Events

Cook Forest State Park will host a series of living history events depicting life during the French & Indian War. Highlights of this full two-day encampment include children’s programs, woodland natives, cannon and musket firing demonstrations, sutler camp, council and trading events, nationally renowned living historians, French & Indian War era artisans, and live tactical engagements. Every battle is different! Take a walk back in time at the Sawmill Center for the Arts to view British, Colonial, French, and American Indian re-enactors as they portray lifestyles of the 18th century. Friday, May 22 from 800-900pm ‘An Evening with President Lincoln and the First Lady’ Please bring your chairs and blankets and meet at the Ridge Camp Park Amphitheater for an evening with Mr. & Mrs Lincoln, learning how they met before his tumultuous presidential career. Conducted by John King, lifetime member of Association of Lincoln Presenters, and 2013 look-alike contest winner at the Shriver House Museum in Gettysburg. Saturday, May 23 from 900-1030am ‘Lincoln’s Inaugural Trip to Washington’ Join President Abraham Lincoln and the First Lady as they reminisce about his trying cross country inaugural railroad trip across America to become the 16th President of the United States. Please bring your camp chairs and meet at the Log Cabin Inn Environmental Learning Classroom. Saturday, May 23 from 1130am-1230pm Paul Stillman and Dave Clark as ‘The North Meets South’ Come see the Civil War through a New York regimental line soldier and a rebel of the Army of Northern Virginia. Please bring your camp chairs and meet at the Log Cabin Inn Environmental Learning Classroom. Saturday, May 23 from 100-200pm M. Luthringer as a‘1750s French Marine’ We are looking for a few good men to learn how to march and fight for King Louis. Be prepared to make your mark. Two opposable teeth required. Vive le Roi!!! Please meet at the Log Cabin Inn Environmental Learning Classroom. Saturday, May 23 from 300-430pm Paul Stillman as a ‘Seneca Indian’ A Native American visits us from the past on his trip from New York as he travels south along the historic Olean Trail. Please bring your camp chairs and meet at the Log Cabin Inn Environmental Learning Classroom where he will be preparing for his trip. Saturday, May 23 from 800-900pm ‘An Evening with Ben Franklin’ by Paul Stillman One of the founding fathers of our country. Science, glass music, and philosophy are only part of Doctor Franklin’s life. Join the elderly statesman as he reminisces about his involvement in the French & Indian forts of the 1750’s. Please bring your chairs & blankets and meet at the Ridge Camp Park Amphitheater. Sunday, May 24 from 100-200pm Paul Stillman and Dave Clark as ‘Patriot Meets Loyalist: Friends No More!’ It was called a Revolutionary War, but it was also a civil war; family against family, friend against friend. Please bring your camp chairs and meet at the Log Cabin Inn Environmental Learning Classroom. Sunday, May 24 from 230-330pm Paul Stillman as a ‘Colonial Craftsman’ Learn how things were made during the early part of the 18 th century during a quill and bamboo pen fabrication workshop. Please bring your camp chairs at meet at the Log Cabin Inn Environmental Learning Classroom. Sunday, May 24 from 400-530pm ‘Colonial Life as a Child’ by the Noel Family Join the Noels as they discuss educational practices of Colonial America, the daily chores of children, and the games they played. You will have the opportunity to write with a quill pen, gather eggs and the day’s water supply, walk on stilts, play graces, trap ball, and dress up. Bring your kids and camp chairs to the Log Cabin Inn Environmental Learning Classroom for a Colonial education experience with your kids in mind. Sunday, May 24 from 800-930pm Ray Owen, GRAMMY nominated singer, songwriter, and storyteller, will be presenting 'Hats Off to America’ at the Ridge Camp Park Amphitheater. Take a musical journey through history with a crew of colorful characters wearing an array of period hats that step out of history and onto the stage. A spirited American odyssey that ventures from the steam engine to the search engine, the Buffalo chips to the microchips, engaging the past to enlighten our future. Don’t forget your chairs and blankets!