Building the Village of Bree

[jbook]

Well where to begin...Ah yes...
As you may know I am a historical reenactor. My family has owned a 160 acre farm for 16 years now and we are finally getting around to the long time vision for what the land would be used for. An 18th century settlement and fort to hold French and Indian War, Revolutionary War and 1812 reenactments and educational events.

Now...once this fort is built it will also be used for Ranger gatherings and Middle Earth events. Inside the fort there will be 2 blockhouses and possibly a cabin. One of the blockhouses will be used for the Prancing Pony. We are starting the building process this fall. I look forward to seeing you all at our first Middle-Earth gathering at the Pony.

[Jonathan B.]

Sounds very cool.

[Peter Remling]

How is it being built ? Is the family building it or is it being contracted ? If the family is doing the building, you might want to see if local historical groups or anyone here would like to volunteer their time, a day or two or a week if they have a vacation.

[jbook]

It's going to be built by us. We have a few historical reenacting friends who have expressed interest in our "Work Days". If anyone on this forum would want to help we would be glad to put you to work. All the logs will be cut from our woods.

[Greg]

I'll (hopefully) be at several of the Work Days, both as an introduction to potentially joining jbook's French and Indian War unit, as well as a Middle Earth Reenactor. If anyone else wants to come help, it'd be great! Looking forward to the Bree event especially!

[Eledhwen]

Sounds awesome. I hope it all works out as you want it to.

Too far for me I am afraid, but awesome, simply awesome project, aye.

Eledhwen

[jbook]

Here are some photos of the Fort site.
This image is looking at where the fort will sit. About 30 yards from where I took the photo is where the blockhouse will be and the well will go off to the right (as you looking at it).



This is looking down the hill into what we call "the wilderness". Thick timber and undergrowth. The undergrowth will hopefully get trampled down by the cows that will be running it this fall.


And just for fun this is our French and Indian War unit that will act as the fort garrison.

[Greg]

If the cows don't trample down that undergrowth, I'd be happy to do it for you.

[jbook]

You can follow the fort building progress here.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fort-McCa ... 3688234129

[Kiriana]

That sounds very kool

[Aaron]

This sounds fantastic! Looking forward to seeing your project completed. The land looks beautiful.

[Rhys ap Ieuan]

Good luck with this project, it sounds really great!

[Odigan]

This is of interest to me. I'm not so far as to be unable to easily make a weekend trip, and I have experience in timberframing and the skills requisite to such. My broadaxe could use some TLC, but I did coincidentally just sharpen my adze. I've got a barking spud or two around and could make more if you're going that route for log prep.

Will you be keeping us up to date on workdays here or should we consult the Facebook page?

[Greg]

I'm pretty sure Jake has plans to keep everyone up-to-date here, but it'll be posted on Facebook too. It'd be great to meet you there!

[jbook]

Yes I will be keeping everyone up to date. And just so you can kind of have an idea what this fort will finally look like here is sort of what we are going for. http://www.historicmartinsstation.com/g ... /index.htm
This fort was originally built in 1769 by Joseph Martin and was active during the Revolutionary War. Settlers coming to what was then the edge of the Frontier sought refuge here from Indian attacks.

Our Fort will be a fictional but plausible fort that will be used for French and Indian War, Revolutionary War and War of 1812. Now because of our location visitors will have to pretend we are back east in Ohio or Pennsylvania. Our goal is to bring these historical wars and historical people to the mid-west where generally speaking they have no understanding of what went on before the Civil War. And also for a place that reenactors can come and get a completely different feel for what it would have been like on the edge of civilization. Our farm is 160 acres on a dead end road. We have pasture, timber and prairie. We plan to also have a stock of heritage breed animals to place at the fort and the cabins that will surround it.

Our village of Bree events will also be a part of all of this. Because I love Tolkien I want to give all of us a place to come and have Middle-Earth events. So I will keep everyone updated on the progress and post work days and what not. Thanks for everyone's interest!