“Camping in the Old Style” will take place at the Cradle of Forestry on Oct. 10th when the classic camping interpretive team known as the Acorn Patrol will demonstrate the low-tech/high-skill approach as practiced in the outdoors during what some historians consider the “Golden Age of Camping” between 1880 and 1930.
By recreating fixed camps where past recreationists would use campfire cookery, study nature, and relax in the outdoors, they will engage visitors in camp activities such as fire-making, cooking, preparing a bed with a straw tick and wool blankets, tying knots, and the leisure of playing music.
Visitors will see fires ignited by flint, steel, and friction, old-style campfire cookery, four different styles of period shelters, and traditional camp tools in use.
Each camper has expertise in various aspects of woodcraft, history, and nature study, and welcomes interacting with visitors and answering questions.
“Camping in the Old Style” is inspired by Horace Kephart, author of Camping and Woodcraft, originally published in 1906. Kephart’s approach to enjoying the outdoors holds lessons for today’s modern campers.
The Cradle of Forestry is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $12.00 for\ adults, $6 for children ages 4-12, and free for youth under age 4.
For more information about this event and other upcoming programs, visit www.gofindoutdoors.org.