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Friday night August 11th, several of the Reunion attendees met for dinner at the Eat and Park restaurant in Bridgeport. At the dinner was Jae the international student who stayed with Nancy last year. Jae was a valuable pair of hands at the Reunion working hard behind the scenes to carry boxes and do whatever needed to be done.
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At 9:30 AM on a beautiful Saturday morning, Bill Cowgill and his wife Nun started registering people for the Jackson Brigade Reunion in the Jackson's Mill's Pavilion.
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Before the business meeting at 10:30 AM, people browsed displays of Jackson family history and renewed old friendships.
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After the business meeting, the group held a Memorial Service for family members who had died in the last two years. While Dan Hyde read each deceased's name, individuals inserted roses in the vase.
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After the Memorial Service, there was some time for mingling before the noon lunch. The picnic lunch was catered by the Jackson Mill Dining Room staff.
After lunch we had a living history presentation by Susan Church, Executive Director of the Lewis County Convention and Visitors Bureau, who portrayed Anna Morrison Jackson, second wife of Stonewall. Susan warmed up the audience by asking why certain women were wearing men's pants and why some men had uncovered limbs? Susan was great in staying in character and presented a moving rendition of the tragic death of Anna's husband Thomas Jonathan.
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After the living history presentation, Nancy Jackson had arranged at reduced rate a tour of the historic Jackson's Mill museum area.
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The afternoon was free to visit or tour the historic area.
At 6 PM, the Jackson Brigade had a dedication of the new fencing around the two Jackson cemetery plots in the Historic Jackson Cemetery on Pike Street in Clarksburg. Last year, the Jackson Brigade funded about half of the cost of the fencing with the City of Clarksburg paying the other half. When Jane Hilder read one of the names of the 25 Jacksons buried in the cemetery, a Reunion attendee tied a yellow bow on the new fence. A very moving ceremony.
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After the Jackson Cemetery Fencing Dedication, we all drive to a reception held by the Harrison County Historical Society at their home, the Stealey, Goff and Vance house.
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At the Reception, we heard several presentations on the lives of the Jackson paintings in the Jackson room. For our special benefit, the Historical Society had scanned over 50 old photos of Jacksons in their collections. We could browse the scanned images on three computers set up for us. I have acquired the scanned images and composed a a web page which you can see by taking the link below.
After a long summer day, the fresh fruit served by the Historical Society really hit the spot. We discovered that August 12th was Nancy Jackson's birthday and she had ordered a cake to celibrate at the reception.
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At the reception, I noticed that a local TV station (Channel 5) cameraperson was taking video. She told me the station was doing a Jackson Brigade piece on the 11 o'clock news. Though tired, I stayed up until 11 PM, used my motel chair as a tripod, and recorded the TV screen with my digital camera. You can see the results in the below Quicktime movie.
The next day, Sunday August 13, Nancy took ten of us on a tour of historical Jackson sites. See link below for pictures of the tour.