Last Saturday Fort Frederica National Monument had a very rainy Colonial Day. Colonial Day is our biggest event of the year and we usually have close to 1,000 visitors between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. The weather forecast had called for rain all day with up to an inch of accumulation. Although we were concerned …
From National Parks
Roofing the Blacksmith’s Shop
Over the last couple of weeks, Tom and Denise and Bob Verba have been roofing the blacksmith’s shop. When Tom and I first came to Fort Frederica National Monument in 2017 there was no blacksmith living history program. Our first year here, Tom did a soldier talk or a musket-firing demonstration. After working at San …
Dedication of the Archaeology Education Lab
Last Thursday Fort Frederica National Monument had the dedication of the Archaeology Education Lab building. I mentioned the building being one of the changes at Fort Frederica. The building was a dream come true for Archaeologist Education Volunteer Ellen Provenzano and for Ranger Michael Siebert. When Michael first started working here seven years ago, he …
Sixth African American Festival
On February 18, Fort Frederica National Monument hosted its sixth African American Festival. Tom and I have participated in all of them. They all kind of blur together at this point because they are all the same. Only the players change from year to year. I have worked at the Gullah Geechee Heritage Corridor tent …
Intern Sierra Takes the Wheel
Sierra Sutton is one of our awesome interns here at Fort Frederica National Monument. She is the Student Conservation Association Archaeology intern. Her primary responsibility is working with students in the archaeology program. Her boss is Ranger Michael, who used to be our boss before he got promoted to being Resource Manager. When she mentioned …
Ranger Jamieson Learns to Weave
During the two months I have been at Fort Frederica National Monument, Ranger Jamieson has been learning to weave. Ranger Jamieson is a young ranger who is trained as an archaeologist. She was hired at Fort Frederica to work with the archaeology program. But she really enjoys the living history program as well and has …
Rangers Do Living History Too!
This year has been a first for us at Fort Frederica National Monument: the rangers do living history with us. For the previous five years, just the RV volunteers have done living history. Which sometimes means just Tom and I. Tom and I would be the only ones doing living history this year, except that …
Changes Going On Around Here
When we returned to Fort Frederica National Monument this year, we notices that there are some changes going on around here. This is the only park that we have worked at more than once, so it is hard to say whether changes are normal in the National Park Service. But, after years of talking about …
Renovated Fort Frederica Visitors Center
The Visitors Center at Fort Frederica was renovated over the last year. The newly redesigned Visitors Center opened in October and we have been enjoying showing it off to visitors. Tom and I helped with the planning of the redesign, but it is hard for me to imagine what a space is going to look …
Writing Other Duties as Assigned
One of the reasons Tom and I did not volunteer at a national park this last summer was because I wanted to finish writing a book. I always have several outlines for books going but it seems like I never have time to write them. Or, I start writing them, do about 100 pages, and …