By Nancy J. Figiel, Tryon Palace Public Affairs Director
Working at a historic site as an interpreter or reenactor is not your typical nine to five job. Their work is more like time travelling. They step away from today to a time centuries ago, before electricity, cars or trucks, microwave ovens, computers, cell phones and Starbucks. As historians and reenactors, their job is to capture what a day looked like in the 1700s and present it as living history. So, what is a day’s work like as a Tryon Palace historic interpreter? It is not easy, as life in the 1770s did not provide the luxuries we depend on today!
“I wake up each morning as a 21st century man, say good morning to my wife, and then I get dressed in my First Regiment NC Continental Line uniform. I am now an 18th century military man. The day’s tasks before me are those of a Revolutionary soldier surviving in the field. I am soon thinking and acting like those men whose letters I have studied from State Archives.” Gary Riggs, Tryon Palace Interpretive Program Coordinator.
Gary arrives early and is dressed from head to toe in a blue Continental Line uniform coat, white shirt, and knee britches. Why white? White, so it can be washed and whitened when the opportunity arises – usually a good rainstorm or the forging of a river. He brings with him salted pork, collards, flour, and butter to make a typical soldier’s meal. On arrival he begins the task of making a campfire. He gathers up firewood, and if necessary, splits logs for kindling. The fire is started without matches – they weren’t invented until the early 1800s. Using a small piece of steel, he strikes it across a flint stone to make a spark and start embers on a prepared piece of charred cloth (previously burnt). The embers off the charred cloth are applied to tinder – dried grass, leaves, and sticks – and then blown on to build the fire strong enough to burn a log. It will be an hour or two before he can cook his meal or roast coffee beans to brew his coffee. Another soldier arrives and assists with meal prep using a heavy iron pan to cook the salted pork and collards. Another will begin cutting butter and flour together to make biscuits. The raw dough is placed in an iron pot with a top so the coals, or hottest parts of the wood, can engulf the bottom and top of the pot to cook like an oven. Or it can be placed directly into the embers to make ash cakes – a flat biscuit spiced with a good dose of lingering ash between the teeth.
After their meal, the soldiers begin their other tasks. Daily chores could include cleaning weapons, shooting firearms, sharpening knives and tools on a sharpening stone, repairing tents and uniforms, sewing shirts, and building gabions or cheval de frie. The day is busy with 18th century chores and demonstrating to 21st century visitors. Sometimes in the cold, often on hot and humid days, even during light rain.
Are you ready to sign up? It’s a rewarding commitment that is hard and fun at the same time. Volunteers and part-time paid interpreters are needed. Contact Madeline Flagler at Madeline.Flagler@ncdcr.gov.