I have already taken advantage of two Ohio Goes to the Movies events, and I doubt those will be the last. But Ohio is doing a lot more than showing movies to mark the semiquincentennial of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence. One of the many events organized by America 250 – Ohio was something called American Revolution in the Ohio Country, which took place Wednesday on the grounds of the state capitol in Columbus. Ohio was not a charter member of the USA, but we did join up fairly early on. Plus Fort Laurens near Bolivar, OH, was built and occupied during the American Revolution, and the Battle of Picawey, near Springfield, OH, is considered part of that war. Wednesday’s encampment did not attempt to recreate any specific event, but to offer a glimpse at life in the 1770s.
It was a few minutes past the 10:00 start time when I reached the plaza on the west side of the Capitol. I’d parked a couple of blocks to the east, and this was what I saw when the gathering first came into view. I sensed at once that I was late. I heard but did not see cannons or muskets firing, and may have missed some sort of opening ceremony.
Shortly after I reached the open space beyond the tents, the men who, I assume, had been making the booms I heard closed ranks and marched away. I would get to hear and see these fellows and others do a lot more booming before the day was over, but for now, a shot of them passing by was all I got.
But I did get to see the day’s first performance from Heritage Fife and Drums in its entirety. They started at the far side of the plaza lawn, then marched up to the crowd, where their leader enthusiastically introduced each song.
More music followed. This music was recorded and played through speakers so these energetic folks could dance to it. The second picture is of a quadrille (4 couples, 8 people), which Americans in the next century turned into square dancing with cowboy boots and no French accent.
Having read that there would be “samples of food from the revolutionary time”, I anticipated things unfamiliar and bizarre, but the most bizarre thing about the offerings was that stuff that I thought quite modern was being served in the 18th century. When I mentioned my surprise, the lady tending to the “Mini Beef in Crust”, which I picked as one of my two samples, told me that “Swedish Ham Meatballs” had been served at Mount Vernon, and that “Shrimp & Grits”, my other sample, had been popular in the Carolinas back in the day.
Inside one of the tents, a fellow explained 18th-century maps and mapmaking. There were also displays of more common items of the period.
While I was listening to the fifers & drummers, watching the dancers, and sampling the samples, the soldiers had been relaxing and answering questions from the curious. Now they lined up and began marching back to the open lawn. It was about to get noisy.
After marching to the far side of the lawn, both the militia and the uniformed regulars fired several volleys. (Note that the day this is being posted, April 19, 2026, is the 251st anniversary of men dressed and armed much like those in the first photo confronting British troops at Lexington and Concord.) Then the regulars begin moving toward the crowd. Half the group marched several paces ahead of the others and fired. They would then reload while the other half advanced and fired. Then, after crossing much of the lawn in this fashion, they all lowered their bayonets and charged,
Following that bayonet charge, the reenactors marched back to the tents for a bit of a break, but eventually returned to roll out the big guns. Here‘s a better look at the thin white object tucked into the hat of the fellow standing in the center of the third photo. I spotted him smoking the pipe just moments after watching another reenactor semi-stealthily puffing on a cigarette. I approached and commented about how much better the pipe looked. Yes, he agreed, he tried to appear accurate, and, yes, it was clay, and yes, he had made it himself.
Of course, any smoke produced by hand-made clay pipes or machine-rolled cigarettes was nothing to that produced by the battery of 3-pound cannons. Perhaps this, too, is part of trying to appear accurate.
Those samples of delicacies from 250 years ago were not the first things I had to eat on Wednesday. In the not-too-distant past, from a source I can’t remember, I’d heard of a great-sounding breakfast spot in Columbus named Katalina’s. I may or may not have known that Katalina’s had appeared on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. In any case, I had not seen the episode. If I had, I would have known that it was recorded at Katarina’s Too. I went to the original on Pennsylvania Ave. There is now a Katarina’s Tres also. I’ll try to keep an open mind, but I can’t imagine that either of the others is anywhere near as cool as the original.
Another thing I could have learned from the D, D and D episode was how to eat the signature and absolutely delicious Pancake Balls. I briefly considered pouring the real Maple syrup on the Nutella-filled balls like I would on a flat pancake, but decided that probably wouldn’t work. I proceeded to tear pieces from the balls with fingers and fork, and dip the impaled pieces into the syrup. I’ve now seen the video and know that holding a ball in your fingers, dipping it into the syrup, then taking a bite, is what the cool kids do. Next time, I’ll be cool, too. I was already cool enough to use my fingers to eat the best bacon I’ve ever met.