2008 Fort Frederica Living History Festival

Date: January 31, 2008
Contact: Jon Burpee, 912-638-3639

The National Park Service at Fort Frederica National Monument is pleased to announce the details of the 2008 Fort Frederica Living History Festival which occurs on February 16, 2008. This annual event commemorates the founding of Frederica in 1736 and provides a wonderful opportunity for Frederica’s visitors to actively participate in the history of the site and of colonial Georgia. Admission is free for the Festival which begins at 9 a.m. and concludes at 4 p.m.

Activities throughout the day will immerse visitors into the history of Frederica and the struggle for empire between Great Britain and Spain in the 18th Century. Volunteers from throughout the region will help the National Park Service bring this history to life. From Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, Florida Spanish soldiers will explain the Spanish side of the story while they demonstrate firing a black powder cannon. Soldiers from Fort Frederica’s volunteer regiment will portray the 42nd Regiment of Foot and explain their role in determining the future of the Colony of Georgia. From Darien, GA Scottish Highlanders in all their kilted glory will demonstrate musket firing. Volunteers from Fort Frederica’s own growing volunteer program will provide hands-on programs throughout the day.

Special programs will focus on giving children a hands-on experience with the history of Frederica. Programs include hands-on musket drills, colonial children’s games, journal making, and archaeology programs. Participants who complete all of the activities will have an opportunity to ‘enlist’ in either the British or Spanish army at the end of the day.

As part of the festival, the National Park Service is pleased to have historian and author Jud Conner lead a tour of the town of Frederica at 2 p.m. Following the tour, at approximately 3 p.m. in the Visitor Center, Mr. Conner will sign copies of his book Muskets, Knives and Bloody Marshes. Also in the Visitor Center, the Stewart-Law Baroque Trio will play period music on the cello, flute, and harpsichord from 1-3 p.m.

For further information about this event and the expanding number of programs at Fort Frederica National Monument visitors may contact the park Visitor Center at 912-638-3639.

Background: Fort Frederica National Monument is one of America’s national parks. Established in 1936 and dedicated in 1947, the park preserves the incredibly rich archaeological remains of one of Great Britain’s strongest forts in the colony of Georgia. It was on St. Simons Island in 1742 that British troops from Frederica and Darien decisively defeated Spanish Floridians in the Battles of Gully Hole Creek and Bloody Marsh. Ironically, the very battles that saved Frederica from destruction by the Spanish doomed the town and fort to ruins. Without a Spanish threat, Britain pulled Frederica’s soldiers out of the fort and the settlers left as the town’s economy suffered. All but abandoned, the town of Frederica slipped into history. Time has worn down the earthworks protecting the town, yet the ruins and foundations of the buildings remain as a visual reminder of the struggle for empire on Georgia’s coast. Today, the National Park Service, with assistance of the Fort Frederica Association and volunteers, preserve these symbols of our colonial past and share them with visitors from around the world.