| This year, what
was known as Ghosts of Bridgeport was renamed the Bridgeport Fall
Festival to reflect a new emphasis on family activities while still
retaining docents playing rolls of historical characters at
Bridgeport. The pageant of Yankee Jim's burial leading to the
Kneebone Cemetery has been replaced by a Mountain Man encampment of
hunters and trappers of the Gold Rush era. The campers tell their
stories and answer questions about their way of life in about 1850.
The festival was an exciting day of entertainment for the whole family. Children painted more than one hundred pumpkins and took them home with them.
As many children also had their faces painted with Halloween pictures.
Music filled the air
from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., as Mountain Laurel, The Anderson Family, and the Celtic Duo played on a covered stage next to the Historic Barn.
Mountain Man (and Woman) campers told stories and answered questions from their several tents set up the night before in the grassy area next to the Visitor Center.
They also demonstrated tomahawk and knife throwing into a log-slice target, and explained the workings of their muzzle loading long rifles which they used in their hunting and trapping livelihood.
Meanwhile, others in their group took children and adults on wagon rides along the Virginia Turnpike and across the covered
bridge on Cal Rowland's horse-drawn wagon.
Three food areas were bustling with as many as 800 visitors, serving hot dogs and tamales at one, ice cream bars dipped in coverings of choice at another, and apple and pumpkin pies with coffee at a table next to the old Kneebone gas station.
In addition to docents playing historic characters from the Kneebone and Thompson families, we were privileged to have a visit by Phyllis Kingsford, real-life granddaughter of Alfred Kneebone who ran the gas station and pleasure resort upriver from the bridge.
All the normal park activities were also in full swing. Docents greeted visitors at the history table, answered questions about gold-rush era wagons in the barn, demonstrated blacksmith techniques and basket weaving, and helped children of all ages pan for gold and bottle their treasure to take home with them.
Poster contest winning entries from 5th grader Riley Moeller of Pleasant Valley School and 3rd grader Tayelor Leppek of Williams Ranch School were displayed, and the winners and their families were introduced to the crowd from the stage.
We thank
all the artists for their effort and beautiful paintings.
This pictorial report of the
event is divided into five pages as follows:
Page
1. Wagon rides,
gold panning, face painting (this page)
Page 2. Pumpkin painting, barn tours
Page 3. Animal life
booth, Visitor Center, Mountain Man (and Woman) camp
Page 4. Music
Page 5. Lunch and desert, blacksmith, live history visits,
docent high jinks
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