Living History Days 2023 Recap: Weather (Almost) Never Deters Us

BRADLEY – Oct. 7 and Oct. 8 was the weekend of our biggest event of the season, Living History Days. Even if the rain threatened to end things prematurely, Saturday was still a nice and sunny day. Many more guests came on Sunday to make this year’s proceedings a resounding success. Even if things were a bit wet, it never dampened our volunteer’s spirits.

Like every year, the event starts with our volunteers days before the event. Our volunteers were busy working to make sure that the event was well stocked, that the reenactors’ living arrangements were set up for the weekend, and that guests could have a great weekend in the woods. Friday was our most important pre-event day as that was when volunteers worked on getting the bean-hole prepared and cooking, worked on Lombard and equipment upkeep, as well as last-minute maintenance on the sawmill bridge and the ongoing battle with the beavers to keep them from clogging up the mill pond. You can see all of this and more in the video below.

A special thanks to the University of Maine Construction Engineering students for coming out to work on the batteau shed, the Pit Saw roof, and installing windows in the Visitor’s Center – the later two of which you can see in our prep day video.

Even though Saturday was predicted to be a rainy day, the rain held off long enough for the event to go apace. It’s really our volunteers and reenactors that make the event; without them, we wouldn’t have a Living History Days. From running the biscuit and beans stands, to making sawhorses for the museum’s use, or demonstrating how flax is made into linen – everyone was busy and hard at work to make this a great (if not a bit soggy) weekend. Even if the Lombard almost got caught in the mud a few times and needed a wash at the end, our Lombard crew was never deterred.

Although it rained at the tail-end of Saturday and rained through much of Sunday, we still had a surprising but great turnout over the weekend. We’re happy that people still had as much of a fun time as our volunteers and reenactors did. You can see for yourself how it went in the videos below. The following is a recap of Saturday:

And the following is a recap of Sunday:

Once again, we couldn’t have done it without our volunteers and reenactors. Thanks to all who came out and made that weekend a good one. Here’s to a drier Living History Days in 2024!