The
Monterey Pass Battlefield Association
is forming a new committee for the Mountaintop Heritage Days. What's
the committee about? It's about getting re-enactors of all time
periods together and displaying our skills and knowledge to the
public. As a re-enactor and living historian myself, this event has
lots of room to grow and become an enjoyable function. We want you and
your group to do what it does best and that is to educate the public.
This would a great place to get people interested in joining your unit
and getting your organization's name into the public eye as newspapers
always interview re-enactors and living historians.
We want each re-enactor who participates in the
Mountaintop Heritage Days to keep coming back. We always strive to
think about our heritage and history and this is our number one goal
as a community. We want tourist who visit Heritage Days to relive our
heritage if it be Colonial, Civil War, World War Two, or a
non-military impression such as civilians. Also we are also looking
for other organizations who offer different time periods of American
History that would be interested in participating and it doesn't have
to be military either for families to enjoy it. For example: A
mountain man or a colonial hunter impression would be great for this
area, since hunting has played an important role since the founding of
this country. This is a subject that is often forgotten with the
modern age and is always endangered. Mining Copper ore during the late
1800's played an important role in the area as well the railroad and
big resort era.
What is it that we are looking for? We are looking for
Authentic re-enactors to participate in the Mountaintop Heritage Days
at the Blue Ridge Summit, Pa. and Cascade, Md. area. No registration
fee and all activities are coordinated with the Heritage Days
Committee. The Mountaintop Living History Committee is designed for
the purpose of demonstrating life of a time gone by. With so many
festivals and re-enactments in the area during the summer, it's
getting harder for us to find new groups that are willing to come
to the Mountaintop Heritage Days.
We are seeking authentic groups that portray Civil War
period soldiers for the Monterey Pass Living History held at the
Rolando Woods Lions Club Park. Please no first hand impression of
Generals. Generals are nice to look at, but not what we are
looking for. We want to demonstrate the life of an average soldier of
the American Civil War and the equipment he used during the Gettysburg
Campaign. Knowledge of the Gettysburg Campaign is always a plus.
With Fort Ritchie now a prime topic among the
community, we are now seeking World War Two re-enactors weather your
American or German to participate in any activities held within Fort
Ritchie. The Maryland National Guard built Camp Ritchie in 1926. By
World War Two, Fort Ritchie was taken over by the War Department and
used as a Military Intelligence Training Center. Intelligence officers
and interpreters were trained there before being sent overseas. Fort
Ritchie is most remembered by the Ritchie Boys. Several thousand
German Jews were forced out of Germany during the beginning of Nazi
controlled Germany. Many came to the U.S. and joined the U.S. Army and
were trained at Fort Ritchie and took part in the D-Day operations. As
part of the Military cutbacks President Bill Clinton had Fort Ritchie
shut down in 1998.
If your unit or organization is interested in
displaying a Living History,
please feel free to let us know.
