The Old Stone Fort Museum in Schoharie is hosting a weekend of immersive history re-enactments on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 7 and 8.

Stone Fort Days this year will feature a 240th-anniversary commemoration of the 1777 Tory Uprising and Battle of the Flockey.

Activities throughout the weekend will highlight all aspects of life in the Schoharie Valley during the American Revolution. Hands-on workshops and programs will let visitors roll up their sleeves and get in on the action.

“In addition to military skirmishes and full-scale, narrated battle re-enactments, there will be programs on colonial-era social life, medicine, the Iroquois, crafts, trades, toys and games,” said Old Stone Fort Museum Director Carle Kopecky in a release from the museum. “There will even be opportunities to make your own ‘sewing housewife kit’ or hand dip candles to take home.”

Highlights of the event will include a discussion and book signings with author and historian Gavin Watt. His insight will provide event goers with a unique loyalist, or Tory, perspective of life during the American Revolution.

The Battle of Normanskill will be re-enacted and members of the Second Regiment, Light Dragoons, Tallmadge’s Troop will re-enact of the Battle of the Flockey cavalry charge.

An important milestone in American History, the battle marks the United States cavalry’s first documented charge, as a troop of the 2nd Continental Light Dragoons charged on ambushing Loyalist Americans and Mohawks.

The cavalry charge, supported by rangers and militia under colonels John Harper and Peter Vrooman, was a significant American victory as the Loyalists were scattered into the rainy, wooded hillside and forced to abandon their Schoharie Valley homes. This ignited a kind of civil war, with former neighbors and even family members fighting one another for the next five years.

In addition to viewing narrated battle re-enactments on both days of the event, visitors will also be able to witness numerous educational demonstrations, drills, and military exercises, tour the British and American camps. Visitors may also get a look inside the tents, view a variety of historical vignettes, see artisans and merchants at work in their trades, and get a taste of both colonial food and modern fare and refreshments.

Stone Fort Days will be held from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 7, and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 8. Admission to the event is $10 for both days and includes admission to the entire museum complex. Anyone under the age of 18 when accompanied by an adult is admitted for free.
The Old Stone Fort Museum Complex is located in the village of Schoharie at 145 Fort Road, off Route 30, and is 2.5 miles south of Exit 23 on Interstate 88. For more information, contact the museum by phone at (518) 295-7192 or online at http://theOldStoneFort.org