georgia was staying there for the Florida/Georgia game. After going out to eat, we went over all of what we would be doing Saturday. Mostly we practiced lines and group songs. Then we relaxed.
Saturday morning, we all had breakfast and then got dressed in period attire (mid 1800s) Then it was off to the plantation. The event was the annual heritage celebration at Kingsley Plantation, a part of Timucuan National Park on the Sea Islands outside of Jacksonville. We set up our gear in the slave quarters. The remains of several slave houses still stand. They were made of an oyster shell and lime concrete called tabby. The ladies, Dot and Tiffani, cooked typical items of slave diet all day. We had greens, fatback, beef stew, hoe cake, and some good real lemonade (I drank mine from the gourd cup I made) Chuck made brooms, and I played the gourd banjo that David made. Ian, the leader of the group, spent a lot of time answering questions from the visitors. Every once in a while, when a group came along, we would stop and sing a song to the banjo. There were several other speakers and activities throughout the day, and we also had a scheduled event. Our group interpreted "hush harbor" a secret slave worship service. I played Kum Ba Yah and Do Lord while the group sang, and then Ian appeared as a traveling preacher, and gave a firey sermon. At the end, he said, "Jesus is on my left hand, and Sam Walker is on my right" He told the group that Sam was loud friend. "When Sam talks, everyone listens. When Sam talks, the valley echos) Then he introduced the group to Sam Walker, his Colt pistol. He fired the gun and left. After the crowd calmed down, we did a bit of improvisational praise shaking a gourd with seeds in it. The crowd got into it, clapped and hummed. It was a really great day.
Saturday evening, we ate a a great Seafood restaurant, and then returned very tired to the hotel, where all of the screaming drunk Georgia fans showed off the Bush stickers they got at the game. Sleeping was not hard. Sunday morning we left.
Sunday night, we had a Halloween Drive-In movie behind the Coliseum here at school. The movie was the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It was extremley horrifying. After helping take everything down and get it loaded, I returned to the room to finish work for Monday.