Ste Marie to host weekend re-enactment
The fur trade era--from the 1700s to the mid 1800's---helped open the door to Westward movement in this country, and Ste. Marie among the Iroquois will be staging a re-enactment of the lifestyles of the mountain men that kept it going. Hunters and trappers would follow deer trails and rivers in search of game--those routes later became roads and railroads for settlers.
Allison Smith, the facility coordinator at the Onondaga Lake Park museum, says the men would gather in the fall to sell their year's work and buy supplies for the winter. She says that Native American women were often key to the process, because they had the skins tanning skills.
The 'encampment' will be staged Saturday and Sunday, August 14 & 15, and is free with museum admission. Many of the costumed re-enactors will also have stories to share, that help explain the mountain men's lifestyle and the part they played in developing this country's early economy. http://onondagacountyparks.com/sainte-marie
