It's still on. Ed and I will be there on Saturday for Battle Rd. We'll be interpreters. You can also check out
www.battleroad.org
Lynne, that's interesting. Do I know you? I'm the volunteer programs coordinator for Minute Man National Historical Park, (I have today off, BTW)and I don't recall seeing your name on any of the registrations for the two workshops we held for Battle Road Guides who are the interpreters at Battle Road. Are you part of a group that was invited to participate in Battle Road?
I've been reading a lot of misconceptions about the NPS in some posts on this thread, so, I think some clarification is in order here.
(I'm not going to concern myself with CCW in national parks- that's due to Congress- talk to them about that.)
We have to have a pretty formalized training and invitation system to participate in events at national parks because of liability concerns, and because that's what the reenactor groups who run the event want.
Also, we have to be very careful whom we let represent the American people as volunteers in a national park. No offense, but one cannot just come into a national park and start volunteering without permission, even as a reenactor. It would be like somebody coming into your work place and doing the same thing, but without your permission. You'd be liable for what happened to them on your property. And you don't know what they are saying and doing around the public.
We also have to protect the resource, the historic buildings and structures, by making sure nothing bad happens to them. If anything ever happened to the Hartwell Tavern or the William Smith House, witness houses to the birth of America, they could never be replaced.
We also get sued a lot- the big NPS arrowhead symbol is basically a giant dartboard for personal injury lawyers trying to score big bucks from fed.gov. And the taxpayers are the ones that pay for those awards, not insurance companies. Somebody last year won a lawsuit because he was volunteering in a national park without permission, and got injured in the process. That cost the taxpayers $770,000, and it's not the first, nor the last.
So, we have a training system which runs twice a year (March and November) to train reenactors to work as volunteer interpreters according to NPS rules and guidelines. They, if they have undergone the training, can also carry historic weapons such as flintlock muskets and edged weapons as part of their presentation in non-firing programs, They may not bring gunpowder or ammunition into the park, unless as part of an NPS-supervised firing program.
We also have to train folks how to use muskets in a national park. You cannot fire a gun in a national park without NPS historic weapons supervisors present nor without a pre-arranged, signed firing permit. You also cannot point guns at anybody. You can't hand your guns or weapons to the public. Portrayal of casualties is not allowed. (It is considered demeaning to the memory of the fallen- the NPS rules on this were set up by veterans of D-Day and Korea who worked in the NPS, BTW...).
We require 2f powder in rolled paper cartridges, 125 grains max in muskets, not 3f, since 3f is too reactive in a musket barrel, even without a projectile. No loading manual tells you to put 3f in a barrel wider than .50 cal. anyway. This is done to lessen potential damage in a negligent discharge. (There are NO accidental discharges with guns, as we all know...)
We also do not allow people to wander around with gunpowder on them. Case in point: reenactor, still in kit, wanders around smoking a cigarette. Tourist wants photo. Reenactor takes lit cig out of mouth, puts it in his hand by his side. Right next to his cartridge pouch......
These are public parks, and the public (and reenactors) could get hurt. And they sue, when they do get hurt. Who wants to get sued?
The national parks were not designed to be playgrounds for reenactors, but for the enjoyment and reverence of the entire American public, and to preserve and pass on to future generations the sites of significant American history. If it weren't for the NPS, the Battle Road would be condos, car dealerships and McMansions.
The NPS system must be working; nobody, since the system was set up in 1969, has lost time from work due to firearms accidents in national parks. Can most reenactors make that same claim? No. I'm a reenactor, too, and I've seen some very unsafe things in my time in the hobby. Bayonettings, powder horns exploding (right next to me....), double/triple loads, people firing flintlock muskets left-handed, flash burns, and I've been muzzle-swept more times than I can count. Just last weekend at Battle Road, some guy in the 2nd Rhde Island HANDED his musket to a kid- right in front of me. I took the gun, and told the guy, "Don't ever do that again." He knew the rules beforehand...these are real guns, and we all must treat them with respect.
In the past, the groups who ran the Battle Road event until the late 1990s used to let in everybody from Shriners with flintlocks to barefoot pirates. Chowder and marching societies abounded. It was unsafe, inauthentic, and the Battle Road event became a joke to all. Blunderbusses, rifles, cap locks, even bows and arrows (!!!). It was an utter free-for-all, a come-one, come-all event, with people who came in dressed like Yosemite Sam, who neither respected the history nor the sanctity of the birthplace of American freedom, nor were willing to operate their guns in a safe manner around the public or themselves. In short, we are no longer interested in reenacting the Bicentennial.
Those NPS safety regulations are in place because of unsafe, inauthentic reenactors, folks- don't forget that.....
Those folks who used to run Battle Road are no longer in charge, and their successor, the Battle Road Committee, has been working with the NPS to present a safer, more authentic, invitation-only event, and so far, so good. These are many of the same people who presented the glorious 225th anniversary celebrations in 2000, and we make it so they can continue to do that. Sometimes we do get uninvited people who show up as "party crashers", but we get that straightened out. (Read: they don't get to play...)
We are also working on the North Bridge event, too. It's gotten pretty hokey, to both reenactors and the public. But it's a Concord town event (they own the bridge, monuments and British soldiers' grave) so, we have many hurdles to overcome. (They better hurry up, though- the British groups are going to pull out next year, if the event on Patriots' Day at the North Bridge doesn't get any better....)
Our mission as reenactors and park rangers is to present programs that remind us all of the fact that the Battle Road is a shrine to our freedom, a military cemetery, and a battlefield as important to American history as Iwo Jima or Gettysburg. We owe those who died there no less than our best.
If anybody is interested in volunteering at Minute Man National Historical Park, please check out the contact info at http:
www.nps.gov/mima/
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