By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
Celebrating Bucyrus’ past during the present, the Bucyrus Historical Society took over a block of town on Saturday to celebrate Historical Day.
Opening their doors to the public to view relics of a begotten time, the Bucyrus Historical Society’s Bucyrus Historical Day began at 11 am and lasted until 3 pm.
Beverly Whaley explained what was going on in the museum for Bucyrus Historical Day.
“We have two exhibits that changed – one is a red, white, and blue exhibit, and these are some jewelry coffins that our curator brought in from her collection,” Whaley said.
While numerous collections were on display inside the Bucyrus Historical Museum, outside of the walls a familiar face from Crawford County’s past took up an encampment, as Mark Cory portrayed the county’s namesake Colonel William Crawford, displaying what 18th century life was like.
“Several of us are of the original group. George Heider and his wife, Julie, and my wife Tami, and Ron Sanders is not here, but we are all members of a national organization of Revolutionary War Reenactors, so it gave us the opportunity to reinterpret a local Revolutionary site, which you don’t usually associate to Crawford County, Ohio, and we have two of them,” Cory said.
Cory noted what his troupe was doing at the historical day event.
“Interpreting the story of life in the 18th century, both military and civilian, and we also interpret the Crawford Campaign of 1782,” he said.
Cory explained what he enjoyed most about re-enacting.
“Teaching. I am a retired history teacher, but re-enacting is a way to teach from the weapons of the time period, to the tactics of the time period, to the herbology of the time period. We have 18th century games today,” Cory said.
“And the politics of the time,” Heider added.
“And politics of the time,” Cory repeated as he went into character. “We need to separate ourselves from that King of England. George the III is a tyrant.”
“So we cover the entire period of history from 1770-1783,” Cory finished.
Visiting the encampment with his family was Jeremy West.
“We were in town on vacation, and we thought it would be pretty fun to come by and see some of the past and experience a little bit of it,” West said.
West recalled what he felt was the most interesting part of the Bucyrus Historical Day.
“I think all the talk of the dress of the past, and how they did courtship was pretty fun,” West explained.
Encampments and museum pieces weren’t the only things to view at the Bucyrus Historical Day as various modes of classic transportation were on display, including an early bicycle. Also available to the public were vendors offering up some of Bucyrus famous foods including one type of sausage which has a festival named after it.
For those who missed out on the Bucyrus Historical Day, the Bucyrus History Museum is open Mondays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. from April through the beginning of December and by appointment.