Party like a.......history geek?

On the weekend of April 19th, I had the honor to attend History Meets the Arts in Gettysburg, PA. It's an annual event that brings together artists whose work is inspired by historical events and places. Here's the scene "after hours" at the American Historical Art Gallery. Ok, there's no groupies or anything stronger than beer or wine, but it was a lot of fun. Many thanks for the hard work of gallery owners Les and Maggie!





There are very few chances for artists in this small genre to get together and socialize, network and market themselves. For relative newbies like me, it was also a valuable learning experience as well. Plus, for collectors or admirers of historical art it's a great chance to see the faces and characters (and there's some characters!) behind their favorite art. If you know an artist just from books and prints, seeing an original is, at least for me, a thrill! I guess I'm an art geek too.





And, in case you didn't know, historical art has been around for quite a while. Probably as long as people became aware of history and started producing art. In the more modern era, there's Meissonier, Detaille, Pyle, and Remington. You can also take a look at my earlier post referencing John Ward Dunsmore. There's many more than I could name here, but enough of historical historical artists. Let's look at some present historical artists.

Here's the gang at American Historical Art Gallery on Saturday night. Below are links to their work in order from left to right, so have a look:

Bradley Schmehl

Mark Maritato

Dan Nance

Ron Tunison

Jaime Cooper

Tom Gallo

Randy Groves

Yours Truely

Keith Rocco

So, keep an eye on the History Meets the Arts website for details about next year. It's great time to visit Gettysburg - before the big summer rush! There's B and B's galore, great shopping in a vibrant downtown and at outlets, some darn good restaurants, museums up the wazoo (including a brand new visitor's center), ghost tours, and even a picturesque battlefield. Throw in scads of history geeks and you have yourself a pretty good weekend, no?

There a so many ways to have your brush with history!

Another Battle of Monmouth

Things have been a little crazy lately and I meant to get to this post sooner. Today's picture is a detail of a gouache illustration I started a while ago and never finished. The fate of this painting remains uncertain.

So too does the fate of Monmouth Battlefield State Park in New Jersey. A few weeks ago it was numbered among the 9 state parks our Governor chose to close citing budget issues. Never mind that it's like throwing nickels at a multi-million dollar problem. I'll restrain from further political commentary.

There is a greater emotional issue here, especially for a history geek. We all have our favorite historic places where we can almost feel the history. Monmouth is such a place for me. Ancient American Indians frequented the place, and during our Civil War three regiments of infantry trained for war there. On June 28, 1778, in unbearable heat, the American Colonial forces met the British army in a set-piece, European style scrap known as The Battle of Monmouth. Tactically it was a draw. But the Continental Army under Washington had undergone the crucible of Valley Forge and the new training methods of Baron Von Steuben. It had emerged as a truely professional military force. The way it performed at Monmouth gave it and its commander a new level of confidence. Then there was the famous Molly Pitcher who took her man's place at one of the American guns that thundered across the New Jersey farmland.

I've spent serious blood, sweat and tears there myself. For many years my reenactment unit staged a Civil War event there to raise awareness of Camp Vredenberg. We had endless work party weekends at the park for preparation. We cut down trees and split the logs for firewood (one poor fellow nearly lost the use of his leg in a chainsaw accident). We rarely slept during the weekend of the event. It seemed like planning for the next years event started just days after the present years event was over. We cleared brush at the Civil War training camp site. Even our monthly meetings were held in the vistors center there. That kind of dedication extented to the under staffed park Rangers too. I can't say enough about them.

It was all worth it too. We pulled in anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000 each year. Although it is a state park, that land belongs to all Americans as part of their history. We were proud of the work we did there. So many others have pitched in as well. Year after year there's the Revolutionary War reenactment, and the work of BRAVO, the Battlefield Restoration and Archaeological Volunteer Organization. People care about that place.

With the stroke of a pen, it can all be undone. Not without a fight though. A protest is planned at the state capitol this month and already the Governor is backing off. If you have any other information on how to keep up the pressure, I would invite you to post them here as comments.

New Jersey has already paved over too much of its history. History geek, yes. History meek, no. Keep up the fight.

New BEERs Eve, 1933

I'll be making a more serious entry in the next couple of days regarding the possible closing of an important historic site here in New Jersey. But for now, happy New Beers Eve!

On April 7th, 1933 it became legal once again, to quaff a frosty one. 75 years ago today. I plan on celebrating, and you should too. There's a lot of history behind beer. If you can find it, there's a wonderful article in the latest issue of the Mid-Atlantic Brewing News covering that momentous occasion. If you like beer like I do (I'm talking about craft beer here, not mass market yellow water), then you'll love the publication.

Before someone jumps on me, yes I know prohibition was repealed on December 5th, 1933 but the Volstead Act was modified to make beer and wine legal on April 7th (The Cullen-Harrison Act). The country went nuts. Abner Drury's Brewery sent a truck load of beer to the White House at 12:05. Try doing that today! As a matter of fact, the White House received beer from all over the country. Most of it would have been green - no, not like beer tinted with food coloring on St. Pat's - but rather, not quite finished lagering yet. But hey, it tasted better than that nasty near beer and had 3.2% alcohol in it. In New York, Anheuser-Busch sent a 5 ton truck pulled by 6 Clydesdales to the Empire State building. What a party it must have been.

It's hard to imagine a country without the oldest alcoholic beverage in the world. Chemical traces of it show that beer has been around since around 3300 BC. Popular drink, huh? But, for 14 years, you couldn't drink it legally here in the United States. Barbaric. People got so thirsty for a brewski, that the Democratic Platform of 1932, which got FDR elected, included the repeal of Prohibition! The Beer candidate. Brilliant! I'd have voted for him.


So, do yourself a favor and go get a six pack of real craft beer - I know it's almost 10 bucks a six pack, but today is special - and drink a toast to the fact that Prohibition is, well, history!

Beer geek, meet history geek. Cheers!