Ringwood Manor timeline event brings 250 years of history to life

Visitors to Ringwood Manor traveled through more than 250 years of history last weekend without leaving Ringwood during the sixth annual Living History, Timeline and Encampment.

The event included costumed reenactors from the Age of Exploration to the 1970’s. Unlike most reenactments, it was not devoted to one battle or period. The timeline reenactment displayed centuries of clothing, weapons, and everyday-life vignettes side-by-side. There were costumed reenactors ranging from the Chinese pirate-, Queen Ann-, American Revolution-, and Civil War eras up to the Vietnam war.

The event was hosted by Ringwood Manor with the Royal Sussex Society – 35th Regiment of Foot. It was the brainchild of John Van Vliet who for 20 years held single-war encampments at the Manor. In 2001 he posed the timeline concept to his fellow reenactors and his idea was well received. This year there were 60 registered reenactors, traveling from as far as Delaware and Virginia, participating in one or both days.

Visitors experienced an accurate account of what life was like during each war’s period. The costumes were authentic down to the buttons and the weapons mirrored those used in the respective conflicts.

Each era’s vignette displayed a slice of the war it portrayed. For example, one vignette showed a Russian tent covering a table set with a samovar tea maker and enameled cups. These vignettes gave visitors a virtual experience of front-line camp life. The reenactors, while in character, both freely answered questions about the war and daily life and posed for photos.

There were special events through out the weekend. During the “Strut of the Centuries,” reenactors crossed the grounds in chronological order, giving spectators a visual audit of changing fashions and military equipment.

On Saturday, there was the “Nineteenth Century Baseball: from Doubleday to the American League” talk and there was a wool spinning talk and demonstration on Sunday. The North Jersey Highlands historical Society and the Hester Schuyler Colfax chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution sold books. Authentic 18th century baked goods were sold by the Georgian Kitchen.

The weekend also marked the reopening of the Manor, which had been closed for a year for interior tours after an extensive exterior restoration project. Ringwood Manor is a National Historic Landmark District and is part of the Ringwood State Park. The area was an important iron producing center and later the property became a summer estate for the Cooper-Hewitt family, whose legacy includes Cooper Union and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. The family donated the house, its contents and surrounding property to New Jersey in 1938.

Van Vliet said the importance of timeline reenactment is that it brings to life the colonization and history that shaped the U.S. from the time of Leif Eriksson to the present day.