History Geek: Fort King George

   

 

 Support your state parks! I am lucky to live in an area that has such great state parks. Quite a few in this area have some kind of historical significance, and being the history geek that I am, this suits me just fine. Stroll around in nature, learn some history, take lots of photos of Spanish moss,....yes, please! The Lowcountry has a lot to offer in the history department. 

I did not chase this person, I followed them very fast.

 Fort King George  is in Darien, in McIntosh County, Georgia. Much like the name of the county suggests, Darien was first settled by Scottish Highlanders in 1736. This settlement was part of Oglethorpe's plan to protect the Carolina's from the Spanish in Florida. Before Darien and Oglethorpe, there was Fort King George and Colonel John Barnwell. The wooden fort was built in 1721, and was also meant to protect the southern edges of the Carolina colony from the Floridians Spanish. The fort was abandoned in 1727, well before Savannah and Darien were settled. Those pesky Spanish had been attacking up the (now) Georgia coast, and this, along with disease, a generally crappy existence, and a couple of suspicious fires helped the higher ups decide that the British no longer needed to be there. 

 

The fort was generally forgotten about, just a sort of local myth, until the 1930s, when Bessie Lewis, a local history teacher and history buff dug through some archives in Charleston, and did every history geek dreams they could do. SHE FOUND THE FORT!!!! Maybe I shouldn't speak for other history buffs, but I know I have often dreamed of finding something old and historically relevant. Like an 18th century frigate. 

 Speaking of frigates, I had the pleasure of visiting Fort King George for their Autumn Encampment this weekend. The day I went, the Royal British Navy was there! Not really, but there were reenactors from different groups doing some living history things. They shot some muskets, they cooked sausages, (made me hungry), and apparently they shot a cannon, but I missed that because I was too busy geeking out about 18th century Royal British Navy things with some of the reenactors. A lot of these groups had brought items from their own collections. The enlisted soldier's barracks had been turned into The Crown and Anchor Tavern. Here they talked about 18th century tavern food, as well as sailor's rations. The blockhouse had a collection of muskets and everything you would need to disable and capture an enemy ship. (Pro tip: shoot down their masts and tear up their rigging. They won't be able to go anywhere. You're welcome.) The Highlander Cottage had the different medicines they would have used, as well as some neat old books. 

 Reenactors and reenacting is going to be it's own post, so I won't get too much into that here. I have to say that I was on the fence about going, but the reenactors were actually the deciding factor. They put so much time and effort into what they wear. I asked almost all of them if they made their own outfits. One guy made his entire kit, everyone else was about half bought and half sewn by themselves. The ladies knew about American Duchess (sigh), and JP Ryan and everyone knew about the Townsends! And, being Royal Navy people, almost all had read Patrick O'Brien. My people!

The guy on the left made his entire outfit

 So, heed my advice, and hit up a state park. I promise, it will be fun. 😀

 

 

 Here we go! Again! After too much time not being able to decide what to write about on my previous blog(s), I decided to just go with it and write about almost....everything. So here I sit, after choosing backgrounds and color schemes and putting on my Putumayo Vintage France CD, (yes, CDs still exist and yes, I still love them), and I am writing. I feel like my first blog post should be about a personal first for me. I went to a Renaissance Faire!!!

 It was the Georgia Renaissance Festival, to be exact, and I got a bug up my butt to go after a particularly bad couple of weeks. I do follow the Un-Official Georgia Renaissance Festival
page on Facebook, and have been enjoying the beautiful photos that people had been posting. Because of this Facebook page I discovered that, lo and behold, this past weekend was the last weekend. So I made my mind up, ordered a medieval dress from Amazon, and went. 

 So this was a tiny bit of an adventure, since the Georgia Renny is four hours away from me, closer to Atlanta. But, I reserved a room in Fairburn, GA, took off early from work on Saturday, (thanks co-workers!), and headed up the road. A little nervous because I didn't know what to expect from my weekend, but excited. Did I mention that my dress came in the DAY I LEFT? It was a sign, I was sure of it. 

 So, I got up stupid early the morning of the last day of the festival. I made my hotel coffee, went and got an apple from the complimentary breakfast, (saving room for the turkey leg I had been hearing about), and got ready for my debut into Renn Faire society. Even with the stupid early wake-up time, I STILL managed to leave later than I wanted. Typical Lilibet. 

 The Festival was only five minutes, but because of traffic it took me a whole TEN MINUTES to get there. The gates opened at 10:30. I got there at 11 and the field where everyone parked was already packed. I followed the car in front of me, bumping gently over the field until we were directed to our parking spots by orange flag wielding people. I parked, adjusted my flower crown and got out of the car. 

 I was surrounded by my people. All around me, people were adjusting fake swords, putting on helmets, horns, crowns, capes, fairy wings and pirate coats. It was amazing! I followed the small throng to the gates of Newcastle, bought my ticket, and went in. 

 It was magical. Young me would have fainted. This wasn't a half-assed Renaissance Festival. The buildings were amazing. The vendors were amazing. Too, too much to see. About an hour in I decided that I would spend at least an entire weekend at the festival, and bring my grownup camera. One of my first stops was a clothing vendor. I got a beautiful green skirt, among other things. While I was looking at the skirts, a tween girl told me, "green is TOTALLY your color!". So I got the green skirt. Thank you tween girl! She set me on my path to spending a lot of money, but also thoroughly enjoying every minute. Next time you make fun of a larper or Renn Faire enthusiast think twice. It's expensive, even if you hand make a lot of things. 

 I saw jousting, which, by the way is the Maryland state sport. I saw a centaur painfully walking in her centaur shoes. I saw fairies, mushrooms, a snail brigade, PIRATES, knights, a spider, all sorts of beautiful people. I saw non-costumed parents happily walking around with their costumed kids. It was beautiful and accepting and I highly recommend everyone attend a Renn Faire at least once in their life. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly. A girl came up to me to tell me I looked so pretty! She made my day, and to be honest, in my dress, with my flowers in my hair, I felt pretty. I ate a big ass turkey leg. It was delicious. It also made me very sleepy. 

 So, if you need a re-set, or a boost, get yourself to a Renn Faire. I promise you will love it. There truly is something for everyone.