Getting ready for a rebellion
Dan Ragaller of Upper St. Clair explains how a musket operates to Maya and Oliver Kilgore as well as others at the Washington County Historical Society’s Prelude to a Rebellion - An 18th-Century Rifle Frolic at the county’s Frontier History Center in Washington Park. At left, volunteer Courtney Dennis of Waynesburg checks biscuits she has prepared over an open fire.
Courtney Dennis of Waynesburg, a volunteer with the Washington County Historial Society and Bradford House, checks biscuits she has prepared over an oper fire at the Frontier History Center.
Cooking can be a challenge, but imagine the days when baking up a batch of biscuits did not mean preheating the oven to 350 degrees.
Courtney Dennis of Waynesburg was cooking a batch on a trivet set about six-inches over charred coals in an open face camp set up at the Washington County Frontier History Center in Washington Park Saturday. But alas, when Dennis went to check them she discovered the bottoms had burned.
Dennis, a volunteer with the Washington County Historical Society and Bradford House, was demonstrating open hearth cooking as part of the society’s Prelude to a Rebellion – An 18th-Century Rifle Frolic.
“Cooking was a lot different then,” Dennis said. “They cooked on a hearth or over a fire that had been left burning, rendering down to coals.”
The history center depicts what life was like in a frontier settlement back in the 18th century, said Clay Kilgore, executive director of the historical society. The site includes a stockade, blockhouse, an interior cabin, exterior cabin, half-faced camp, log barn and blacksmith’s shop. Plans call for a smoke house and trading post.
“A frolic was a gathering of people, maybe all going over to one farm to help the farmer harvest grain,” Kilgore said. “Some get-togethers would have shooting contests whether marksmanship or a load fast and fire.”
Dan Ragaller of Upper St. Clair showed 6-year-old Maya Kilgore and her 10-year-old brother, Oliver Kilgore, how to load and fire a musket.
“It was not very accurate,” said Ragaller, a volunteer with the Neville House near Bridgeville. “You could aim one way and end up firing a shot that goes 10 yards to the right.”
He also showed the two a blunderbuss pistol with a bayonet.
“If they missed with the pistol, they could stick them with the bayonet,” Ragaller said.
Plans are in the works for more events to be held at the center.
“It is amazing the number of people who don’t realize the center is out here,” Kilgore said.
Planned for later this year include the Fright on the Frontier haunted tour. Kilgore said it will have a historical theme with tales of area myths and legends.
Kilgore said Saturday’s event was a kick-off leading to the Whiskey Rebellion Festival to be held from July 11 through 13. The festival will include events in downtown Washington as well as at the county’s Frontier History Center. For more information on the upcoming festival, go to WhiskeyRebellionFestival.com.