A Wonderful Weekend

The 2018 field crew enjoying a ride
 in a birchbark canoe.

Hello Fort followers, it’s Meghan! After a wonderful weekend on the floodplain I am back with an update of the Open House!

Overall, I would say the Open House was a huge success even with the intense heat. We had just about 800 attendees in the 90+ degree weather. Throughout the weekend attendees could enjoy eight wet screening demonstrations; six colonial dances; eight historical walking tours; four French sing-alongs; multiple living history demonstrations; multiple discussions from Dr. Michael Nassaney and Cathrine Davis, MA; and FREE canoe rides! Also, the staff and students all had a wonderful time discussing the excavated units, our findings from this field season and our “ghost structure”.

As attendees walked down reenactor alley it was as though they were transported to the eighteenth century. The reenactors were demonstrating colonial baking and cooking; eighteenth century fishing; colonial dancing and music; blacksmithing; coopering; quill writing; and Jesuit priest and voyageur life! Cathrine Davis, our guest speaker, even took some time to demonstrate laundering. As guests continued to walk down towards the site they were greeted by Dr. Terry Martin and Fernwood Nature Preserve. Dr. Terry Martin, the zooarchaeologist for the Project, was discussing animal identification and had an array of animal remains displayed. Farther down the site, our “Technology Then and Now” banners were exhibited along with our artifact cases. This Open House we had a special artifact case completely dedicated to lead seals, due to the larger quantity of lead seals we have recovered this field season!

Open House guests observing
a reenactor use a spinning wheel. 

The Open House is the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project’s opportunity to share our findings with the public and we are more than happy to invite the public into our world. As a long-term, multidisciplinary, community-based project, it is one of our major goals to have the public not only visit but become engaged and involved in our research. For example, the construction of our “ghost structure” would not have been possible without the help and support of the community.

Thank you so much for a successful weekend! We look forward to seeing you all at the 2019 Open House!

Meghan