Katie Gentry, 4, of Groveton, Texas, poses for her father, Jeremy Gentry, behind a cutout outside the Tunnel Hill Heritage Center Museum.IF YOU GO• What: Battle of Tunnel Hill reenactment• When: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 6-7; battles begin at 2 p.m. each day• Where: Clisby Austin House, 2154 Clisby Austin Road, Tunnel Hill, Ga.• Admission: $10 ages 13 and older• Phone: 706-876-1571• Website: www.tunnelhillheritagecenter.com
The 150th anniversary reenactment of the Battle of Tunnel Hill, re-creating the Northwest Georgia clashes that preceded Union Gen. William T. Sherman's March to the Sea, will be held this weekend in Tunnel Hill, Ga.
The staging site is the grounds of the Clisby Austin House, where Sherman, during his occupation of Tunnel Hill, set up his headquarters and planned his Atlanta Campaign.
The site will open at 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 6-7, to allow visitors to tour the grounds and get a feel for what life was like in the encampments 150 years ago. Battle reenactments begin at 2 p.m. each day.
Fifth- and sixth-graders from Whitfield County schools and some home schools, will visit Friday, Sept. 5, to get a sneak peek of the activities, which will include cavalry attachment, squad of musketeers, cannoneers, medical tent and women in period clothing doing weaving and other civilian-type activities from the 1860s. Visitors also will be able to tour the historic tunnel, Heritage Center Museum and General Store.
The annual ball will be held Saturday night, and the women will have a tea that afternoon. Food vendors will also be set up on-site.
In a news release, Tunnel Hill Historical Foundation President Boyd Whitfield said spectator attendance is often weather-dependent - from a low of 3,000 to as many as 8,500 over the weekend.