Albert Gallatin portrayer to return to Friendship Hill
Photo courtesy of Ron Duquette.
Ron Duquette of Virginia portrays Albert Gallatin. He will attend the second annual Albert Gallatin Project at Friendship Hill National Historic Site near Point Marion on July 26 and 27.
Ron Duquette of Virginia has been portraying Albert Gallatin for three years.
Photo courtesy of Ron Duquette.
When Albert Gallatin left his beloved home, Friendship Hill, in 1826, he would never again get to see the estate he built on the banks of the Monongahela near Point Marion. That is, not until last year when he made a return visit in the guise of Ron Duquette, a person portrayer from Lorton, Virginia along with John Hall, cast in the character of James Madison.
Duquette as Gallatin must have enjoyed last year’s visit because he plans to return to Friendship Hill National Historic Site on July 26 and 27 accompanied this time by Thomas Jefferson, a.k.a., Tom Pitz.
Their visit, free and open to the public, will be celebrated with two days of events that include an encampment by the Pittsburgh Blues Military Unit offering a look at the life of a soldier during the War of 1812. Additionally, Duquette and Pitz as Mr. Gallatin and President Jefferson will lead duplicate discussions on the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on July 26 and a discussion on the War of 1812 at 1:30 p.m. on July 27.
To entertain the youngsters, activities both days will include surveying, wildlife and plant identification and a look at the life of a soldier in the War of 1812.
“Our appearances will have two components – presentations in which the audience will be able listen to us discuss the scheduled topics and ask questions and a meet and greet, or as I liked to say while in the military, a grip and grin mingling with the audience throughout the day,” Duquette said.
Since he first started portraying Gallatin in Sept. 2011 at the Philadelphia Constitution Center, he has managed 30 to 35 additional Gallatin appearances. However, his first personage portrayal came years earlier, in 1987, when he played the role of President Truman while an army major stationed in Heidelberg, Germany. Adept at adopting the guise of several public figures, Gallatin was also asked by a friend to do the Marquis de Lafayette at Tudor Place in Georgetown as part of a reenactment of the banquet held in the marquis’ honor on his last visit to America in 1824.
“I was probably a foot shorter than the marquis, but ignored the issue,” he said. “As I stood in the foyer greeting people a stunning couple entered. The woman, who must have been six-feet tall, bent over to me and asked ‘Are you the right height?’ I answered that I was ‘a foot short.’ Later, I found out that her husband was a direct descendant of one of Lafayette’s companions who journeyed with him to America in 1777.”
A 20-year career officer in the U.S. Army until he retired in 1994 who’s also donned the guise of Washington Irving in a reading of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” Duquette now portrays Gallatin almost exclusively.
“The amount of research you have to do to portray someone really well and be convincing is very extensive,” he said. “You not only have to research your own personage but also that of the people who impinged on his life. As Gallatin, therefore, I have to know about people he encountered like Jefferson, John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay.”
While Duquette said that Gallatin may not be in the top tier of people thought of in the early history of the country, he did have a tremendous impact on his era as the fourth and longest serving Secretary of the Treasury, a three term representative to the U.S. House of Representatives, a minister to France and Britain and a member of the delegation that negotiated the terms of the Treaty of Ghent at the end of the War of 1812.
Because Gallatin was born in French-speaking Switzerland, Duquette portrays him with a French accent, which he says is no problem because his maternal grandparents were originally from the province of Quebec, and his father was also of French extraction.
“I spoke no English at home until the age of 14,” he said.
When he travels to settings that may vary from conventions, convocations and club settings to dinners, dances, seminars, schools, wine tastings and cocktail hours he takes along a single Gallatin outfit from the era of 1810 to 1820. It’s made up of a waistcoat, linen shirt, trousers, a boot-type of shoe bought at J C Penny’s, a hat made in Gettysburg by a maker nicknamed Dirty Billy and a long overcoat made of double wool material.
“The coat is so warm that I could stand outside in frigid weather and still be comfortable,” he said.
Two months ago, he joined an organization called “A League of Interesting Men,” five personage portrayers from Virginia who do Monroe, Jefferson, Franklin, “a Natural Philosopher” and, of course, Gallatin. Duquette said he likes the idea of getting together as a group because it’s so much more fun and educational for the audience when there’s a dialogue among the various personages.
“We form different clusters at different events, depending on who’s available,” he said. “In October, we’ll be together at Ash Lawn-Highland, James Monroe’s estate across from Monticello.”
The League is currently working out the details of financial remuneration for their various appearances. Duquette said it’s not only a matter of their time and the travel expenses they incur, but also the amount of research they have to do to get their personages right.
“In our work, we cover different roles – educator, entertainer and salesmen who try to sell our product, which is history and a certain time period,” Duquette said.
“At this point in my life, I can think of nothing better to do than have the opportunity to engage people in the history of their own country.”
For a complete listing of activities, visit www.nps.gov.com.