I noticed a few ghosts on the backside of the mountain lately. I used to be ending a path run, and so they have been wearing soiled grey coats, hovering close to a small hearth in a big, grassy area on the fringe of the forest. Okay, they weren’t ghosts. They have been Civil Warfare reenactors. However in the event you had by no means seen a Civil Warfare reenactment earlier than, and have been a little bit crazy from the warmth, you would possibly assume you’d stumbled upon a few apparitions.
I used to be working up and down Kennesaw Mountain, which is house to an incredible path system as we speak, however again in June of 1864, it was the positioning of a battle that marked the turning level within the Civil Warfare. Right this moment, there are cannons scattered all through the two,965-acre park, and you’ll nonetheless see the deep ditches that the troopers dug for the battle. I grew up close to the park and bear in mind discovering bullets in my yard when digging holes for my very own faux wars.
That is all a part of the attraction of rising up within the South; you reside with this historical past, together with the occasional scenario when a grown man pretends he’s a soldier from the 1800s. I grew up watching lots of of males recreate the battle of Kennesaw each summer season after I was a child. My household would stand on the sting of the sphere and watch the troopers march towards one another, firing muskets and pretending to die. Then we’d go get an old-timey household photograph taken the place we dressed like farmers.
Bizarre? Possibly. I by no means gave it a second thought after I was youthful, however seeing these two males now, dressed like apparitions from 150 years in the past, I’m intrigued. These dudes aren’t pretending to be at struggle, they’re tenting. They’d pitched a few easy A-frame tents and had their mattress rolls out. I assume they slept within the area final night time and are simply getting their day going with espresso and eggs over the fireplace.
They’ve a powerful consideration to element. Their boots look to be 150 years previous. The mugs they’re utilizing, the kettle over the fireplace, and the forged iron pan sitting on a rock…it’s all straight out of a historical past ebook. From my expertise, most of those reenactors are historians, or on the very least, historical past buffs, and being “interval acceptable” is a giant deal. My highschool historical past instructor was a reenactor, and he was a stickler for particulars, all the way down to the laces in his boots.
Not a lot has modified with tenting gear in 150 years. I imply, so much has modified. The supplies are completely different, our tents are lighter, and our garments are extra comfy, however the fundamentals are the identical. I have a look at these two guys hanging out by a hearth and I do know immediately that they’re tenting as a result of the scene doesn’t look a lot completely different than what you’d discover on a typical weekend in Pisgah Nationwide Forest as we speak. I’ve by no means felt a lot connection to the previous—I’m not a historical past buff and I don’t know a lot about my family’s historical past—however watching these males camp, doing the very same issues I do after I camp, provides me a way of kinship I’ve by no means skilled earlier than. It additionally makes me surprise in regards to the future.
What’s going to tenting gear seem like in 150 years? Will individuals even camp in 150 years? Or will the notion of sleeping outdoors underneath a skinny piece of cloth be utterly international to them, like after I watch a historic film and see individuals fetching water from a stream to cook dinner or bathe and I’m like, “Fuck that.”
Tenting is tough, and we appear to be shifting away from onerous issues at an rising price with every era. Possibly the one individuals that may camp sooner or later are historians, reenacting the observe for curious onlookers at public parks. The Future Historic Tenting Society. They’ll present up with their classic backpacks and Patagonia fleece and pitch MSR Hubba Hubba tents which were lovingly restored and sit round consuming freeze dried meals from water boiled on JetBoils. And children will ask in regards to the stoves and be amazed that campers needed to wait 90 seconds for boiling water!
“Ninety seconds! Are you able to imagine it?”
The historians will pull reproduction cans of beer out of Yeti coolers and guys will marvel at how the ice melts after 24 hours. I wager the idea of holding beer and meals on ice that melts in just some hours will appear fairly ridiculous to them due to their futuristic cooling applied sciences that use hydrogen or one thing.
“After which what? They needed to substitute the ice? Fascinating!”
Will historians additionally convey mountain bikes to reenactments? I think about that by 2125 we’ll be utilizing hoverboards for enjoyable so mountain bikes will look ridiculous. I ponder how these historians will clarify the game to the individuals gathered on the reenactment.
“Truly, mountain bikers preferred driving up hills and so they most popular trails with rocks and logs in the best way.”
Will they placed on slackline demonstrations and let children take turns pretending to stroll throughout the rope identical to campers did in 2025?
“They walked throughout ropes for enjoyable?” Youngsters will say after which snigger earlier than tapping again into the feed.
What’s going to these future historians consider Teva’s? Or trekking poles? What’s going to occur if one man exhibits as much as the 2025 reenactment with an exterior body backpack–one thing that’s previous, however not interval acceptable? Will the opposite historical past buffs give him a tough time for bringing gear from a special century?
Or possibly there gained’t be a Future Historic Tenting Society. Possibly we’ll all nonetheless be tenting in 100 years as a result of tenting is superior. I’m even prepared to wager that tenting will look the identical sooner or later, identical to it appears to be like the identical up to now. Positive, our tents will pitch themselves, and hopefully by then sleeping pads gained’t deflate in the course of the night time irrespective of how a lot cash you spend on them, however dudes will nonetheless hover round a hearth within the morning and cook dinner eggs and drink espresso and discuss how they need they’d time to camp extra typically.
Possibly tenting will likely be one of many constant through-lines of historical past, immediately recognizable it doesn’t matter what the remainder of the world appears to be like like.
