The Carter Mansion Celebration; August 7-8

Having dunyet, Dave (Doan)?

What a fantastic weekend to have an event at the Carter Mansion!!! Yes, it was hot but with the low humidity, not nearly as uncomfortable as it could have been.  Saturday was hugely busy and  there was a great turnout by the public and Militia. I saw two new faces who dressed out this weekend; Dave Doan and Amy Aprile. That was a pleasure. When the colors were raised at 10 AM , there were people all over to honor the flag and the memorial to the Carter family at the nearby cemetery. The Watauga Fife and Drum showed out, let me tell you, with the variety and beauty of their playing. All day, there were demos; flint knapping,  dying with natural materials, soap making, slatting a chair bottom, cooking, brick making to show how the colonials made the bricks  for the house and what to do with gourds.

Throughout the day, people got to take a guided tour of the Carter Mansion. Thanks to the generosity of a local man who donated furniture for all the rooms , the house is now well furnished- about 90 percent original and looks WONDERFUL. My favorite piece is in the main hall, a large chest dated 1747.

At 12 PM, Sherry Hyder served the best tasting Brunswick stew/ soup, corn bread, fresh fruits, peach pie and other dessert goodies. Sooooo good and fresh tasting.

At 1 PM on both days, Joh Carter  directed  the Colonials to repel the Tories who were trying to take the deed books. The scenarios were very exciting and people really took it seriously. Retha and Ken took some wonderful pictures and they are posted to an album in Webshots called Carter Mansion  2010. Check out the ones of Doug Ledbetter and Sherry Hyder and Sherry Shook and “Chief” to see just how seriously people took this scenario.

Look at the body language of Doug Ledbetter. One determined fighter!

 What was really rather neat was the training exercise called “Fix Bayonets” where the members and anyone interested had to try to bayonet an apple suspended from a tree. Richard Ellis won the honors (and he didn’t even use the Earl Slagle Jab!).

James Garland and Cpt. Bogart regaled the audience with a medley of tunes played on handcrafted and period instruments. It was really wonderful- I was impressed by the variety of instruments can play, especially the banjo, and all the music that fellow knows. Finally the colors were retired at 4:30 and you could really tell that the public  was reluctant to go home.

The evening proved  to be relaxing and Sunday was pretty much an easy day with Worship service at 11 AM and skirmish at 1 PM.

It was a jewel of a muster and everyone had a good time. By the way, check out the corned beef recipe on the ” Let’s Burn Something” site. I actually corned venison using that recipe and kept it marinating for over 10 days. Mike, April Aprile, Dave and Sherry, I  and a guest didn’t die from it and it was totally delicious. Try it out sometime.