Great Island Festival reenacts life at Fort Loudoun

VONORE, Tenn. – This past weekend the Great Island Festival was held at Historic Fort Loudoun in Vonore.

Visitors moved among costumed re-enactors participating in various 18th Century related events: merchants and artisans demonstrated and peddled 18th Century style wares; soldiers, settlers and Cherokee Indians encamped at the fort; artillery and musket drills, and skirmishes and battles were among a few of the activities experienced.

Fort Loudoun was a British colonial fort in the British Province of North Carolina, now present-day Monroe County, Tennessee, near the towns of the Overhill Cherokee. The fort was reconstructed during the Great Depression and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965.

French force Reenactors prepare to battle the British at Fort Loudoun, which was a British fortification that saw service from 1756-1760.

French soldier reenactors fire upon British soldiers blockaded inside Fort Loudoun at the Great Island Festival, held Sept. 12 and 13.

Tom Patton from Murfreesboro dresses as a Cherokee to demonstrate the Native American presence at Fort Loudoun.  The Fort was a wilderness outpost that played a crucial role in relations between the Cherokee and English speaking people of North America during the 1750′s.

Period vendors, entertainers, and reenactors came together at Fort Loudoun to teach about the time period when East Tennessee was considered frontier territory.  Eric Paul Scites (l) and his wife, Susan (r), entertained visitors at their Faire Wynds Circus with their glass harp and other authentic period circus acts.

Otto Knowbetter the Swordswallower entertains guests by swallowing fire and swords.

The Beggar Boys, the 18th-century Jonas Brothers, played a wide variety of instruments and music, at the Great Island Festival.  Conner Coleman (l), Logan Coleman (c), and Bandon Sanders (r), hailed as the rogues with “questionable moral character and unmatched musical talent”, entertained guests of all ages, especially the young ladies.

Reenactors Maranda Vandergriff (l), Anna Hawkins (c), and Elisa Vandergriff (r) climb the hill at Fort Loudoun.   In the background tents, cabins, and log walls set the scene for 18th century British American frontier.

Donnie Ross from Georgia spends time explaining the Cherokee heritage and the role that this area has played in their history.