Alan Hawkins portrays an 18th century civilian laborer at Fort Loudoun State Historic Area.VONORE, Tenn. – Visitors to the Fort Loudoun State Historic Area took a trip to the 18th century inside the gates of the park’s reconstructed British colonial palisade fort last weekend.
Re-enactors offered glimpses of daily life of military drill, labor and commerce that occurred within Fort Loudoun’s walls during the 1750s, dressed and armed as garrison soldiers and craftsmen as well as their Cherokee neighbors.
“I do it out of a natural love for American history and a natural love to help educate others about it,” said Alan Hawkins, who portrayed a South Carolina construction worker who helped build the French and Indian War-era fort.
The park staff and volunteers who conduct Fort Loudon’s Garrison Weekends spoke with curious visitors about the period clothes they wear, the tools they use and the activities they perform.
The hourly demonstrations of musketry and artillery made for lively and loud ways for visitors to understand the fort’s ultimate duty – to establish a British military outpost in the American frontier to contest the influence of the French and their tribal allies.