My roommate Emily and I took part in some of these events happening around the city. The first of which was at Fort York. Unfortunately, the carship Enterprise did not actually accompany us to Fort York, merely to the nearest subway station. So, in fact, you might call our excursion to Fort York an . . . away mission. Neither of us had ever been to Fort York, but had always wanted to go and when I found out that there would be re-enactments, vintage things to buy, tours and that it was free - well - it sounded like the perfect time to explore all there was to see.
Fort York itself is a good size but when you take the fort with the land surrounding it, the city has actually set aside a good chunk of land for this piece of history. Everything about the place makes you feel like you have been thrown back a couple of centuries and, if it were not for the fact that the Toronto skyline (including the CN Tower), is right outside the walls, it would be possible that you had actually gone back in time. With the aid of a DeLorean, of course.
There were lots of people walking about in period dress, vendors selling items from the period and "soldiers" re-enacting battles. We saw one re-enactment. The Americans won (booo!!!) but it was fascinating to watch the battle strategy that the two sides followed. I have frequently read about their method of reloading while other lines fire, and so on, but it is another thing entirely to actually witness people demonstrating it. They were also using canons and every time one fired the ground literally shook, and that was just with blanks. Imagine if they were using real shot!
The parade after the battle.
Dancing from hundreds of years ago was so much more civilized and beautiful than it is now. The forms were so graceful and an air of chivalry and politeness permeates every aspect of the dance. I am glad to see that this form of dancing does survive in some form in line dancing and Irish dancing. At least we aren't all just awkwardly swaying from side to side, stiff as pokers, with our arms clasped about a partner's neck (I think back to my high school dancing days).
There were several tents set up with people hawking their wares. One of the best tents was manned by a woman (or should I say womaned by a woman?) who sold swords, muskets, compasses, sextants, scarves and writing utensils. I was absolutely thrilled when I found a bosun's whistle and bought it on the spot. A bosun's whistle, for those of you who are as yet unenlightened, is, according to the dictionary is, "A high-pitched whistle used by a boatswain for giving signals." The definition makes it sound so very boring, but, in reality, it is much less dull. When I think of a bosun's whistle I think of such Napoleonic war films as Master and Commander and Horatio Hornblower, where, whenever something would happen, such as the captain coming aboard, the bosun would blow his whistle. As an interesting side note, in the original Star Trek series, original as in the first Star Trek series done between 1966 - 1969, whenever Kirk flips one of those multi-coloured switches on his chair to speak to the crew it makes a whistling noise identical to the bosun's whistle. A nice nod to ancient days and ancient ways.
Some of the lovely things that were for sale.
Emily was made deliriously happy when she found a stick of sealing wax for only $1.00. She loves to write letters and seal them in the old-fashioned way with a seal containing her initials. Therefore, she is always on the look-out for interesting writing utensils and supplies for her letter writing.
The buildings were open to explore and it was fascinating to be able to go in and see all the nooks and crannies. I found one of the most interesting buildings to be the barracks. The wooden bunk-beds looked enormously uncomfortable and people were short! I am no giant myself (standing at the very respectable height of 5'4") but I don't think the beds would have been much longer than I am.
Really, how on earth did they fit?
The second events we took part in in the War of 1812 spirit, was the Redpath Tall Ships Festival down at Harbourfront. We bought tickets early and crossed our fingers that it would not rain. Well, it didn't rain, but it was the hottest, muggiest day ever known to man or woman. (Well, stretching it a bit I might be, but it was pretty darn hot!) A lovely sunburn accompanied us home.
Once again the Enterprise did not accompany us. Poor thing, I fear it is its lot in life to be left behind as we continue on our away missions. The subway conveyed us to the spot and we immediately set about touring each and every ship.
Tall ships are things of beauty. They are so majestic and lovely and bring to mind another era. An era of "wood, wind and sail". I have always been fascinated by tall ships and the Napoleonic War so to actually be able to stand on the ships, to touch the railings and the ropes, to go down below and see where the crew would have slept, was a dream come true.
Some of the ships we got to tour.
There were eleven ships in the harbour but, as the day went along and got hotter and hotter we felt our enthusiasm dwindle. On the shore, as part of 1812, there were people dressed in period costume doing different things. There was one man working a hand lathe, women going around in period dresses to take pictures with, a blacksmith plying his trade, and others in various pursuits.
There was to be a Parade of Sail at 4 pm when all the ships would leave their births and sail in a line across the harbour. Unfortunately, the heat of the day was too oppressive to wait around for it and we headed homeward early.
All in all, I felt like Emily and I gave proper attention to the anniversary of the War of 1812 and took advantage of some of the interesting things that the city of Toronto was doing to recognize it. It was also a fitting maiden voyage of the carship Enterprise. When we first set out I tried to convince Emily to "christen" the car by breaking her bottle of Perrier water against the side of the car, but no luck.
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