A reenactor plays a drum while leading a procession of children carrying wooden toy muskets along the harborside path at Fort Sewall, American flags flying and sailboats moored in Marblehead Harbor behind them. INDEPENDENT PHOTO / STEVEN ROOD
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For one weekend in July, Fort Sewall stepped back roughly 250 years.
"A Celebration of General Glover" brought Glover's Regiment back to the grounds Saturday and Sunday, July 18-19, turning the fort's grassy rampart into a working 18th-century camp. Rows of canvas wedge tents lined the path above the harbor, and the reenactors who filled them spent the weekend doing what colonial soldiers and their families actually did between battles: forging iron at a portable smithy, washing linens by hand, churning butter, spinning wool, twisting corn husks into dolls for the kids who stopped to watch.
Independent photographer Steven Rood spent time among the tents and the crowds. What follows is his account of it, in photographs.
A reenactor portraying a colonial-era physician stands behind a table set with scales, bottles and a bowl of gourds, next to an open wooden surgeon's chest displaying period medical instruments. INDEPENDENT PHOTO / STEVEN ROODA Glover's Regiment reenactor in a mob cap and floral dress supervises two children working an old-fashioned butter churn as another child looks on with a bucket. INDEPENDENT PHOTO / STEVEN ROODA blacksmith in a checked shirt hammers a glowing iron rod on an anvil at Rock Village Forge as two visitors look on, a 'Celebration of General Glover, July 18-19' banner hanging in the background. INDEPENDENT PHOTO / STEVEN ROODA woman reenactor in a straw bonnet scrubs a garment by hand in a wooden wash tub at the laundry demonstration, price list posted on a chalkboard beside her. INDEPENDENT PHOTO / STEVEN ROODA long line of children hold wooden toy muskets under a large tree at Fort Sewall, with a canvas tent, American flags and visitors along the split-rail fence in the background. INDEPENDENT PHOTO / STEVEN ROODA row of white canvas wedge tents lines a path atop Fort Sewall's grassy rampart as visitors stroll past, with Marblehead Harbor and its moored sailboats spread out below. INDEPENDENT PHOTO / STEVEN ROODA drummer leads a column of Glover's Regiment reenactors carrying shouldered muskets past the fort's stone rampart and tents, as visitors watch from a nearby stairway. INDEPENDENT PHOTO / STEVEN ROODReenactors fire a volley of muskets from a rocky point overlooking Marblehead Harbor, muzzle flashes and smoke visible against the water and moored boats. INDEPENDENT PHOTO / STEVEN ROODA British grenadier reenactor grabs the arm of a colonial civilian reenactor during a staged 'capture' skit on the rocky shoreline, with boats moored in the harbor behind them. INDEPENDENT PHOTO / STEVEN ROODA woman reenactor demonstrates wool spinning, holding a tuft of raw wool beside a spinning wheel. INDEPENDENT PHOTO / STEVEN ROODAn Glover's Regiment officer reenactor wearing round spectacles and a cocked hat marches with a musket, flanked by fellow militia carrying shouldered muskets. INDEPENDENT PHOTO / STEVEN ROODTwo young British grenadier drummers in yellow-and-red uniforms and tall bearskin caps beat their drums while marching in formation, fixed bayonets visible behind them. INDEPENDENT PHOTO / STEVEN ROODA young fife-and-drum corps in yellow-trimmed coats and red caps performs near the tents, one member playing a fife while three others beat drums. INDEPENDENT PHOTO / STEVEN ROODs
There was more to the weekend than camp life. Visitors could sit in on author Patrick O'Donnell discussing "The Indispensables" at Abbot Hall, tour the encampment, catch sea shanties and browse the sutlers selling their wares. A table near the fort's entrance made the case for saving the General Glover Farmhouse, the home of the Revolutionary War hero for whom the regiment — and the weekend — was named.
The encampment also landed two years into a new chapter for the fort itself. In 2024, the town launched a Fort Ranger program at Fort Sewall, funded as part of the fort's restoration and built around the educational goals set by the Fort Sewall Oversight Committee. A Fort Ranger is now on duty at the fort Tuesday through Sunday, from noon to 4 p.m., leading visitors on tours and explaining its history as one of the oldest earthwork forts in the country, guarding Marblehead Harbor since 1644.
Reports ranged from a bracelet missing from a Washington Street jewelry store and a ring taken from a locked box to unordered packages, a backyard surveyor mistaken for a prowler and four valve stem caps.
Finance Committee unanimously approved $67,000 in unbudgeted transfers Monday, still contingent on Select Board sign-off Wednesday, as the town starts spending to replace its administrator and its chief financial officer.
Reports ranged from a bracelet missing from a Washington Street jewelry store and a ring taken from a locked box to unordered packages, a backyard surveyor mistaken for a prowler and four valve stem caps.
Finance Committee unanimously approved $67,000 in unbudgeted transfers Monday, still contingent on Select Board sign-off Wednesday, as the town starts spending to replace its administrator and its chief financial officer.
