The Old Independence Regional Museum will host a Civil War encampment on the museum grounds Friday and Saturday, Oct. 29 and 30.
In a release, the museum said visitors are invited to participate as living historians demonstrate various aspects of living in a Confederate camp during the Civil War.
Presented by the Pvt. Job S. Neill Camp #286 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the living history event will feature soldiers’ campsites with tents and cooking over an open fire, a covered wagon, blacksmithing, and lessons on historic medicines. Reenactors will demonstrate what day-to-day life was like for a soldier in Arkansas.
As a prosperous town strategically located on the White River, Batesville was occupied by both Confederate and Union forces over the course of the war. The land where the museum now stands was a Civil War campsite.
The camp will set up after 12 p.m. on Friday and will be open to the public until 7 p.m. The grounds will open again on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. and continue throughout the afternoon.
For more information, call (870) 793-2121, email oirm.educator@gmail.com, or visit oirm.org. The museum is located at 380 S. 9th St. in Batesville.
Old Independence serves a 12-county area: Baxter, Cleburne, Fulton, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Marion, Poinsett, Sharp, Stone, White, and Woodruff. Parts of these present-day counties comprised the original Independence County in 1820s Arkansas territory.
The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors, veterans, and students, and $2.00 for children 6-12. Admission for children 5 and under is free.
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