One of the fun things that Tom and I get to do at Fort Frederica National Monument is help with school groups.  Ellen Provenzano is currently in charge of school groups.  Ellen wears a lot of hats in the park.  She is the bookstore manager, the archaeology specialist, and the education coordinator.  She only gets …

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When Tom and I first got to Fort Frederica National Monument, back in 2017, Tom and another volunteer built a palmetto hut.  Tom had done a lot of research and gotten permission to build the replica hut outside the grounds of the historic area.  He and Randy Benefield spent several weeks collecting the materials and …

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One of our favorite parts of being at Fort Frederica National Monument is living in Volunteer Village.  There are five RV pads in the compound, which means that there can be as many as ten volunteers living and working together.  It is our Georgia community and we all enjoy each other very much. Although Tom …

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Tom and I stopped at Reconstruction Era National Historical Park on our way back to Georgia for our second go-round at Fort Frederica National Monument this year.  Reconstruction Era is located in Beaufort, South Carolina.  I got all the stamps for South Carolina parks when we worked at Kings Mountain National Battlefield in 2016.  But …

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Last week I wrote about our ice storm and this week I will describe cleaning up after the ice storm.  The ice storm happened on Wednesday, January 22.  Wednesday we weren’t allowed to do anything because of safety issues.  Thursday the safety officer, Ranger Chad, and Ranger Margot did a safety assessment.  Then Ranger Margot …

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On January 22, St. Simons Island was hit by an ice and snow storm.  Most of the country has been in the deep freeze, including the south.  Temperatures all month have been the coldest we have ever experienced in our eight seasons on the island.  I know it has been super cold in Ohio as …

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Last week the Wesley College Ministry from the University of Arkansas came to do a service project at Fort Frederica.  The University of Arkansas is one large university with many different campuses scattered throughout the state.  Each one has a Wesley College Ministry group to reach out to the college students.  Usually the campus ministers …

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Tom I are back at Fort Frederica National Monument for an eighth season.  Our return to Fort Frederica was up in the air for a long time this year.  We had not planned on returning in 2025.  I was ready for a winter change, and we were confident we would be volunteering at De Soto …

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As a final stop before going home, Tom and I headed to Big Bone Lick State Park in Kentucky.  This was the final campout of the season arranged by Sandy Shaw and the first that any of us were doing without her.  We arranged with Eric Shaw, and Steve and Amy Winstead, to join them …

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The last national park site we visited on this trip was Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Lincoln City, Indiana.  Abraham Lincoln lived on this farm along Pigeon Creek from the time he was 7, in 1816, until 1830 when the family moved to Illinois.  The years at the homestead along Pigeon Creek were instrumental in …

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