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Producer/Director/Host: Derek Muirden Chief Videographer/Editor/Sound Mixer: Paul Frederick Additional Videography: Tim Kramer, Mark Zekauskas, Jon Haliniak, Paul King Music: The Fort Ticonderoga Fife and Drum Corps, Mike Edson Drum Major |
It's the mid-1700s and the Grand Encampment of the French and Indian War witnesses not only battles, but also day to day life as it was for the soldiers, their families and the Native Americans who became involved in what one reenactor calls "the first world war." Authenticity, from clothing to tents and food, is essential to the men, women and children who come from all over the U.S. and Canada to be part of the near-religious experience. Later, the Revolutionary War Encampment, draws crowds who stand riveted by the sights and sounds of red coats and militia. Finally, the Native American Harvest Moon Festival carries on the traditions of the people who made their home in the region long before the Fort came to be. As one young reenactor says, "It's a good way to learn history...it's not just a bunch of dates in a text book."
When asked how this ambitious undertaking came to be, Producer Derek Muirden recalls his first encounter with the reenactors, "I first walked into the American past quite unexpectedly in the summer of 1995 when I happened to stop at Fort Ticonderoga. As luck would have it there was an encampment going on and the meadow outside the fort was full of canvas tents, cooking fires and people who looked like they belonged to another century. This, I thought, is something everyone should see, if not in person then at least on public television."
With the blessing of Fort Ticonderoga's Executive Director Nicholas Westbrook and his entire staff, Derek and videographer Paul Frederick made a half-hour program for Mountain Lake's People Near Here series in 1996. The program was well received, but thirty minutes was not enough time. In the summer of 1998, Mountain Lake began to expand on the original program. Over the course of two summers, Mountain Lake production staff videotaped at Fort Ticonderoga whenever there was an encampment.
After five weeks of editing over thirty-five hours of footage and another two weeks of sound editing, Then Again: Reliving History at Fort Ticonderoga is ready to take viewers back in time.