THE FOLLOWING EVENTS OCCUR YEARLY or EVERY TWO YEARS AND ARE NORMALLY --WEATHER ALLOWING-- WELL WORTH THE TRIP

. Every other year a little town east of Cleveland, Mesopotamia, Ohio, has a festival, in Amish country. Along with it have been very nicely done generic battles--usually at 2 pm on both Saturday and Sunday. Other period events have included competitions and drills.

Enacted in a field just off State Rt. 534, the battles have grown considerably in length and number of reeinactors each time around, with about 900 reenactors on the field in 1996 and 1300+ in 1998.

This is a fun, no pressure experience. It doesn't recreate a historical battle. The atmosphere is very relaxed but the fighting is spirited and close enough that first-person impressions come across with impact. A one-lane farm road acts as the spectator line and the action starts right there and runs parallel to that line, usually up close, sometimes with flanking attacks out of the corn field beyond. On Saturday lots of Amish families turn out in their buggies and it's interesting to see how traditional pacifists react to 'war.'

Much parking is a short walk from the battle site. All in all, a very relaxed and pleasant experience. Previously costs were: Adults $4 Children $2 Parking typically $3 or $4 in the field across from the battle.

The map below might help locate it.

Mesopotamia is in farm country, on a straight line roughly 35 miles east of Cleveland, on Rt 87, at the junction of Rt 534. These are two-lane roads, but we've never experienced any serious traffic problems either coming or going. A close look at a map will show you that there is a grid of township roads at one-mile intervals that run parallel and around the section of the main road shut down by the festivities.

Believe it or not, one of Mike Tyson's well gated-homes is a just few miles south.

(as close to the historical dates as possible)

Autumn in the glorious Shenandoah Valley. At Middletown, VA. the yearly mid-October Cedar Creek battle re-enactment weekend has been held on part of the actual battleground, which is wonderfully rocky roller coaster-like ground. As you can see from the picture above (those are very large units of infantry seen off in the far distance to left and right). this would have been a hell of a place to do battle since the enemy could be just over this or that rise, to your front or flanks, very close.

But it's wonderful for a battle re-enactment. And wonderful for spectators, since (infantry strength allowing) the classic attack and counterattack battles usually take place with great width and depth of action on the rolling fields.

The battleground is part of the historic Belle Grove plantation, a mile south of Middletown, VA, just off Interstate 81, about a dozen miles south of Winchester. Just south of Middletown, Rt 66, comes in from the east, from the Washington DC area. Here's a map of the surrounding area. The battle site is just off Belle Grove, southwest on Rt 11 out of Middletown, to the left on the map.

In the past, on Saturday, they have re-enacted the early morning rout of Union troops through their own camps by Early's southern forces. That was often followed, on Sunday, by Sheridan's successful counter-attack from the north. But check their current schedule for details, since they do variations of that and other parts of the battle. If you visit their site at http://www.cedarcreekbattlefield.org/ you can find lots of detailed information.

The battlefield runs parallel to the two-lane road. On-site parking is within yards of the spectator line. If you plan to stay over-night in the area, get hotel/motel reservations well in advance, since a number of valley towns have Fall Festivals in October.

The 135th anniversary of the October 19, 1864 battle was in 1999. Their 130th had been very large by the 'old' pre-135th standards, about 4000 reenactors. A very large body of re-enactors also turned out for the 135th and there've been more taking part ever since. This event has only disappointed us once: when a day and night's worth of downpour thinned out the ranks to the point where the engagement was more like a stubbornly held skirmish than a battle.

Reenactor and spectator contributions have made it possible for much the land that the battle re-enactment takes place on to be purchased and made part of the growing number of acres of original Civil War battlefields in the U.S.