The Civil War Encampment - Part 1

It was billed as a Civil War Reenactment at the State Park in Massena, but I arrived when there was no fighting and only saw the encampment. Nonetheless, it was a bit of a window into a former era. I began by walking through a cluster of tents and campfires:

Folks in period costumes were showing tourists how things used to be done:

And men in Confederate uniforms were discussing battle plans:

I was slow to figure it out, but I soon realized that I had begun in the Confederate encampment. Everyone was friends, though, and there was a lot of coming and going between camps:

This tent would, it seemed, use only a candle lantern for light at night:

The battle reenactment was several hours away and many folks just sat and enjoyed the beautiful weather and scenery:

Men clustered in groups to chat and play cards:

The costumes looked very authentic to my eye:

And lots of the accessories were accurate to the period:

I came to the end of the Confederate encampment and walked through a series of canons:

I would later see the men begin dragging all the canons into battle positions, but just then I was concentrating on passing through to see the Union encampment. But I'll post about that tomorrow: