Vermont Historic Sites Celebrate Bennington Battle Day

08/07/2009

Erica Houskeeper  802-828-0528

BENNINGTON, Vt. – A full day of activities at the Bennington Battle Monument on Saturday and Sunday August 15th and 16th highlight the celebrations marking the anniversary of the Revolutionary War battle.

Sunday August 16th is Bennington Battle Day and the Monument and all State Historic Sites are free to the public for the day, including special events at several sites.

“We are very excited to present these free programs on Bennington Battle Day,” said Mary Lou Chicote, Regional Historic Site Administrator. “We hope Vermonters and visitors will take advantage of this opportunity to see not only the Battle Monument, but all of our wonderful sites.”

The events at Bennington begin on Saturday morning with the 5th annual Battle Day 5K Race; registration begins at 8:00 a.m. 

The race will get underway at 9:30 a.m. with cannon fire, and will follow a mostly flat course from the Monument down Walloomsac Road to the airport and back.

The weekend events include an encampment with military drills, fife and drum music, musket demonstrations and scenes of camp life by Revolutionary War Living History re-enactors on the Monument grounds.

The Living History encampment will be headed by David H. Bernier Sr., who is both the chairman of the Department of American Revolutionary War Interpretation, and the Major General of the group’s 25th Continental Regiment of re-enactors.

“The re-enactors really bring the past to life,” Chicote said. “It’s a great way for young and old to learn about the history of our nation right from the source.”

Built to commemorate the August 16th, 1777 Battle of Bennington, the monument opened to the public in 1891, some four years after construction began in 1887. 

The 306-foot obelisk was constructed on the site of a Continental military storehouse.  Driven by a need for ammunition, food and arms, British General John Burgoyne attacked Bennington in an effort to capture the storehouse, only to be defeated by General John Stark and Colonel Seth Warner leading the Green Mountain Boys.

Along with the encampment will be demonstrations on the Art of the Carved Powder Horn with Peter Sansone and Herbs in colonial America with Virginia Meyer.

The re-enactors camp will open at 9 a.m., and the first musket firing demonstrations will take place at 10 a.m. and be repeated several times during the day.

There will be military drills and games for children; cannon firings; and demonstrations featuring Revolutionary-era clothing, camp life and cooking as well as a march with fife and drum music from the Monument to the Old First Church.

The Living History Association events are free and open to the public. The entrance fee for the Battle Day 5K Race is $15 on race day and $12 for those who pre-register.

Mount Independence in Orwell is offering a free program entitled John Stark: Hero of the Battle of Bennington on Sunday, August 16 at 1:00 p.m.

Karl Crannell, from Ticonderoga, New York, and author of the book for youth, John Stark:  Live Free or Die, tells the fascinating story about the life of the hero of the Battle of Bennington. 

Stark was a commander of one of the three brigades at Mount Independence and commanded at the successful Battle of Bennington.  Before that he served with Robert Rogers in the French and Indian War and was in charge of completing the Crown Point Road across Vermont in 1759.  

Also on Sunday, August 16, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. the Justin Morrill State Historic Site in Strafford will present a canning workshop entitle Preserves to Pickles: Yes We Can! The skills and techniques that our grandparents and great-grandparents routinely used to store foods will be taught as gardener Tina Tuckerman will lead a program on food preservation, canning, pickling, freezing, jam making & more. Cost is $8.00.

At 1:00 p.m. on the third Sunday of each month – including August 16 – the Hubbardton Battlefield site offers a special program as site interpreter Carl Fuller, dressed in period attire, brings a resident of 1777 back to life to talk about the Revolutionary War battle of Hubbardton; what it was like to live in the path of war; and about everyday life in the earliest days of the Republic of Vermont.

Finally, the Chimney Point State Historic Site in Addison offers special weekend afternoons through the season. 

Every Sunday afternoon, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. until October 11 is the “Sunday Afternoon Special,” when the site interpreter will exhibit ancient stone tools and demonstrate how to use an atlatl, an ancient spear-thrower. 

Visitors can also enjoy exploring the artifact cart, playing period games, or other fun activities.

For more information about these events, visit www.HistoricVermont.org/sites.