Battle of Port Jefferson

This was a very different event weekend for me as I didn't really attend the event. Steven and I didn't leave Austin until Saturday morning and went straight to Karnack for a tour of Caddo Lake. It's about a 5 hour drive; we got there about 1:30. The tour was great, very beautiful. The weather could not have been better.

Then into Jefferson. We passed the event site on the way and it didn't look very crowded and hardly no tentage (found out later that most camped in town). Checked into the hotel--the Jefferson Inn, nice place and for those of you who know the hotel...no we saw no ghost nor experienced any paranormal activity. Then to lunch. Went to Auntie Skinner's. Ok but not great, very slooow. Caters to the bikers that go through town.

We then decided that we would hit the event site on Sunday and rest up Saturday for the ball. So took a nap and then looked around town. Jefferson is a beautiful little town full of cute Victorian houses and cottages many built before the Civil War.

The ball this year was held inside the CVA building instead of the courtyard. The courtyard is cute but just not big enough. Time Was played this ball as well. The chamber of commerce guy at the door was kind of a jerk about my registration and such. I had called them to tell them I would be late arriving on Saturday and wrote the same on the registration I faxed. When we got there the Chamber was empty and they were apparently at the battlefield but said they would continue registration at the ball. Well apparently not as they did not have my registration at the ball and really made it very difficult and were pretty snotty about the whole thing. I felt as if they didn't believe me and that I was trying to get into the ball free.

The ball was well attended I think; it was hard to tell in the bigger room. There were enough couples to consistantly make up 4-5 rows of 6 couples for the reels. The ball was supposed to last until 11 but ended about 10:15. Don't know what was up with that.

Sunday had a cold breakfast at Auntie Skinner's, checked out and went out to the battlefield. Since it was still early and most had camped in town there wasn't much going on. The battle wasn't until 1:30 so we just decided to head home.

It was a nice weekend, but it appears that there were fewer visitors in town and fewer reenactors. It's really too bad as the town could potentially be a great site. However, with the price of gas, the distance, the lack of civilian activities and the treatment by the chamber people it is unlikely that I will be going back.

Additional pictures can be found on my website at http://www.geocities.com/txcwcivilian/PhotoGallery.html