Civil War Day at Historic Oak View Park in Raleigh, NC

 

In the event you didn't know I am a Civil War amateur historian! Amateur because I don't know as much as I'd like to know and historian only because I have quite a library of books that deal with the Civil War and Civil War era!  Still doesn't mean I know a lot! :-)  In May, Carol and I went to Civil War Day at Historic Oak View Park here in Raleigh.  The main house on the property has been  recorded to have been built around 1829.  Picture below:

I don't have a more recent picture of the house which has been renovated and used as executive offices and most often you don't get to go very far into the house.  However, Carol and I are very familiar with the inside of the house because Carol's sister, Donna and here family lived there from

 1983-1988.  Donna's husband, Paul was paid by the county to be caretaker of the property.  There was a summer kitchen behind the house which serves to display exhibits today.  There was a big barn which has since been torn down and the grounds overgrown with plant life has been cleaned up and additional buildings have been built for exhibits and tours.   Both nieces, Debbie and Julie have visited the main house in the past couple years and were able to share with the people at the house their experiences of their life when they lived in the house. Now onto Civil War Day...

 

The picture below is a picture of Brenda McKean who had this trivia exhibit on poster board!



Ms. McKean wrote 2 books:

 

Blood and War at my Doorstep Vol. 1

Much has been written about the military aspects of the American Civil War, but the civilian perspective is much less represented.  Ms. McKean has published years worth of research to bring us the civilian perspective from letters and diaries throughout the country in Volume 1. 

 

Blood and War at my Doorstep Vol. 2: North Carolina Civilians in the War Between the States,

Ms. McKean deals primarily with the impact of the Civil War on North Carolina civilians mostly

through the eyes of women.

 

I am so excited to have been able to buy these books from Ms. McKean and have her autograph them for me!  These are thick books with small font and supply loads of interesting information!

 

Below are some pictures I took of the "soldiers" on the grounds. You may notice that there are both Confederate and Union soldiers.  I guess they didn't have enough to play war!  Wouldn't it be nice if the world could play this way and work together instead of going to war?

 

 

And here's a little video: