Meet Your Neighbor: A marriage blessed by history

History isn’t dead; it comes alive through historical reenactments.

Meet your neighbors and residents of Leesville in Crawford County, Grant and Lisa Zucker. The couple began reenactments seven years ago.

“The furthest we’ve gone was Old Bedford, Pennsylvania; it’s about a 5½ hour drive and the closest we did was an event here in Bucyrus,” said Grant.

One of their reenactments is the capture of Colonel William Crawford at what is today’s Lowe-Volk Park on Ohio 598 in Crestline.

They say doing reenactments has opened their world.

“It’s allowed us to travel and see things through a different view than just reading it in a textbook or seeing it on TV,” said Lisa.

The Zuckers have helped history come alive in Richland County as well.

“The REACH program — Richland Early American Center for History — they take care of the blockhouse compound at South Park," Lisa noted. "They have a blacksmith shop they just opened and several log cabins over there. That’s a program we have dealt with because there’s a lot of reenactors with it.”

Reenactments require time and planning

Performing reenactments keep the couple busy through much of the year.

“Sometimes at the local events we’re at some place like the Historical Society for a couple hours, but for the larger reenactments where they have a battle scene and you’re camping it’s all weekend — from Friday night through Sunday afternoon," said Lisa. "We could find someplace to go from early spring to fall almost every weekend.”

Characterizations of historical figures require precise details.

“Everything we do is 100% period-correct," said Grant. “We wear period-correct clothes, we have period-correct firearms, we cook period-correct.”

Lisa says they do a lot of different portrayals, depending on the event and whether they're doing Revolutionary colonial times or the Civil War period.

The Zuckers have their favorite locations.

“Mine’s Hale Farm in Bath, Ohio,” said Grant. “That was the first event I ever did.”

“I am partial to Lyme Village up in Bellevue,” said Lisa. “I spent some time on their Historical Society Board. You really get the atmosphere of being in an old-fashioned town.”

Historical costumes help tell the story

Lisa says Revolutionary War attire is always pretty modest.

"The costumes are always very simple. You’ll see everything is put together by pins and not strings; there were no zippers or buttons at that time, she said.

“I am pretty much a Union soldier,” said Grant, “so everything that I have on and carrying is 100% authentic to the Civil War — right down to the thread counts of the clothes I got on.”

On his feet Grant wears Brogans.

“Every soldier would’ve had a pair. They’re leather, the soles are wood," he said. "For traction, they put metal horseshoes on the bottom of them.”

A military company in the U.S. Civil War could have as many as 1,500 men, according to Grant. Movement could be slow and soliders learned very quickly what they needed and what they didn’t need, sometimes marching 30 miles a day.

Reenactors don’t go nearly that far.

“The furthest we’ve ever marched through battle was a mile,” Grant said.

The company size in the historical reenactment camps can vary with as many as 20 people.

A lot of lessons were learned from the Civil War

Life-saving skills were learned through the tragedy of war, and the nursing profession gained many recruits.

“Florence Nightingale was a Civil War nurse,” Lisa pointed out. “She was one of the founders of a nursing school for women providing health care for the veterans.”

The Zuckers are a proud family. They have three children — Lane, Brooke and Tyler.

“My oldest is really into the Civil War and Revolutionary War; he’s going to be my history teacher," Grant said. "My daughter is into the Civil War. My youngest just comes along with us to have fun.”

Contact Lisa Zucker at L_zucker@yahoo.com if interested in historical reenactments.

Correspondent Joe Di Lullo can be reached at jp.dilullo0926@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Grant and Lisa Zucker bring history to life through reenactments