By Lindsey Rowland
lrowland@wbcowqel.com
The forest surrounding Lowe-Volk Park was full of ghosts this weekend. Drifting between the trees, light as shadows, were the images of men from time gone by, bringing viewers into a reverie that was snapped as soon as gunpowder was fired out of their muzzle loaders and history took solid form, coming to life before the eyes of all who came out to the Crawford Park District’s annual Living History Celebration.
Each year, the first weekend in June commemorates the capture of Col. William Crawford, with this year marking 245 years since our county’s namesake was apprehended by Native Americans in the very same spot where the reenactment took place. Players from both the Crawford Park District and the Colonel Crawford Company dressed their parts on either side of the conflict, with Crawford and his men walking into the woods to the tribe that was waiting to ambush them. After a brief battle, here fought with guns that shot loud blanks into the air, Crawford’s company is killed and Crawford and his companion, Dr. John Knight, were captured and taken back to the Indians’.
History tells us that Crawford, with Knight looking on, was tortured and burned at the stake in retaliation for the Gnadenhutten Massacre that had occurred earlier that year, during which over 100 innocent, peaceful Christian Native Americans were killed in the attack orchestrated by Colonel Williamson, Crawford’s Second in Command. Though Crawford was innocent, his life was taken. Knight, however, was able to escape and record the story, which would go on to inspire the naming of Crawford County.
For this event, Colonel Crawford was played by Mark Cory, a retired Colonel Crawford history teacher and reenactor since 1990. He helped to form the Colonel Crawford Company ten years ago as a means to interpret and promote the site where, exactly 233 years ago, this marker in history took place.
“To be able to portray him, even though it’s a tragic story, is to bring history alive for the community,” Cory says, “The fact that this is a Revolutionary War site is one of the best kept secrets in this area…we want to celebrate our Revolutionary War history and this gives us the opportunity to do just that.”
The reenactment of Crawford’s end wasn’t the only element celebrated at the Living History Celebration; the schedule also boasted a myriad of moments such as demonstrations with period weapons, 18th century women’s life, candle dipping, blacksmithing, flint knapping, and military drills. The lawn of the Nature Center was bustling with vendors, selling everything from hand-crafted instruments to herbs, and visitors, all in period costumes, providing everyone present a chance to step back in time.
When asked about the importance of the event, park director Bill Fisher responded out of a passion to preserve such important happenings for generations to come. He said, “That history is so important to us, it’s the name of our county, and more than that, it capsulizes a lot of what was going on at that time in our history when there was that tension between settlers, Indians, British, French and to have those important historical things happen right here, we have to teach our youth, and this is one good way to do it and it’s a great family event.”
For more information on happenings at Lowe-Volk Park, head to the www.crawfordparkdistrict.org and keep eyes peeled for Colonel Crawford Company events to take place in the fall, namely at Malabar Farm’s Heritage Day.