Civil War Reenactment on Barnhart Island

While visiting the folks this weekend, a Civil War Reenactment took place on Barnhart Island, part of the Robert Moses State Park. This is where I did most of my tenting as a kid, later replaced by a pop-up camper that Dad dragged behind our pickup.

Gophers and white-tailed deer roam free between picnic tables and sandy beaches on Barhart Island. Here you can shove off in a sail boat at the marina or visit the international hydroelectric facility called the Robert Moses Power Dam. It produces some of the cleanest and cheapest power in North America, 2/3 of which is piped directly to Manhattan.

We arrived late Sunday but got to see plenty of the Reenactment during the last hour of the event. Living history came alive through staged battles, cannon and artillery fire and simple white tents for the Union and Confederate actors. I nearly lost my hearing getting these close-ups.

Civil War reenactments are common up and down the Hudson but I thought it was unique to see them so far north. Then I learned that nearly 5,000 St. Lawrence County residents fought the slave states in 1863. That reminded me of the muzzle-loaded musket that I have hanging above my gas fireplace, a family heirloom handed down from generation to generation.

We'll have to come back again next year because we missed Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, delivered by a 6'4" man from Utica with an uncanny resemblance for the real Abe. He introduced me to his White House on wheels, a motor-home that takes him all over the country to perform these gigs, as well as his wife who plays Mary Todd on occasion.