JEFFERSON —
Jean Dutton hopes that the new fashion show at the Early America Live 1890 Re-enactment will help visitors to become “fashion backward.”
“We invite people to come in costume to help them step back in time to the 1890s,” said Dutton, Jefferson Depot Village president. “A lot of people don’t know what people wore then.”
She said the fashion show, which takes place at 2:30 p.m. today at the Depot’s Church in the Wildwood, will help visitors better understand what their ancestors wore and how they wore it.
The fashion show is one of many events and activities at the 1890 Re-enactment, which is taking place today 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday noon to 5 p.m. at the Historic 19th Century Jefferson Depot Village, 147 E. Jefferson St. Numerous re-enactors will demonstrate daily life in the late 19th century, Dutton said.
The suggested donation, which goes to restoration work, is $5 per adult. Kids under 6 are free. Free parking is on East Walnut Street.
There are many other activities and events planned to help visitors step back in time. Basketry, pottery and candle-making skills will be demonstrated, as well as wool dyeing, spinning and rug hooking.
Other events taking place are:
- A circuit-rider pastor arrives on horseback at 11 a.m. today for the church’s morning service. Be sure to also check out the pump organ recital at 1 p.m. today and 2 p.m. Sunday. “It takes feet and knees and hands and eyes to play that organ,” Dutton said.
- For kids, “class” begins at 10:30 a.m. in the 1838 Spafford One-Room Schoolhouse, with games to follow at “recess.”
- Period jewelry is for sale at the 1845 Sheffield Post Office, where an old trunk came in on general delivery and no one picked it up. “We need to sell the contents so we have room for more mail,” Dutton joked.
- Cool down with some sarsaparilla and root beer on the porch of 1816 replica Warner Tavern, which is a work in progress.
- A medicinal herb garden tour, which meets behind a replica of the Ashtabula Pharmacy, is 4 p.m. each day. “Visitors can tour, touch and smell — and even take a sprig home,” Dutton said.
- An old-fashioned pie-eating contest is 3:30 today and Saturday. “This event should be popular with the kids,” Dutton said.
- A talk on primitive medical treatment and equipment will be given by “Doc Waters” at 1:30 p.m. today and 1 p.m. Sunday.
