Posted by Rich on June 02, 2001 at 14:06:11:
We've had a real neat contributor to our Site over the past several months, but I'm afraid not too many of our Board regulars have yet sniffed it out ...
Tim Cordell is a living history interpreter at Fort William Henry. From his latest:
The French came...
The Indians came...
The British came...
Now...
THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!
I remember being scared. It seems that all of my life the fear of the Russians bombing us was real. From one crisis to another we had to consider the threat and worry about it. I remember the air raid drills in first grade and I remember that whenever the fire station siren would sound that it could be a Russian air raid rather than a fire. I remember Sputnik and the Cuban missile nightmare. The Russians even played their confrontational games with us in the Gulf of Tonkin with their destroyers and spy ships. Through all of those years I had never met a Russian and for all of those years I disliked Russians. Russians had always, always been a threat to me, my family and my country.
On a warm evening last summer I had set-up and began my talk in the
courtyard of Fort William Henry. My "set-up" consists of my musket and various accoutrements on a stand. It's all part of my presentation. Fifteen minutes into my talk I felt a presence behind me and noticed that my audience was becoming distracted. After excusing myself I turned and noticed a group of people handling my artifacts-one man was hefting my musket! "Please don't touch" I said in a low voice. "Is yours?" one of them asked. "Yes, please come around front here and I'll tell you about it" I replied. "Russians" I thought to myself. I could tell by their heavy accent. Everything settled down and I finished my talk. The audience dispersed. The
Russians, however, hung back. I faced them and invited them to inspect my belt axe, powder horn and I let them all-men & women try the big musket. They were so eager to learn, were obviously having fun and I warmed to them quickly. One of the men was their spokesmanand he asked "What is this
place?" as he gestured at the courtyard and ramparts. "Have you ever heard of the French & Indian War?" I asked. "No" he replied. I said "This is the war where Britain won Canada from the French and it took place twenty years before our Revolution." The word "Revolution" perked them up as I figured it would. "Ah your Revolution, we know your Revolution!" The spokesman brightened. I could see that they still had no knowledge of the French and Indian War so I asked "Have you heard of The Last Of The Mohicans?" Again, there was a lot of negative gesturing. "Follow me' I ordered as I led them into the west barracks where there is the famous movie poster on diplay- the
one with Daniel Day Lewis surging forward with his knife. "Da, Da, Da" "Yes, Yes, Yes" they all shouted. I pointed to the poster. "That," I said, "happened right here" as I gestured all around. The Russians were very animated and delighted that what they were experiencing made sense to them since they had all seen the movie. Thank you LOTM!.
I was curious about them and they told me where in Russia they were
from-they even admitted to the tough times back home. Before we parted I said "You know, for years I didn't like Russians..The bomb and all, you people scared us." "We didn't like you!" one of them said. "You made us afraid also." "Well", I said, "that's all changed now isn't it?" The Russian spokesman looked at me and smiled. "Da, all changed, we are very much your friends."
Visits to Lake George by Russian tourists has increased dramatically in the past three years. They are pleasant, enthusiastic and friendly people. I'd like to invite visitors to Lake George Village this summer to visit me at Fort William Henry (most evenings) and on Friday evenings on the Beach Road to see and hear our Celtic band "Mason & Company"... Please step up and say hello!
Warmest Regards, Tim
Ahhh ... The Last of the Mohicans!
Read More!