The effects of reenactment on historic battlefields: a pilot study from McLemore Cove, Georgia

Summary

Natural and historic resource managers are confronted with conflicting obligations and priorities; they must provide access to a resource while simultaneously protecting the resource for future generations. This tension between use and preservation is apparent when members of the public want to stage military reenactments on historic battlefields. Military reenactors are a passionate constituency who support battlefield preservation and volunteer time and funds to preserve these resources. Many of these groups want to educate the public by reenacting a battle on the original site.

Though the National Park Service (NPS) has banned reenactments on NPS sites, no systemic studies have been conducted to investigate the effects reenactments have on historic sites. To assess the impact of reenactment on historic sites, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and New South Associates, Inc. conducted a comparative metal detection survey before and after the 2013 Battle of Chickamauga reenactment at McLemore Cove, Georgia. These results provide evidence that large-scale reenactment can negatively impact historic resources through the introduction of replica materials, the introduction of new features and the potential damage to above ground features and the landscape and support the NPS ban on reenactment in National Parks.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage