Ladies and Gentlemen of the 1860s Conference: Part 1

Every year I attend the Ladies and Gentlemen of the 1860s Conference in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania hosted by Carolann Schmitt through her company Genteel Arts. This year was no exception. I added a few days to my trip this year in order to visit a friend who lives in West Chester, PA.

For those unfamilar with the conference it is held the first full weekend in March. The conference consists of pre-conference workshops and tours, educational sessions, displays of originals, needlework competition, vendor market place, a Thursday night "pajama party", and a ball Saturday night.

I've broken my AAR up into parts. I'm also including my trip activities not directly living history related; I didn't think anyone would mind. Additional photos from the trip are on Photobucket; from the list on the left choose "Ladies and Gentlemen..", then the first album "1860s Conference..." Because of the way I set up the albums there is no direct link to the whole thing, but I will include individual links to subjects as the topics come up. So let's begin.

Feb. 27, 2013
Got to the airport with time to spare for a 6:00 am flight. First stop was Memphis to catch my connection. My flight time from Memphis changed several times: 8:35, 9:35, 10:10, 10:15, 10:05, 9:50, 10:30. The snowstorm in the Midwest really messed up flights. Plane finally left at 11:00. This all worked out perfect, actually. My friend who I was stopping with overnight was unexpectedly in Philadelphia, had just finished her meeting and was able to pick me up saving me having to haul my luggage onto two trains.

The first thing we did was to drop my luggage at my friend's apartment in West Chester. Then to eat. We went to an Irish pub we had thought of going to but never did. So we walked down to Kildare's on Market. Cool little pub and they gave me a tour. The pub is broken up into different themed rooms: a shop/grog shop, a Celtic room, a rustic home and the Victorian pub room.

 

The food was pretty good, and we started with some hard cider. I had their French onion burger, which had Swiss cheese, onion spread, lettuce on an onion roll...very good. The food did take a bit too long to come out so they gave us free dessert. Upside down apple pie ala mode.

After eating we went to Wegmans to pickup snacks for the weekend and then back to unload some of the suitcase and relax.