The Battle of Townsend’s Plantation Civil War Festival

Posted on by Thor

A re-enactment of Townsend’s Plantation Civil War Battle was waged at Renningers Mount Dora Flea Market and Antique Center (20651 US-441, Mount Dora, Florida 32757). The festival featured live Civil War Re-enactments, living history exhibits, folk
music, weaponry demonstrations, authentic camps and Sutlers, full scale
artillery, cavalry and soldiers in time-period uniforms and weaponry,
a Civil War era Dress Ball, and more. 

I stopped at the Medical Department wagon and tent to sketch the basket of severed limbs and the exhausted doctor who was happy to offer insights into the medical tools of the trade back in the 1860s. The rest of the morning as spent sketching civil war camps of both Union and Confederate soldiers. Those sketching opportunities were periodically interrupted by muster drills as the troops prepared for battle.


My 5th great grandfather Augustus Elias Julius Thorspecken was a doctor n the civil war era, so his dexterity with a saw blade must have been impressive.

The Battle of Townsend’s Plantation Civil War Festival

Posted on by Thor

The Battle of Townsend’s Plantation Civil War Festival took place at Renninger’s Mount Dora Flea Market and Antique Center (20651 US-441, Mount Dora, Florida, 32757.) This live
Civil War Re-enactment featured living history exhibits, folk music, weaponry
demonstrations, authentic camps and Sutlers, full scale artillery,
cavalry and soldiers in time-period uniforms, weaponry, a Civil War era
Dress Ball, and more.

I always feel at home sketching in a Civil War camp since my analog way of documenting the scene with a sketch fits in with the time period. I remember while doing this sketch a young boy in uniform stood behind me watching my progress. He frowned and was very serious, but was quite transfixed. The folks in camp needed to get ready for the battle taking place later in the day and the boy was called away for a cannon firing drill.

Later that day, we sat on the sidelines as the battle unfolded. There were so many rebels and so few Union soldiers. In the end the rebels took the field which was covered with the bodies of the fallen. It was a bloodless massacre. A surgeon’s tent was littered with limbs that had been amputated. Fortunately, those limbs were plastic replicas. Today in America we are terrorized by the sound of gunfire. These muskets took quite a bit of work to reload, requiring minutes of stuffing the powder charge down the barrel and setting the flint. Soldiers just stood and fired at one another. Today, we run because high powered assault rifles fire hundreds of rounds per minute. The internal wounds from assault rifles are something no civil war doctor could ever have faced.

Steampunk Industrail Show at Renningers

Posted on by Thor

I grew interested in the Steampunk Industrial Show at Renningers Mount Dora Flea Market and Antique Center (20651 US-441, Mount Dora, Florida 32757) when I found out that Phantasmagoria
would be appearing throughout the day. Phantasmagoria is a local theatrical troupe that presents unique and spectacular blend of storytelling, dance, large
scale puppetry and aerial work, fire performance, live music and stage
combat. Phantasmagoria has been wowing critics and audiences alike
since its premier. First created in 2010, each production
offers new stories taken from the diverse centuries old literature of
horror and the macabre.

When Pam Schwartz and I arrived at Renningers, we made our way immediately to the main stage which is decorated with a large electric guitar.  A musical act was on stage and Vera Vermillion held a Parasol Dueling contest. The contest was as comical as might be expected. Contestants would stand like ace sword fighter and their weapons were parasols. I sketched a lovely contestant in a black bowler, corset and umbrella. She ended up being the winning contestant.


After the dueling, a Steampunk DJ started to mix the tunes for the crowd. The sky was turning grey and I kind of wished we had brought a parasol from our car parked a distance away. As it started to sprinkle we dashed towards the car finding any possible cover along the way. when we got to the car the sky opened up and it poured. There must be a steampunk invention that can protect from the rain.