Reliving old times at a period rendezvous

By STEPHANIE UJHELYI
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NEW MANCHESTER, W.Va. -- Just as many did centuries ago, mountain men and women will assemble to socialize, trade and gather supplies for the upcoming year.
For the eighth year, Tomlinson Run State Park will be the site of a pre-1840s-style rendezvous encampment.
According to Monte Pearson, member of the West Virginia Muzzleloaders and the Park Foundation, area rendezvous aficinados will don their best period garb and camp out to show the charms of that period.
Features: Formerly known as the Captains' Rendezvous, the Tom Run, as it is now known, features "settlers" -- or vendors -- craftsmen and mountain men who all gather in Tomlinson Run to react this post-Revolutionary War and pre-Civil War time.
Before 1840, mountain men traveled, explored and mapped much of the West, paving the way for settlers to follow. They also would meet together in the primitive equivalent of trade shows, where these rendezvous would provide opportunities to socialize as well as trade furs for money and supplies.
Walking through Tom Run, one will see a woods walk, where exhibitors can practice their skills by throwing tomahawks and knives at targets at different ranges and with different techniques.
All exhibitors must be in period dress, using period cooking methods and participating in period entertainment, from firestarting matches to games, explained Pearson.
All vendors sell period items.
The first year, there were six camps. Last year, Pearson said, there were 40.
More: Other area rendezvous are scheduled for Beaver Creek State Park and Hughes Lake outside Hookstown, Pa., in June and Salineville in August.