And Now, For Something Completely Different, Part I

This past weekend my hometown historical society had its annual spring event, and for the first time, the inside of the town's Revolutionary era Dill Tavern is now furnished. Renovations are still going on, but the building finally looks like a tavern again. This splendid old place spent way too many years in terrible disrepair, under the ownership of a variety of people, most of whom wanted to sell it to developers who wanted to knock it down.

The historical society tried for years to buy this old taven, without success, but through a long and amazing series of events and huge and unexpected donations of cash, they finally were able to purchase it. Since then this small local group has put every dollar they can find into the place. All kinds of craftsmen and workers have volunteered and put their time and effort into it. It's taken years to get to this point, and now a little celebration is in order.

A group of Revolutionary War reenacters were invited, and they set up camp in the tavern yard. Fortunately the weather was good for the encampment. The kids seemed to like this part a lot and weren't shy about talking with the reenacters.

Some of the tents were very well appointed, with trunks and clocks and beds, etc. This isn't my usual style of camping, which involves freeze-dried food and a large backpack. Of course, they don't carry their gear themselves. They have horses for that.

Yes, that's a young girl napping on a cot in her tent. This tent has almost all the amenities of my cabin, with a better clock. And a nice trunk, as well. Anyway, it looks pretty comfortable. She has more clothes than I take when I go camping too.

The tavern records that survive don't include the time that George Washington was wandering around the countryside, but we do know that George spent a night in a tavern up the road and several days later spent a night in a tavern down the road, and that Dill Tavern was then the only place in between, so it's not a big stretch to guess that the father of the country might have spent the night in between here.

The weekend included a lot of activites, displays and good food. Tomorrow I'll post some pictures from the inside of the tavern and the exhibitors who attended. Unless something really exciting happens at the cabin, which so far this week has been unusually quiet.


This man was cooking something on his little fire that smelled really good. His tent didn't have a cot or a trunk a clock, just some wool blankets on the ground. I don't think his wood chair is regulation Revolutionary War era either, but I doubt that many people noticed.

Tomorrow: the inside of the tavern