Built around 1750, Fort Dobbs was the only fort built to protect the North Carolina colony from Indian attack during the period of the French and Indian War. Today, all that is left is a grassy field but you can imagine what the fort must have looked like.  The local, historical preservationist have recently received a grant to rebuild the fort, but, until then, events such as todays will be held to give us a reminder of what life was like in the middle to late 1700s.

Look at the size of that gun!!  We were standing about 30 feet away when it was fired and the very ground shook!

All over the grounds demonstrations were building held.  This one focused on the military firearms used to defend the fort.

A surveyor's table

Men like George Washington and Daniel Boone were needed to map out this new land that England was colonizing.

When this land was chosen to be the site of a British fort, the militia was told to make temporary cabins to live in while the fort was being built.  Here is a cabin that the local historians have built similiar to the ones built over 250 years ago. 

Everywhere you looked there were tents with people dressed in period costume displaying some aspect of life from the 1700s.  This man was entertaining us with his dulcimer.

It was expensive to purchase cloth from the local general store.  Most colonialists made their own cloth (homespun) from wool that they had sheered, cleaned, carded, and spun. 

This gentleman had a whole cart full of period instruments...harp, violin, and flute to name a few.  His music could be heard all over the site as we wondered around.

You can't have a recreation of a French and Indian fort without Indians.  We learned about the different food that the local Indians ate.  He is holding up sassafras roots which was used to help make sassafras tea. We noticed that the Indians had a lot of facial jewelry (hanging under the nose as well as from the ears). It is believed that the Indians believed that these pieces of shiny jewelry protected them from evil spirits.  The facial paint was also used as a means to protect them from evil spirits.

A lot of detail and thought was put into the dress of the living historians. 

This man was telling us about how books were made during this time. 

The children and I saw this lady walking around camp carrying her buckets of produce.  When we stopped her and asked if we could take a picture of her, we noticed the collar around her neck.  She explained that she was an indentured servant and was selling produce for her master.  She then let the children and me feel how heavy her burden was first by just holding it but when we put it on our backs the load was very manageable.

This blacksmith has a portable forge.  He was making bayonets when we stopped to visit with him.

Historians were everywhere explaining the events of the day.

When we arrived at the fort, Indians were attacking.  They killed one colonialist, scalped him,and then tied up another and carted him off into the woods.

We had so much fun.  I love living history.  I was worried that the children would not like today's field trip but they were engaged the minute we arrived and never got bored.  I am so grateful for these historians that bring our history to life.