Reenactors, historians celebrate Pennsylvania’s birthday at Bushy Run museum

Educators, craftspeople, reenactors, volunteers and visitors hoping to learn more about local history crowded the halls of the Bushy Run Battlefield Museum on Sunday.

The occasion? The state of Pennsylvania’s 343rd birthday, or “Charter Day” — the day in 1681 that Pennsylvania was named, when England’s King Charles II granted a charter to William Penn.

The celebration is marked at many Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission sites like Bushy Run Battlefield with an open house day. Admission was free Sunday for the museum at Bushy Run, and though bad weather kept activities indoors, the historical party brought the past to life for attendees who explored exhibits at the visitor center.

Though Bushy Run Battlefield is better known for its battle history, which dates to more than 80 years after the founding, in August 1763, educators found ways to incorporate multiple eras of local history, said museum manager Matt Adams.

“There’s enough in this museum that talks about more broadly, the ideas of colonial expansion and settlement, and the role of the British military in the colony here, that we’re able to connect the stuff we do here with the founding in 1681,” Adams said.

Educators and reenactors showed off their period clothing and handmade items and talked about their areas of expertise.

Leon Sam Briggs, a Tonawanda Seneca artist, explained to visitors how different beadwork items, weapons, pipes, and bags were made, and talked about Native American life in the region.

“Everything I do is out of original—I do it the old-style way,” he said.

Some of his work has been featured in documentaries, he added.

Dan Balzarini, a reenactor with Proctor’s Militia in Hannastown, said he teaches about multiple different eras of history.

The clothing he wears and items he carries differ by time period, he explained—his waistcoat would be a different length if he was portraying a Revolutionary War soldier as opposed to a French and Indian War soldier.

“A lot of this you have to make yourself,” he said. “You just can’t go to JCPenney and buy gaiters or britches.”

Connecting to history

Henry Bowden, a reenactor who was portraying William Penn, signed copies of the Pennsylvania charter for visitors.

Bowden said many visitors are not as aware of pre-Revolutionary War history.

“That’s where I get the opportunity to introduce myself to them and give them a little background on the history of Pennsylvania,” he said.

Nina Carey and daughters Mia and Taylor Sarpolis of Jeannette were a few of those visitors who came to Charter Day explore local history. Carey said she and her family hike at the battlefield often, but they haven’t made their way to the visitor center before.

“You grow up here, and I always tell them, there’s so much history,” she said. “This is kind of like our backyard.”

Meadow Golick, 9, came with her mom, Amanda Golick, from Irwin. The two sat down at a table with volunteers to play colonial-era children’s games.

“We’ve just come to learn about history,” Amanda said.

Meadow said her favorite activity was getting to write with a feather pen.

Events like this give people multiple ways to connect to history, Adams said.

“It’s really just about trying to reach as many different people as we can, in as many different ways as we can,” he said. “Some people respond really well to going through a quiet museum, kind of reading the displays and seeing the artifacts, and some people respond really well to seeing the reenactors, and having them kind of lifelike in front of them.”

Many volunteers at the museum first got hooked on history as kids when they explored a museum themselves, he added.

“We figure, if we do something like this and we even get one or two people to get interested in history, then that pays of generations from now,” Adams said.