2023

Year in Review

Our 26th season began as usual with the Westhampton Beach St. Patrick's Day Parade and at the end of the same month we celebrated a quarter century drilling at the Grange in Sayville, LI. We attended only two school programs this year (East Brentwood & East Northport) however, Smithtown Historical Society served up a substitute Living History at the end of May. Speaking of living histories, we returned to Bald Hill Schoolhouse with the 9th and 30th Virginias and the Town of Islip's event in June. This year marked our first ever Juneteenth event where we attended the dedication of gravestones for Civil War veterans in Hauppague. Indeed, it was a banner year for cemeteries with additional services in September and November. Unfortunately, foul weather through the autumn canceled two big events at Longwood Estate and Fort Totten and partially impacted, but did not derail, our 15th Annual Civil War Weekend at the Grange. We ended the season with a return to Gettysburg for Remembrance Day and our 6th Civil War Christmas at St. John's Church in Oakdale, LI. This year's major event was the 160th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. Now operated by different organizers, around 5,000 reenactors showed for the extended weekend that started off rather rainy yet thankfully ended with sunshine. Sadly, death returned in 2023 by taking our comrade Bill Hohnhorst. Since his passing in April, we have sorely missed his presence and his brogans will never filled.