History Comes Alive at Two Local Events

Pioneer families didn't battle other pioneer families for iPads or big-screen LCD TVs during Black Friday sales at local mercantile. Yes, things are not the way they used to be.

The Historic Fort Steilacoom Museum Association is offering its annual Christmas at the Fort next weekend. Reenactors will present a period candle-light Christmas in the four remaining officers’ quarters to provide a glimpse at what life was like when the West was being won.

The event will provide a time-traveling experience back to the days of family, friends and political discussions of the ever-changing world at the dawn of the Industrial age.

This living history event will have pioneer children’s craft activities. Fiddlers will play, hoop-skirted belles will dance and soldiers will lament about their life in the Army while their commanders will chatter about their lives back East.

Fort Steilacoom is located on the grounds of Western State Hospital. The event will run from 4 to 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 10. Adult tickets are  $5, children are $3, and family passes are $10.

For a history lesson before the event, people may want to check out the Civil War discussion series set to start at 7 p.m. today at the University Place Library branch. The library will provide all materials at the orientation, including the following books for discussion: “America’s War: Talking about the Civil War and Emancipation on their 150th Anniversaries,”  “Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam” and “March”

Professor William Breitenbach will lead the discussions and serve as the local project scholar. He teaches U.S. history from the colonial period through the Civil War at the University of Puget Sound. 

The program is being offered after the Pierce County Library System received a $3,000 grant from the American Library Association and the National Endowment for the Humanities to host Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War. Pierce County Library joins a total of 65 public libraries nationwide receiving grants to host the series, which will encourage participants to consider the legacy of the Civil War and emancipation.

The series will run through May. Registration is free but required. People may sign up at the library or by calling (253) 548-3307. The University Place Pierce County Library is located at 3609 Market Place W.