Weekend Roundup: History and Horses

By Rachael Dickson (Contact)

Thursday, August 14, 2008

This weekend Morven Park in Leesburg is hosting several events that will allow you to enjoy the outdoors. Loudoun residents can either get a taste of Civil War history, or if you haven't had enough Olympic sport yet, see a gold-medal equestrian rider in action at the fourth annual DerbyCross competition.

Civil War Comes to life

Step back in time this weekend at Fighting and Frolicking: The Civil War Comes to Morven Park.

From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, volunteers will portray Confederate soldiers and civilians in this living history program and various demonstrations will take place throughout the day. Musket firing and military drilling demonstrations will take place a 11:30 a.m. and at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m.

"They do some firing of the Civil War muskets and campfire cooking," said Tracy Gillespie, director of historical operations for Morven Park. "A large part of the program is done in first person, the volunteers are role-playing, talking about what life is like for them in the camp."

The reenactment takes place near the actual site of a Civil War encampment, where members of the 17th Mississippi regiment lived during the winter of 1861-1862.

"There were at least 200 soldiers that lived here for several months," Gillespie said. "We're not sure exactly, we're still finding the remains of the log huts they built in the woods here on the property."

Courtesy of Tracy J. Gillespie

A group of staff members and volunteers at Morven Park's Civil War program.

The reenacted soldiers spend the weekend in three log huts, recreated from the descriptions soldiers wrote in diaries and from physical evidence in the woods. Visitors can enter the huts and see what the living area was like for the soldiers at that time, in addition to observing what personal items they might have had.

In addition, a new bridge has been built over the ravine, allowing people to visit the original site where the soldiers lived.

Gillespie said the event usually brings about 50 people out to the park, comprised mostly of families.

The event occurs every third weekend of each month during the park's open season. If you can't make it out this weekend, be sure to go out for the reenactments in September, October, or a special Christmas themed representation in November.

Historic Morven Park is located at 17263 Southern Planter Lane in Leesburg. Tickets are $5 a person, $1 for children ages 6 to 12, and free for anyone under 6-years-old.

DerbyCross

The fourth official DerbyCross event will be held this Saturday at the Morven Park Equestrian Center.

The equestrian sport, conceived in 2006, is set up as a team competition between groups of riders and horses.

"We wanted to bring a little bit of rock-and-roll to the world of sports," Dana Voorhees, the organizer of the event, said. "It gets the crowd excited and having a good time. We have a DJ [and] some riders have even started requesting their own songs."

The teams, made up of three event riders and a show jumper, go through the course one at a time, jumping and weaving through obstacles, trying to get the fastest time possible without gaining penalty points. For the show jumpers, the heights of the obstacles on the course will be raised, with an easier cross-country section.

The riders are from the highest level of competition in equestrian sports, including U.S. Olympian Stephen Bradley and North American Young Rider Champion Will Coleman.

"We've gotten a really good response from the riders," Voorhees said. "In Eventing, there's really not a lot of prize money to have. DerbyCross is a great opportunity for them to go out and jump around a two or three minute course and have some potential to make a good bit of money. But more than anything, they really like the nature of the sport, being able to be on a team, gallop around and have fun."

The team with the fastest time and fewest penalty points will win $10,000, to be split between the members, with the second-place team claiming a $2,000 prize.

United States Equestrian Federation President David O'Connor, an Olympic gold medalist, designed the DerbyCross course. O'Connor is currently in Beijing with his wife Karen, who is making her fourth appearance at the Olympics.

Voorhees says the course is laid out so that all the fences will be viewable from every seat.

"There's not a bad seat in the house," Voorhees said.

Food vendors at the event will be selling smoothies, milkshakes and ice cream. In addition, a "mini-bar," featuring miniature horse Diesel, will be selling sodas and drinks to the audience. Spectators are welcome to bring food, but are requested not to bring glass containers.

The Morven Park Equestrian Center is located at 41793 Tutt Lane in Leesburg. Gates open at 1 p.m and the competition begins at 3 p.m. Prices start at $20 for a car of up to six people, $200 for a rail spot, and $400 for a VIP table for up to six people.

Tagged: civil war, entertainment, history, Roundup

Your Thoughts...

Are you happy that the school year is over?