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Saturday, September 29, 2012

ABINGTON CIVIL WAR ENCAMPMENT, SEPTEMBER, 2012

This year here in Abington, Massachusetts we've been celebrating the town's 300th
anniversary. This happens to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the War
Memorial Bridge at Island Grove Park which commemorates Abington's Civil War
veterans. So the town marked the occasion this past weekend with a rededication
of the bridge and a Civil War encampment by re-enactors.


I missed the rededication ceremonies on Saturday because of a prior commitment
but walked down to on Sunday afternoon but by that time they were beginning the
process of breaking camp and brought in cars to load up their tents and gear. I was
struck by the incongruity of watching a lady in a 19th century dress loading up a
SUV and a merchant with goods packed in plastic tubs:





There was a fashion show going on at the other side of the Grove so there
weren't many people around at the time near the tents. I wandered around
and took some pictures.


The Boston Sanitation Commission Tent


I think this might have been an officer's tent.

My ancestor Asa Ellingwood may have slept in one like this.


The fashion show ended and people began drifting back to the camp:



The tailor.


 
So while I didn't see any of the re-enactor soldiers what I saw gave me plenty
to think about as I headed home.

(For some great photos of the activities on Saturday, check out the gallery
here at the Quincy Patriot Ledger website.)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by. So wish you could have been there for the lantern walk Saturday night. We work so hard packing unpacking and packing again, and unpacking when we get home. It's pretty exhausting. But it's worth it to bring a tiny peice of history alive to inquistive people. People who appreciate our history. We'll be in Pembroke the weekend of October 20th. Hoping you can make it then and we can give you a slice of history that your'e looking for.