Hundreds see Living History at Fort

Fort Griffin State Historic Site enjoyed a larger crowd than expected last week for its annual Living History Days, held Friday-Saturday, Oct. 13-14.

Assistant site manager Eric Abercrombie said more school children than had been anticipated attended Friday.

“The turnout from schools kind of exceeded our expectations,” Abercrombie said. “We had more schools than we’d originally anticipated. It waswellover200students, almost 300.”

The program featured reenactors portraying life at the fort as it was in the 1870s.

“As far as reenactors or living historians, pretty much everybody we anticipated was there,” Abercrombie said.

Abercrombie said a handful of reenactors are school-aged themselves, giving attendees a better idea of what children faced growing up on the frontier.

“I think it’s always beneficial to have kids dressed up for other kids to see,” he said.

Attendance remained good on Saturday, Abercrombie said.

“We felt like it was a really good turnout by the general public,” he said. “It wasjuststeadythroughout the day as people came out for the event.”

Planning is already underway for 2024 with tentative dates set for Oct. 11-12.

“Somebody mentioned doing a Thursday-Friday event to get some of the schools that have gone to a four-day week,” Abercrombie said. “Right now, we’re just sticking with our original plan.”