Re: MtMan-List: pilgrim outfit

["Lanney Ratcliff" <rat@htcomp.net>]

Kirk
I have given the same advice to numerous pilgrims.  DO NOT SPEND A BUNCH OF
MONEY TO GO TO YOUR FIRST RENDEZVOUS!!    A weekend pre-1840 club rendezvous
will have a multitude of different styles of dress, accoutrements, shelters,
guns --- everything---for you to see.  Call a club member (preferably an
officer) and ask that person to put you in contact with a club member (s)
near your home.  Visit with that person and find out more particulars about
that club.  Ask him to help you outfit yourself in a "generic", lowcost set
of clothes.  Find out if a pair of boots or moccasins you might already own
is acceptable at that club's doin's.  That sort of thing.   You might spend
$12 on Book of Buckskinning Vol.1 and read it.  It will give you a
reasonably useable overview of buckskinning.  However, don't make the
mistake of treating it as holy writ...just a guide.  Contact Scurlock
Publishing Co. Inc,  Dept B7, Rt 5, Box 347-M, Texarkana, Texas  75501,
800-228-6389.   Most clubs are pretty forgiving of newcomers and visitors so
long as they display the right spirit and show up in a reasonably acceptable
outfit.   Some clubs have a supply of clothes to loan to a pilgrim, although
you might find most of the loaners to be outgrown kids' stuff.  At any rate,
a first timer's clothes should be as non-specific as possible---something
just about anyone would have worn in the time from about 1840 back to the
turn of the eighteenth century...cloth trousers, cotton pullover,
dropshoulder shirt, wide leather belt with a simple buckle and (at most
rendezvous) round or square toe, low heel leather boots with the tops kept
under the trouser bottoms or moccasins.   Get a natural colored canvas
haversack to carry a spoon, a tin pie plate and a tin (or plain crockery)
cup. Avoid blue, green, red or any other color speckled enamel ware.
Period.   People will darn near compete to feed you (if you're not a jerk or
something), but it is considered good manners to provide your own place
setting, as it were.  Ask your club contact  his advice on a bedroll and to
help you find someone you can camp with.  A good wool blanket rolled into an
8X8 or 10X10 square of white canvas with a smaller canvas ground cloth is a
good start.  Find out how to set a diamond shelter with the square of canvas
or stretch it over a rope or wooden ridgepole to make a simple "A" frame
tent.  Most clubs allow very nearly anything in a camp so long as it is kept
covered--completely-- and will permit a car in camp for a short time on  to
unload on Friday (or even early Saturday).  So don't be shy about bringing a
cooler with drinks and fresh food and a sleeping pad of some sort.  Bring
food that doesn't need to be cooked or that can be cooked simply (on a
stick) over a fire.  Wander around camp and observe the various cooks in
action, and come better equipped next time.
Don't buy a gun before going to rendezvous for the first time.  If you must
carry somethig, carry a walking staff.  It will make you look a little like
Moses  and costs essentially nothing.  There will be guns there of every
description and  if you let it be known that you would like to talk about
guns, you will find people falling all over themselves to talk about guns,
to show you theirs and to let you shoot them.   Talk with these same people
about their clothes and why they dress the way they do.  You will soon see
the various times and places that are represented.  If one particular style
appeals to you do, find out all you can about that style...is it actually
period and, if so,  specifically when and where that style of dress was
common.  If you are certain that you have found a suitable style of dress,
find out what gun would be appropriate to carry.   Don't make this decision
in haste.  Take your time...your generic stuff will always be correct.  When
you are resonably certain about a particular style, do the research
necessary to get yourself a good, sturdy, not too showey outfit.  Then
concern yourself about a gun.  If you decide , for instance, that the French
& Indian War period (1756) is where your interest lies, you don't want to
suddenly remember that you already spent a small fortune on a top quality
percussion mountain rifle suitable for the  Rocky Mountains in the1830's.
Then you will have to once again explain to She Who Must Be Obeyed how
important it is for you to spend $1200 on a gun that only shoots once.
Waugh!!   However, when you have decided...for sure...where your interest
lies, then buy the best gun you purse will allow.  In fact, strain it a
little.  Ask the people with the best guns where they got theirs and if the
same name keeps coming up go find that gunmaker.
Pardon my long winded reply to your query.  I hope you find some good
guidance in your persuit of this truly wonderful hobby---that's what it is,
you know.  However,if you are lucky you find will yourself  making
buckskinning an integral part of you lifestyle,  your daily conduct, even
your home's decor.  You will find that you will have greater confidence and
pride in yourself and your abilities.  Most people are too timid to do what
you will soon be able to do without thinking twice.
Good Luck
Lanney Ratcliff
rat@htcomp.com










-----Original Message-----
From: Mill, Kirk <millk@aydin.com>
To: ML MAILING LIST <mlml@vnet.net>
Cc: history mailing list <hist_text@xmission.com>
Date: Wednesday, July 29, 1998 1:30 PM
Subject: MtMan-List: pilgrim outfit


>I have been discussing this question with some people off-line and I
decided
>the best way to get the definitive answer would be to post it.
>What would you folks consider to be the minimum outfit (clothing, shelter,
>cookware, etc.) that a pilgrim like myself needs for a weekend rendezvous
>that advertises as "pre-1840's"?  Thanks in advance for your help.
>
>
>Kirk Mill
>