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BIG POOL, MD – The Maryland Park Service and Friends of Fort Frederick State Park will host the 18th-Century Market Fair at Fort Frederick State Park beginning Thursday, April 24 and running through Sunday, April 27 to highlight historic life at the fort between 1730 and 1790.
“In its fourteenth consecutive year, the Fair offers families a wonderful way to travel back in time and simultaneously enjoy the outdoors,” said Fort Frederick Historian Steve Robertson.
Visitors to the Fair will encounter more than 150 talented artisans, craftspeople and vendors selling reproductions of 18th-century items, including furniture, clothing, guns, powder horns and hunting bags. Most of the goods for sale are handmade by the vendors themselves, and many of these individuals, known as sutlers, will demonstrate their crafts.
New this year, Faire Wynds will entertain with music, magic, and comedy. Signora Bella, a slack rope walker, and Robert Mouland, a musician, will also be performing. Live firing demonstrations of period weapons and18th-century life in the fort amidst an encampment will be executed by re-enactors. Interpreters will present continuous living history programs within the historic fort walls. The Market Fair will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day and admission is $4 per person. Children six and under will be admitted free of charge.
Maryland’s premier stone fort, Fort Frederick was built by the Colony of Maryland in 1756 to protect its western boundaries and as a base to attack French claims to the Ohio River Valley. In 1922, the fort was recognized as a state park, in Maryland’s first state park legislation. Currently Fort Frederick is an educational center for the study of the French and Indian War. Fort Frederick was refurbished during the 1930’s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the park houses a CCC Museum.
For more information, visit www.dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/western/fortfrederick.html or call the park at 301-842-2155.
would like to register for 18th century market fair & rifle frolic in April of 2010