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LIVERMORE — The Washburn-Norlands Living History Center is hosting its 6th annual Civil War Reenactment Weekend on Saturday, June 17, and Sunday, June 18.
The Rally for Norlands, billed as Maine’s largest Civil War reenactment, features a wide variety of living history demonstrations, exhibits and activities memorializing the activities of the Civil War. The family-friendly event is organized by the 3rd Maine Company A and 15th Alabama Company G to benefit Maine’s oldest living history farm and museum, according to a news release from the historic site.
The Norlands is a 445-acre museum and working farm that is the ancestral home of the Washburn family. The rolling hills surrounding the mansion, meeting house, cape house, and one-room schoolhouse are the backgrop for the re-enactment of battles once fought in similar communities and the impact of war on the families who remained on the rural home front.
The historic site has a real connection to the Civil War despite the fact the war was fought hundreds of miles away. Israel Washburn, Jr. was elected governor of Maine in 1861 and quickly became known as Maine’s little-known giant of the Civil War. Cadwallader Washburn was a major general during the war, and Elihu Washburn was instrumental in getting Abraham Lincoln elected to the presidency, according to the news release. Samuel Washburn served in the U.S. Navy and was acting master of the ironclad gunboat, U.S. Galena, which came under fire on the Mississippi River.
Union and Confederate military and civilian re-enactors from across New England will be camped on the grounds during the event. Cavalry units plan to attend, and the participants will scrimmage with replica weaponry and perform drilling and firing demonstrations. The 6th Maine Battery will be on hand to fire their Parrott rifle/cannon. There will be ongoing presentations in the surgeon’s tent and in the field hospital after each battle. A full-scale battle scenario will be staged each day, at 2:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday.
Visitors will also be able to tour the Washburn estate, and activities will include Victorian fashion shows, a period-correct sermon on temperance in the 1828 meeting house, blacksmithing, historic dress-up tent, craft activities, one-room schoolhouse, old-fashioned games, guided nature walks, farm life in Norlands’ farmer’s cottage, talks on Maine’s Joshua Chamberlain, a former governor of Maine who had volunteered for the Civil War and, serving as a colonel, led his regiment heroically at the Battle of Gettysburg.
On Saturday, beginning at 4 p.m., there will country-style dance lessons and then a Civil War era period wedding in the Norlands barn, re-enacted by members of the 3rd Maine Company A. After the wedding, those attending can celebrate with the newlyweds at a pig roast at 5 p.m. At 6 p.m., there will be a barn dance with twirling hoop skirts, uniformed re-enactors, and fiddlers from The Racket Factory. The contra dance is free with purchase of a supper ticket or general event admission; otherwise a $5 donation is suggested.
The Jay-Livermore Falls Lions Club will serve up hamburgers and hotdogs during both days of the rally, but visitors are welcome to bring a picnic lunch.
Gates open at 9 a.m. each day, and admission is $12 for adults and $7 for children age 12 and under; a weekend pass is $18 adult and $11 for children age 12 and under. Children age 5 and under are admitted for free. For the safety and comfort of all, there are no dogs or other pets allowed on the property during Rally for Norlands with the exception of service animals.
For more details, the schedule of activities and to buy tickets for the pig roast, visit www.NORLANDS.org/6th-rally-for-norlands or call 897-4366.
