National parks offer special programs for summer
A new archaeology exhibit, re-enactors and the popular legends tour are among the special programs that will be offered at Fayette County’s two national parks this year. Fort Necessity will open a new exhibit on historical archaeology in the visitor’s center April 17 to coincide with National Park Week, which is being observed nationwide through April 27.
Ranger James Tomasek explained this is the 50th anniversary of the archaeological dig that discovered the remains of the original posts of Fort Necessity.
Dr. J.C. Harrington of the National Park Service led the dig that discovered the posts in April 1953. This ended a 100-year debate on whether Fort Necessity was round or square. Officials took down a 1932-built square fort and erected the round fort that stands today.
The exhibit will showcase some of the post fragments and artifacts as well as pay a tribute to Harrington, a pioneer in the field of historical archaeology in this country. In fact, the park service will display a Harrington Award, given by the Society for Historical Archaeology, and named in honor of the man who rediscovered Fort Necessity. Fort Necessity was considered one of Harrington’s greatest achievements and the medal contains an image of Fort Necessity. The exhibit will be open through October.
Meanwhile, the visitor’s center at Fort Necessity will see other changes as a second Robert Griffing painting showing the French view of the battle will be hung in April. It will be hung near the first painting that showed the British side of the battle, which was unveiled last year. The two paintings will be turned into murals for the new interpretative center, which is slated to open in May 2005. An exhibit on the new interpretative center will also be placed in the visitor’s center later this spring.
As a result of these new exhibits, the old interpretative displays, which were placed in the visitor’s center when it opened in 1966, are being removed and placed in storage. But the mannequins, which show the uniforms of the French, Indians and British, will remain as well as the interpretative film.
Other special programs scheduled for this year include:
Friendship Hill National Historic Site:
May 4: Albert Gallatin Middle School Band will present a spring concert on Sunday, May 4 at 2 p.m.
Memorial Day, May 26: House tours will begin and continue through Labor Day. For times, check at the information desk. The house, however, remains open seven days a week.
July 4-11: Corps of Discovery II, a traveling national exhibit on Lewis and Clark, will come to Friendship Hill. Shown only at selected parks, Corps of Discovery II is coming to Friendship Hill because of Albert Gallatin’s connection to Lewis and Clark. As Secretary of the Treasury, Gallatin arranged financing for the Louisiana Purchase as well as Lewis and Clark’s expedition. He also provided maps for the journey and input for their duties.
Aug. 22-23: Legends of Friendship Hill returns. The popular program on local folklore now rotates between Friendship Hill and Fort Necessity. The program may be extended this year to Aug. 24. Ranger Brian Reedy said the park service is trying to get a surprise speaker.
Sept. 17-23: Constitution Week is observed with visitors having an opportunity to sign a copy of the Constitution.
Sept. 27: Public Lands Day, a way of recognizing volunteer groups and conservation organizations, will be observed as the local parks remember the Civilian Conservation Corps which operated at Fort Necessity during the Depression. Reedy noted the park service is asking people to come out that day to help clean the parks.
Sept. 28: FestiFall, sponsored by the Friendship Hill Association with support by the park service, returns for a look at early 19th century culture.
November: Something will be planned to observe Native American month either here or at Fort Necessity.
Fort Necessity National Battlefield:
May 17-18: The park service will observe the National Road Festival by having the Mount Washington Tavern open and staffed with costumed interpreters. Some staff will be able to explain the recent work done on the tavern.
May 24-25: French Soldier at Western Pennsylvania is a program to commemorate the Jumonville event. There will be talks at the glen site at 1 a.m., 1 and 3 p.m. Reedy noted that when the legends tour moves back to Fort Necessity in 2004, it will have an emphasis on Jumonville in connection with the 250th anniversary of the skirmish and battle of Fort Necessity.
June 15: Starts the summer program with tavern tours available five days a week and a soldier at the fort on weekends.
July 3: The annual memorial program that marks the battle will be held at the fort in the afternoon.
July 11: Re-enactor Scott Mandrell will visit Fort Necessity as he portrays Meriwether Lewis in an historical re-enactment as part of a national observance of the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Mandrell, who starts his journey in Washington, D.C., will arrive on horseback and do interpretative programming before leaving in the morning on his way to Pittsburgh. He will travel through Fayette County along the National Road.
July 19-20: A French and Indian War re-enactment group called The Virginia Regiment will visit the fort.
Early August: Trent’s Company, another re-enactment group, will return to the fort.
Sept. 17-23: The fort observes Constitution Week.
Sept. 19: POW-MIA Day is the annual veterans’ program at the Wharton Township Veterans Memorial.
Sept. 27: Public Lands Day will be observed.
Early October: A French re-enactment group will visit the fort.
November: Native American Indian month will be observed here or at Friendship Hill.
Dec. 6-7: The Christmas program returns to Mount Washington Tavern.
In addition, the National Park Service is beginning a Webranger program on the Internet at wwww.nps.gov/webrangers. The program is a pre-visit activity to help them learn about national parks.