#ScribesAndMakers 20 April: Have you ever read or performed your work in front of an audience?

Yes. Many years ago I performed in a couple of short children's plays I wrote.

During the second half of my working life, 28 years, I was Tourism Director for my town and created several historical walking tours and programs that I delivered weekly or monthly from spring to fall. Most recently was a program at the historical Fort Phoenix, the fun, entertaining, and educational "Pirates & Privateers" presentation. The script of the program included stories about the fort, local privateering during the Revolution, and life during the 1770s. It was held every Friday morning, weather permitting, in June, July, August, and September from 2016 through 2025.

The photo is my adult child and me portraying Caleb the powder monkey and Greybeard, a privateer during the Revolutionary War.

#Fairhaven #Massachusetts #AmericanRevolution #FortPhoenix #Reenacting

It be Talk Like Actor Robert Newton Day!

Newton made up the "pirate accent" for the character Long John Silver in Disney's "Treasure Island" (1950).

Edited to add this is me at Fort Phoenix, Fairhaven, MA, where I give a presentation called "Pirates and Privateers" in the summer,

#TalkLikeAPirateDay #FairhavenMA #FortPhoenix #Massachusetts

Sure, there's a heat advisory, but the show must go on. #Pirates and #Privateers program this morning at historical #FortPhoenix in #Fairhaven #Massachusetts.

#History #Reenacting

Talked to people at Fort Phoenix, #Fairhaven #Massachusetts today about variolation or inoculation to combat The Pox that was running rampant in Boston in 1775. My program, called "Dreadful Medicine" will be held every Thursday afternoon this summer. It covers tooth pulling, blood letting, amputation, and other cures performed by the village barber/dentist during the war. A midwife (Mrs. Fairhaven Person) is also on hand to talk about herbal remedies and assisting with births.

#BarberSurgeon #Midwife #Reenacting #LivingHistory #FortPhoenix #Medicine

So the day job in #Fairhaven #Massachusetts can be fun. This summer on Thursday afternoons I'll be a barber/dentist/surgeon demonstrating "Dreadful Medicine" at Fort Phoenix.

#18thCentury #History #Medicine #SouthcoastMA #FortPhoenix #BarberSurgeon

This early 20th Century #postcard promotes the #trolley line that ran from #NewBedford #Massachusetts to #FortPhoenix #Fairhaven This is now the location of the #MassDCR Fort Phoenix State Beach and Reservation. #SouthcoastMA #FairhavenMA @BuzzardsBay
These cannon have been in my hometown since before the Civil War, but Fort Phoenix itself was originally built in what is now #Fairhaven between 1775 and 1777, only to be destroyed by British troops in September 1778. There are five of these Seacoast Defense guns here. They are fired with blank charges of black powder a few times a year. (I hold a #Massachusetts cannon firing license.) #FortPhoenix #Cannon #History #FairhavenMA #SouthcoastMA #BuzzardsBay
I'm preparing a new historical program called Dreadful Medicine to be presented weekly at Fort Phoenix in #Fairhaven #Massachusetts during the summer. It will include discussion and demonstrations of medical practices by a barber surgeon around the time of the American Revolution. #history #reenacting #18thcentury #southcoastma #fairhavenma #fortphoenix #barbersurgeon #dentistry