Fort Frederick State Park To Host Annual 18th Century Market Fair April 26-29, 2007

Thousands Expected for Annual Family Event at renowned State Park in Washington County, Maryland. Fort Frederick, located near Hagerstown, Maryland, is hosting the annual Market Fair - a trip back in time to the 1700's. The fort is an original stone fort built in 1756. The State Park hosted the 250th anniversary of the fort last year - and continues a year-long celebration with this annual 18th Century event.

Big Pool, MD (PRWEB) May 3, 2007 -- The Maryland Park Service and the Friends of Fort Frederick State Park will host the 13th Annual 18th Century Market Fair at Fort Frederick State Park April 26 through 29. Admission is $4 per person; $2 for ages 7-12, children age 6 and under are free. Times for the Market Fair are:

Thursday, April 26, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Friday, April 27, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday, April 28, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday, April 29, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Visitors to Fort Frederick State Park will meet more than 150 talented artisans, craftspeople and vendors who sell reproductions of 18th-century items, including furniture, clothing, guns, powder horns and hunting bags. Most of the goods for sale are handmade by the vendors themselves, and many of these individuals will demonstrate their crafts.

"This event is always a fun and successful event for Fort Frederick. We are highlighting what the fort would have been like between 1730 and 1790," said Steve Robertson, Fort Frederick State Park Historian. "These were the first sixty years that settlers inhabited the area and the encampment will have the feeling of the 18th Century."

To give this event the flair of an 18th-century fair, there will be magic shows, puppet shows, music and balancing acts that were popular diversions of the time. Add to this an encampment of 18th-century reenactors who will conduct live firing demonstrations of period weapons as well as demonstrations of 18th-century life in the fort amidst a 1730-90 encampment. Interpreters will present continuous living history programs within the historic fort walls.

Fort Frederick State Park is located in Washington County near Clear Spring and Big Pool, and is the home of Fort Frederick, Maryland's premier stone fort. It was built by the Colony of Maryland in 1756 to protect its western boundaries and as a base to attack French claims to the Ohio River Valley. In 1922, the fort was recognized as a state park, in Maryland's first state park legislation. Currently Fort Frederick is an educational center for the study of the French and Indian War.

Historians say that Fort Frederick is the United States' only stone fort built by a British colony during the French and Indian War . According to Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau President and CEO Tom Riford, "This will be an exciting four day family event at Fort Frederick. To see this authentic 18th Century Market Fair will be a treat for everyone." Fort Frederick has been called "Western Maryland's First Homeland Security," and "The Gibraltar on the Potomac."

The fort celebrated its 250th anniversary last year, revealing plans for additional reconstruction including an Officers Quarters (called the Governor's House). "This annual Market Fair event is a way to travel back in time, and a wonderful family event," said Fort Frederick Historian Steve Robertson.

Fort Frederick was refurbished during the 1930's by the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the park houses a CCC Museum. Additionally, the park is on the C&O Canal and Towpath, and has its own picnic and camping areas, along with wonderful views of the Potomac River.

For more information about this event, contact the park at (301) 842-2155, or visit http://dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/western/fortfrederick.html.

Directions: Fort Frederick State Park is located in the Cumberland Valley, 18 miles west of Hagerstown and one mile south of I-70 near Big Pool (Route 56, Exit 12). The park is 88 miles from Baltimore and 81 miles from Washington.

Contact: Steve Robertson, Fort Frederick State Park, 301-842-2155

Fort Frederick State Park is a member of the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau. For more information, see: www.marylandmemories.com.

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