Olustee 2024
[21-Feb-2024] It was a rainy year so smoke stayed on the field. Lots of photos

Natural Bridge 2023
[19-Apr-2023] Photos. Reenactor turnout low. Crowd ok.

No olustee
[19-Feb-2023] Skipping it this year. Need to do splits and the weather last week was bad the short course is next week and I just dont have the time to take a day off to drive there.

Olustee 2022
[05-Apr-2022] Late photos. Low attendance. Lie to us that the only busses were from the prison there were ones from the college the other way. Also went to Natural Bridge this year but forgot the camera. Also had low attendance particularity among the reenactors.

Natural Bridge 2020
[08-Mar-2020] Attendance was way down. Got there an hour before and there was plenty of room to park. Almost no one sitting on the ground and a severe lack of reenactors.

Olustee
[16-Feb-2020] Went to Olustee as usual. Vendors very sparse.

Brooksville
[18-Jan-2020] Stopped at the Brooksville reenactment after they scrubbed a launch I went to. Now I remember why I dont drive down to Brooksville. The two commentators talking over the whole reenactment, getting facts wrong and just babbling for no reason.

No Natural Bridge
[04-Mar-2019] I forgot to go to Natural Bridge. One of the reasons to come back on Sat from Orlando was to go there, the other one was to transfer the queen cells to the nucs. Managed to do the bees but just forgot about the reenactment until about 3:15 and it ends about 3:30. It looks like that is the first time I have missed it since 2005.

Olustee 2019

[17-Feb-2019] Didnt go to Jax first since I had bee stuff to do on Sat. Drove past to come at it from the east as usual only to find out you are no longer allowed to part on 90. Had to drive halfway to Lake City for a parking area and take a shuttle. Weather was dreary but cleared up as the reenactment started. Sutler attendance was very low. There was a lot of high grass on the field making it hard to see anything from the sidelines and pictures even worse. The 54th did show up and got a place near the crowd again. In an unusual move the Union cannons came out on the field and were very far forward at the beginning, later the pulled back.

Olustee and Natural Bridge
[17-Apr-2018] Finally put the photos up for Olustee and Natural Bridge from Feb and Mar.

Natural Bridge 2017
[13-Mar-2017] Photos. More photos coming. Crowd seemed very light.

Olustee 2017

[19-Feb-2017] It looked like rain when leaving Jax but cleared up before I got to Olustee. Took the camera this year, but forgot the battery. All photos are from the cell phone which I filled up. Sutlers were sparse. Heard someone say a lot went home Sat because of weather. The Union drug a cannon way out into the field early which was unusual. Lots of cavalry vs infantry action also, and no action way out in the trees. The prominent Union unit was Maine and the Georgia unit that is usually close has a new more colorful flag.

Natural Bridge
[06-Mar-2016] Park Ranger tried to ruin the whole thing by making people sit not at the rope but well behind it.

Olustee 2016

[15-Feb-2016] Had to wait for a train to cross before going in. At least the have a CSX person there now that stopped it at the signal before the crossing. Gave a lot of info on the train to some British tourists that were interested. Sutler numbers seemed down. Grass was high and they are really letting the trees in the pyrotechnics are grow up. South left the field entirely at one point in the battle. It seemed like there was some lack of direction for some reason.

Brooksville 2016

[18-Jan-2016] I last went to Brooksville in 2005. Its gone downhill. Smaller crowds, fewer reenactors, they have no right to claim the biggest reenenactment in Florida at all anymore. An annoying chattering commentator who gets facts wrong. Even the reenactors responded positively hen he finally said he would stop talking, then talked during Taps anyway. The field is way to large for the number of reenactors attending action is to far away reminded my of Gettysburg where you need binoculars. Some things would have been much better without the commentary, 2 guys does not constitute a cavalry force and pointing out that action just made it look pathetic.

Natural Bridge 2015
[09-Mar-2015] Got there early because I expected large crowds, it was the 150th. Turn out was not that heavy however. They did let us in the gates about the time the ceremony at the monument started. That was nice but it did mean we had to sit in the sun through the hour long safety checks.

CSA vs the Dragon (Natural Bridge 2014)
[19-Mar-2014] Took all the 3 years olds, their older siblings and parents to Natural Bridge. The 3 year olds were convinced the guys were fighting a dragon from the moment the first cannon went off in the woods. There are very few pictures its hard to take them with Miles and Grimm on your lap.

Olustee 2014

[20-Feb-2014] Made it for the last 10 minutes on Sat and the whole event on Sunday. They have stopped mowing the field and the grass was high, 5 feet in some cases making it hard to see anything but peoples heads from the rope. Further back in the stands its easier to see but the crowd at the rope is in the bottom of all the pictures. It was dry, the explosive guys had to put out at least 1 fire and they seemed to have some misfires. There were several new and colorful flags. They also moved some of the skirmishing out of the woods on the far side of the field into the field which was a very good thing. This was the 150th anniversary they crowd was large, but late coming. Had to wait for the reenactment to start because buses were still coming from the airport. Cars were parked all the way to Ocean Pond on the road.

Natural Bridge 2013

[04-Mar-2013] Cold, it was cold and windy till about an hour before the reenactment. Gibson wanted to go home and I was coming close to agreeing with him because of the weather. It did clear and warm up. Getting frustrated with the organizers. When does it start? 2 times were published, 1pm and 1:30pm and neither are right. The ceremony did start at 1pm but they only let the reenactors into the reenacting area by 1:45-2pm. Then they had to do the inspection. Its well after 2 before we get in. The new are is nice. We do not get a better view at least if you sit on the south end you cant see cars. There arent enough reenactors for the size of the area. Last year was the first year there so I understand problems. Its time to correct them.

The olustee monument.