Normally, hundreds of visitors would have flocked to Saratoga National Historical Park this past weekend for Saratoga County’s “Siege Weekend. But, the federal shutdown forced a move of the annual reenactment.
If you were driving East out of Schuylerville this weekend on Route 29, you might have noticed you were under cannon fire.
That’s because Saratoga County’s fourth annual “Siege Weekend” was held on the banks of the Hudson River in Fort Hardy Park.
For 48 hours, reenactors camped out, cooked, and demonstrated what it was like to live during the American Revolution.
“The shortest way to explain it is heat it and beat it,” said Jim Hoffman.
Jim Hoffman was manning a massive, hand-cranked bellows and tending a coal fire.
He was busy making steel chains like it was 1776.
“I started reenacting when I was 15 years old and I learned to play fife because I was too young to carry a gun. And I decided I liked the music for a while and then eventually when I was 19 I bought my first gun. And that’s also when I got involved with the trades and crafts because I really enjoy this stuff and there was a need for things to be made,” said Hoffman.
Hoffman has been a blacksmith for four decades, and while he doesn’t recommend the craft for anyone trying to make money, he said he lives for the days when he can demonstrate his hobby over a blasting furnace.
“So, a lot of us don’t think about what soldiers needed when they were out and about and one of the most important things is food. How do they get their food? Well, it’s being brought to them in some form or another with wagons and carts. Lots of wagons and carts and cannons being drug across rough ground. Eventually things break. So, they needed a traveling repair shop, that’s what this is all about. And one of the things that would break is chains. So, if they could they would repair it, if they couldn’t repair it they’d make a new part,” said Hoffman.
For the past four years, Siege Weekend has been held at the local national park, but the federal government shutdown meant organizers had to scramble for a new location as the park’s workers were furloughed.
Saratoga National Historical Park was where the Continental Army scored a decisive win over Britain in 1777, leading the French to join their cause. It’s since been dubbed the turning point of the American Revolution.
Saratoga County Historian Lauren Roberts said the only back-up option for the weekend was Fort Hardy Park.
“You know, we did know—it was on our radar. We were watching and waiting and of course you have a plan b but how much time do you want to put behind that knowing you may never use it? So, we were thinking about it, I’d say, for about two weeks but it wasn’t until October 1st where we were like, ‘OK, what are we going to do, how do we make this work?’ And really, the whole team just pulled together. And I think that’s a benefit of having a community that celebrates its history,” said Roberts.
Reenactors scattered across soccer and baseball fields. Some ran cooking demonstrations; others occasionally fired off a volley of blanks from their muskets.
Mike Companion has been a reenactor for about three decades, and on Sunday he was part of an artillery regiment. He didn’t seem to mind the new location.
“Right, we definitely want to be here for Siege Weekend. And the battlefield is a wonderful place to be but for our particular group, we have a lot of stuff. The access here is much better for us here than at the battlefield. I actually like this site. And historically they’ve had a lot of events here in the past and we really love the numbers that come here. We had way more [visitors] this weekend than we had had previously at the battlefield. Which we really appreciate because our whole mission here is to educate the public on what happened here, and the effects of what happened here,” said Companion.
The region is bracing for the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution set to begin next year, and local organizations have big plans for an influx of historical tourists.
Roberts tells WAMC the chaos of finding a new venue for “Siege Weekend” was a good stress test for what’s to come.
“It’s everyone. It’s the reenactors, it’s the commission. It’s the county, it’s the town of Saratoga, the village of Schuylerville, the marketing team, the promotions team, the DPW that brough the barricades and the cones and all of the things that we needed, the hay and the water and the firewood for the reenactors. It’s a lot of logistics and everybody really pitched in and it really seems like everybody is excited for 2027 and I think successful events like this show us there’s an appetite from the public,” said Roberts.
Reenactors are set to return to Fort Hardy Park October 17th to celebrate the 248th anniversary of the British surrender to American troops in Saratoga.
