COOKSBURG – The Friends of the Cooks Forest will be hosting a variety of historic events as part of their Cook’s Forest Living History Weekend from May 24-26. The events will feature living historian Paul Still of Living History and historical performers Dave Clark, Dennis Murray and Ray Owen, portraying figures from the French and Indian War, the Colonial Period, the Wood Age, civil war, industrial revolution and World War II.
The “Candlelight Cathedral” event will take place on Friday (tonight) from 8 pm to 10 pm. A 1750 French Navy will guide visitors through the Candlelight Forest Cathedral on their way to meet a Seneca warrior on a trek south along the Olean Trail. The event will kick off in the Log Cabin Inn Environmental Learning Classroom.
Saturday, from 10 a.m. to noon, Stillman will play a member of the Seneca tribe on a trip from the Olean Trail. Guests are kindly requested to bring lawn chairs to the Log Cabin Inn Environmental Learning Classroom.
Environmental specialist Dale Luthringer will explore Cook Forest’s forest heritage during the “Logging, Dogging and Hewing: An 1800’s Timber Operation” event at the Log Cabin Inn Environmental Learning Classroom on Saturday from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Guests will have the opportunity to observe various lumber trade tools and operations, explore a support dam, and test their skills with a two-man chop saw with a partner. Guests are encouraged to bring lawn chairs.
Paul Stillman and Dave Clark respectively portray a New York Regimental Line Soldier and a Soldier serving in the Army of Northern Virginia, during the “North Meets South” event at the Log Cabin Inn Environmental Learning Classroom on Saturday from 3 to 4: 30h
Stillman will lead an “18th Century Ghost Hunt” of Fire Tower and Seneca Point on Saturday from 9:00 pm to 10:30 pm Interested guests are to meet in the Fire Tower parking lot and are encouraged to bring flashlights, digital cameras and smartphones.
On Sunday, Dave Clark will play a WWII 1st Division Marine in the Pacific Theater. Guests will meet in the Log Cabin Inn Environmental Learning Classroom from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. and experience what the “Island Hopping” countryside looked like.
Stillman will demonstrate how things were made in the 18th century during a bamboo quill and pen making workshop at the Log Cabin Inn Environmental Learning Class on Sunday from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Dennis Murphy will show interested guests how natural resources were extracted from the ground at the conference “Coal and Oil: It Doesn’t Come Out of the Ground All Alone!” »Event at the Log Cabin Inn Environmental Learning Classroom on Sunday from 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm Guests are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and ear plugs.
The final Living History Weekend event will feature Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and storyteller Ray Owen, who will take guests on a historical and musical journey through Pennsylvania history at the event ” Pennsylvania: History in Music ”at the Ridge Camp Park Amphitheater Sunday 8-9 pm. Guests are kindly requested to bring chairs and blankets.
