[Ansteorra] Fw: [Gleann Abhann] Ozark Medieval Fortress...

[David Backlin]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "melinda" <mlaf at sbcglobal.net>
To: <gleannabhann at yahoogroups.com>;
Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2010 11:52 PM
Subject: [Gleann Abhann] Ozark Medieval Fortress...


> Oh.  My.  Goodness...
>
> you have to see this to believe it.
>
> First of all, they have a LOT of work to do to be ready for their opening 
> on
> May 1st.
>
> Second of all, this will be a work in progress for the next 30 years.
>
> Having said that...
>
> Oh my goodness...
>
> Let's see....I got to start with the employee area, but after I met the
> general manager, her assistant, and the folks from France, they took me on
> the grand tour, from the view point of a tourist.   I certainly wish I 
> could
> remember all of it but here is an attempt...
>
> First thing I remember was seeing what will become the textile shed -
> spinning, weaving, dying, etc, and the sheep pen.  Then came something 
> else-
> don't remember what.   Then was the models - a motte & Bailey model,  and 
> a
> model of the stone castle they are building - as it is in progress.  Then
> you come to a life size (well, ok, very small life size) Motte & Bailey -
> wooden palisade, wooden tower.  Still in production - the palisade is 
> almost
> finished, the tower framework - about 3 stories high, maybe, is in place,
> but no sides.   Past that is, I think, the stables, and another craft 
> shed,
> then you come to the rock quarry - yes, they are mining their own rock to
> build their castle out of.   After that, you start coming to more craft
> buildings, which are spaced out in a huge - really really huge, circle,
> because the castle is in the middle of them - lets see, don't remember all
> of them, but there is the blacksmith shop (I can no longer say that Searcy
> pioneer village has the only working set of huge bellows in Arkansas - 
> they
> imported one from france)  The woodworking shop, the bread oven, the 
> basket
> shop, the kids workshop, the chandler, the ropemaker, the model 
> trebuchet -
> it is only about 15-20 feet tall - they hope to build a full size one
> eventually,  ....ok, there are more, but I don't remember them all.   And
> the castle - well, I always wondered how they lifted heavy things up when
> they were building stuff - I wonder no more, but I'm not telling - you 
> have
> to go yourself.   I didn't really wander in the castle, just moved on the
> outskirts of it, but it was still pretty way cool.  The basic outline of 
> the
> outer walls are in place, the round towers have been started.  I'm not 
> sure
> if anything is higher than waist high, yet - well, some of it looked to be
> higher, but I didn't get close enough to get an exact height.  Although
> officially, there was no one working today - holiday for Easter, there 
> were
> still a few people down there working on it - and, yes, even tho today was
> not an official work day, and even tho it isn't even open yet, yes, they
> were wearing tunics....
>
> They are open to the idea of the SCA having a demo there - with the caveat
> that the things that we bring & show would be as authentic to the 13th
> century as possible.
>
> They also said to pass on the word that if you have tried to email them
> about volunteering or demonstrating, and never got a message back, to 
> please
> try again - evidently emails have been going to a server in France, 
> instead
> of to here, and they are also in a better position to respond.
>
> Guys - I don't know how anybody else feels about this but....I just think 
> it
> would be too, too cool if we got a group to go volunteer some weekend to
> work on the castle.  Think about going to it with someone 5-10 years from
> now, and being able to say "I helped build this".  Of course, those of you
> with later persona's would have to do a little bit of sewing - they pretty
> much want everything in authentic garb, etc...The goal is a "Jamestown" 
> type
> historical living history village, set in the 13th century.
>
> It is about a 3 1/2 drive from Searcy, time wise.  It is aprx 30 minutes
> from Branson, 30 minutes or so from Harrison...
>
> and for those who have no idea of what I'm talking about - the web site is
>
> www.ozarkmedievalfortress.com
>
> Melandra
>