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A look at 18th century living: Historic Hanna’s Town opens for the season | TribLIVE.com
Westmoreland

A look at 18th century living: Historic Hanna’s Town opens for the season

Shane Dunlap
Shane Dunlap
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Shane Dunlap | TribLive
Members of Proctor’s Militia, Tom Klingensmith, at right, of New Kensington, Shawn Baird, center, from Dickerson Run, and Bob Wray, foreground, of Ford City, use manual tools and historic techniques to hew and cut wood beams for a stone brick oven that was being constructed in a historically accurate fashion by the group of volunteers on Saturday, May 4, 2024 during opening day at Hanna’s Town Historic Site in Hempfield.
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Shane Dunlap | TribLive
Lisa Hays, executive director of Historic Hanna’s Town, leads a tour group Saturday during opening day at Hanna’s Town Historic Site in Hempfield.
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Shane Dunlap | TribLive
Caleb Holt, of Verona, a volunteer re-enactor with the Independent Battalion of Westmoreland County Pennsylvania — also known as Proctor’s Militia, a Revolutionary War-era militia — works on building a stone brick bake oven with fellow volunteers Saturday, May 4, 2024 during opening day at Hanna’s Town Historic Site in Hempfield. The group of history re-enactors are building the oven using authentic historical methods and plan to use it at future encampments at Historic Hanna’s Town.
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Shane Dunlap | TribLive
Volunteer tour guide Anthony Lewis, at right, explains the history behind the Revolutionary War-era settlement Saturday, May 4, 2024 during opening day at Historic Hanna’s Town in Hempfield. Lewis, a history and political science major at Pitt-Greensburg, says he plans to continue volunteering as a tour guide through the summer at Historic Hanna’s Town.
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Shane Dunlap | TribLive
John Makarsky, of Greensburg, works on making striking flint for flintlock rifles, while with his son, Kaleb Makarsky, 10, as the pair were re-enacting members of Revolutionary War-era John Proctor’s Militia, also known as the Independent Battalion of Westmoreland County Pennsylvania, or I.B.W.C.P, on Saturday, May 4, 2024 during opening day at Hanna’s Town Historic Site in Hempfield.
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Shane Dunlap | TribLive
Dan Balzarini, left, of Jeannette, and Wade Klingensmith, right, of Greensburg, both volunteer re-enactors with Proctor’s Militia, help move stones recycled from a nearby historic farmhouse on Saturday, May 4, 2024 as the group hand-builds a stone brick oven during opening day at Hanna’s Town Historic Site in Hempfield.
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Shane Dunlap | TribLive
A visitor walks among the historic buildings Saturday, May 4, 2024 during opening day at Historic Hanna’s Town in Hempfield.
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Shane Dunlap | TribLive
John McAtee, of North Huntingdon, with the historic group Proctor’s Militia, uses an adze to hew wooden beams by hand the way laborers did hundreds of years ago, as volunteers constructed a stone brick oven on Saturday, May 4, 2024 during opening day at Historic Hanna’s Town in Hempfield.
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Shane Dunlap | TribLive
Caleb Holt, of Verona, and Scott Henry, right, of Greensburg, both historic re-enactors with Proctor’s Militia, work on smoothing mud mortar and stone for a handmade brick oven, the same way people would have built them in the 1700’s, on Saturday, May 4, 2024 during opening day at Historic Hanna’s Town in Hempfield.
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Shane Dunlap | TribLive
Shawn Baird, of Dickerson Run, uses a wooden mallet and chisel to carve out wedges for holding the wood beams in place, as volunteers from Proctor’s Militia work on building a stone brick oven Saturday, May 4, 2024 during opening day at Historic Hanna’s Town in Hempfield.
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Shane Dunlap | TribLive
John Makarsky, of Greensburg, works on making striking flint for flintlock rifles, while with his son, Kaleb Makarsky, 10, as the pair were re-enacting members of Revolutionary War-era John Proctor’s Militia, also known as the Independent Battalion of Westmoreland County Pennsylvania, or I.B.W.C.P, on Saturday, May 4, 2024 during opening day at Historic Hanna’s Town in Hempfield.
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Shane Dunlap | TribLive
Tom Klingensmith, re-enactor with Proctor’s Militia, uses an adze to hand-hew wooden beams for a stone brick oven on Saturday, May 4, 2024 during opening day at Hanna’s Town Historic Site in Hempfield.

Historic Hanna’s Town opened for the season Saturday with living history displays about what life was like in the 18th century.

The Revolutionary War-era site in Hempfield was established in 1773 as the first seat of government in Westmoreland County.

There are several log structures, a fortress and an education building as well as volunteers who impart knowledge about Hanna’s Town’s role in the formation of Westmoreland County.

On display were a textile exhibit and a Conestoga wagon, as well as demonstrations by Proctor’s Militia, a Revolutionary War reenactment unit. The militia then was one of the first military units formed west of the Allegheny Mountains and stood guard over the Westmoreland County frontier.

Hanna’s Town is now a county park and historic site.

Shane Dunlap is a TribLive photographer covering Westmoreland and Allegheny counties. He grew up in the Ohio Valley near Pittsburgh and has worked for newspapers as far away as Fayetteville, N.C., where he covered the U.S. Army at Fort Liberty. He can be reached at sdunlap@triblive.com.

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Categories: Local | Westmoreland
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