Children playing in a replica of an early 1800s maze made from sheaves of harvested grain. Photo by Bonnie Hobbs.
Combining local history with Earth Day activities, Fairfax City’s HisTree Day was April 26 at Historic Blenheim.
Photos By Bonnie Hobbs/The Connection
Playing the fife and drum are (from left) Rob Calhelha and Joe Abernathy, both with the 28th Massachusetts Infantry, Co. B.
Members of the 28th Massachusetts Infantry, Co. B, about to teach these children how to march, carry muskets and do a bayonet drill with their wooden “rifles.”
From left, Eric Heald-Webb and sons Charlie, 9, and Liam, 7, listen to Melanie LaForce talk about Civil War nurses. She’s portraying Mary Morris Husband, who saved the lives of 300 Union soldiers.
From left, parents Debanjan and Ginny Dasgupta watch their daughters, Azaria, 6, and Anjali, 4, coat clay with sand before it’s put into a mold to make bricks. Directing them is Colonial Williamsburg brickmaker Madeleine Bolton.
Debbie Harris (center) tells JohnRyan MacGregor and Alison Banks about the inequality in the ways slaves ate (with metal cups and plates) vs how the middle class (earthenware) and wealthy plantation owners (fine china and crystal) ate.
Children playing in a replica of an early 1800s maze made from sheaves of harvested grain.
Elias Ergas, 4, (on left) pulled apart two crossed sticks to make a ribbon-bedecked, wooden hoop fly into the air toward his brother, Isaac, 7 (at right), hoping to catch it with his sticks. They’re playing a Civil War-era game called graces.
GMU’s 8th Regiment Green Machine Band performs a Civil War-era waltz.
Melissa Beveridge beams while her delighted daughter, Jo Jo, 3, holds a monarch butterfly in the butterfly tent.
Pat McCann, arborist with Bartlett Tree Experts, gave away three types of native trees.
Meina Lites, 8, listens to Stephanie Kupka, Fairfax City’s Sustainability Programs manager, explain how fertilizers and pesticides wash pollutants into streams and eventually into the Chesapeake Bay. Kupka squirted water onto an Enviroscape to demonstrate her point.
Discussing Fairfax City’s Urban Forest Master Plan and photo contest are Garrett Wolf, a consultant on the plan, and Urban Forestry Stewardship Coordinator Sophia Chapin.
Maryam Dadkhah, with Plant NoVa Natives, told people the benefits of planting native species and gave them information about pollinators.