I hope you had a wonderful 4th of July. I had an exciting day celebrating Americas 250 here at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. (Yes, I know there should be an apostrophe there but WordPress is difficult about apostrophes.)
Cumberland Gap had a big day of living history planned for Americas 250. It was supposed to be a timeline of the gap through American history. But the only living history outfits we have are either colonial or Civil War, so it was mostly about those two periods. I was going to cook over the fire and Tom was going to blacksmith and give a flag talk. Other rangers and volunteers would do flag talks, lead colonial games, do whitesmithing, candlemaking, and have firing demonstrations.
We had been talking about weather for a week as the eastern half of the United States was under a huge heat dome. The park is required to cancel events that might put visitors in dangerous situations. A heat index of 95 and above is considered too hot for strenuous activity like a hike. The rangers and volunteers, on the other hand, are allowed to do demonstrations no matter what the heat index is. They must figure we are covered under workers’ comp if we have a problem.
Saturday was supposed to be really hot, but not above the 95 heat index until 1 or 2 p.m. We all came to work that morning at 8 a.m. and proceeded to get everything set up. We put out the 50 state flags and the Civil War regimental flags. Tom set up his forge. I hauled out my food prep stuff and Ranger Brittony got a good fire going. Ranger Lucas and I were outside talking about the setup while everyone else went back in for another load.
Suddenly, KABOOM, BA-BOOM, BA-BOOM! There was a huge flash of lightning just over the Visitors Center with the thunder immediately following. Ranger Lucas and I dashed into the Visitors Center just before it started pouring down rain. Visitors who had arrived early followed us in. We weren’t going to make them stand outside in a thunderstorm.
Ranger Layton was in charge of the event and we all urged him to let us set up what we could inside. But he was sure that the rain was going to let up any minute. Rain had not been in the forecast and we never even considered it in our many discussions about weather. Finally, after an hour while the rain continued to pound, with thunder and lightning all around, he told us to set up what we could inside.
After some discussion, Rangers Brittony and Neveah decided to make lunch in the Visitors Center kitchen. I was supposed to do the cooking, but I am the only one who can open the textile room upstairs so they wanted me up there. They listened to my directions carefully and then set to work. I went upstairs to the textile room with Ranger Kymberlyn. Volunteers April and Wyatt set up colonial games upstairs. Bat intern Audrey had a table with information about bats. Interns Rosie, Marty, and Kaylie filled in where needed.
And that is all I know about what went on that day. The rain stopped around noon and they there were flag talks and firing demonstrations outside. Up in the textile room I talked all day. I talked to almost 200 people about how the frontier women made cloth. Ranger Kymberlyn talked. April and Wyatt played never-ending games. I only left the room when Ranger Neveah appeared. The first time she came up was to tell me to go eat some lunch. The second time was when the Visitors Center was closing and she had to kick out the 20 people still in my room.
Ranger Kymberlyn, April, and I all looked at each other and slumped with exhaustion. Wyatt (who is 11) had stuck with the games until 2, at which point he was worn out and disappeared. By the time I made it back downstairs, all the flags were put away and all the dishes were done in the kitchen. Most of the stew was gone and all of the honey cake.
The way we celebrated Americas 250 at Cumberland Gap seemed to me to be a microcosm of the way our country should be. We all have our jobs, but when circumstances change, people step up and help each other. Very few of us ended up doing exactly what we had planned, but the visitors never knew it. It was a great day packed with people enjoying and celebrating what our country means to them.