Fort Crailo Harvest Faire - Part 1

On a recent Saturday afternoon, I headed down the road from my house to Fort Crailo, a New York State historical site. They were holding a "Harvest Faire," a celebration of the area's Dutch and Mohawk heritage. A friend who works there told me I would find period costumes and a young pair of oxen named Hank and Yogi. The oxen were the first thing I saw when I arrived, but I was surprised to discover they were still calves-in-training. They were friendly and very well behaved, however:

I've wanted to train oxen for a long time, so had done some research on the subject. On this day I had a lot of opportunity to discuss oxen and cattle in general with the farmer and his wife. And the little boy in me was as excited to pet them as was this young lad:

On the lawn across from Fort Crailo I found a tepee and many actors in period Dutch costume:

Many booths were displaying and offering for sale artwork and other items. The vendors were friendly and happy to discuss the old Dutch settlers:

Old Dutch costumes were also for sale:

But soon after I arrived, I heard loud booms and, going to investigate, found a musket firing demonstration:

These two men were demonstrating the loading and firing of muskets, and they drew a large and interested crowd. I found it curious but not unexpected that the crowd of people fascinated by the muskets had a preponderance of men. I guess it's a gender thing:

I went right inside the tepee:

Inside the tepee was a display of bark baskets, beaver pelts and other Mohawk artifacts:

This woman dressed in Mohawk costume was explaining about it all. I remember her saying that it was especially common for Mohawk basket makers to wear beaver top hats as she was doing:

Downtown Albany was across the Hudson River. As you can see, it was a magnificent day for a Harvest Faire:

This woman in Dutch costume was caught using her cell phone and we all got a chuckle out of it, calling it her "Old Dutch Cell Phone." I'll post more about the Harvest Faire tomorrow: