Fall for History is fun for everyone
Photo by JOSH MCDONALD Kloe McDonald gets a crash course in Civil War-era medicine from reenactor Mike Inman during Wallace’s Fall for History Festival.
Courtesy photo Tourists attending the home tour portion of Wallace’s Fall for History Festival put protective coverings over their shoes as they tour the historic homes of residential Wallace.
WALLACE — It was another festival for the books as Wallace held its 4th annual Fall for History Festival last week.
Once again highlighted by the popular home tours and “Cemetery Comes to Life” reenactments, the four-day event had several returning attendees, but also brought in a significant amount of fresh faces who wanted to explore and experience the historic aura of Wallace.
Wallace Chamber of Commerce coordinator Dave Copelan was very pleased with the turnout.
“It was a great weekend, and we got lucky with some great weather,” Copelan said. “We had packed houses for all of our events, including the dinner theater and home tours.”
The event had some Hollywood flair to it as well, with local historian Mike Feiler taking locals through a “Peek into Dante’s Peak” where attendees got to see various filming locations from the late ’90s disaster film.
Civil War reenactors gave attendees a look at what medical care was like during that time and how it evolved from that point.
Kloe, whose Walk Through History series from earlier this year was a natural fit for a stop at Fall for History, took an immediate interest in reenactor Mike Inman and his informative presentation on advances in Civil War medicine.
After exploring the many archaic tools of a Civil War-era doctor, Kloe was presented with a pain bullet from an actual Civil War battlefield and charged with educating the public on the inaccuracies that go along with them.
“Many people see bullets with teeth marks on them and assume that they are what was called pain bullets,” Kloe said. “A pain bullet is a bullet that was chewed on by a soldier while he was being operated on in a battlefield. That usually wasn’t the case, and most of the bullets that are found with teeth marks usually mean they were chewed on by an animal. The real mystery is what end of the animal did they come out of.”
Sera White with Gravis Tech gave an incredible Then and Now demonstration using a smartphone app of her design to see long-lost historic buildings in Wallace.
Janet Feiler is one of the organizers of the festival and has seen it from its infancy, all the way up to where the event is at now.
In total, Fall for History featured more than 14 separate history-rich activities.
“Our home tours were once again very popular with approximately 90 people going through the tours,” Feiler said. “We had good participation in all of our workshops and from all of the reenactors.”
Feiler and her planning group are already looking forward to next year.
“Everything went so well once again,” Feiler said. “We’re very happy and are looking forward to beginning the plans for the 5th annual Fall for History.”
The Wallace Chamber of Commerce would also like to thank the local businesses for its support and help during the festival.