By Carol Gifford

October brings Halloween, the second most celebrated holiday by Americans, and in North Augusta, South Carolina the Living History Park’s Spirits of Hallowed Eve, a colonial version of Halloween.

The celebration, first introduced last year, includes a new theme dinner on Friday, Oct. 24, followed by ghost tours of colonial times on Saturday, Oct. 25.

“Come in 18th century or Halloween costumes, we welcome both,” said Lynn Thompson, chairman of the park and president of the Olde Towne Preservation Association. “Our family style dinner will include wine and spirits with ghostly entertainment.”

Living History Park tells the history of colonial times in South Carolina when the area played a vital role in the development of the colonies. Located in downtown North Augusta, directly across the Savannah River from Augusta, Ga., the eight-acre park is built on the former site of the North Augusta waterworks.

“We don’t do a haunted house,” said Thompson. “We’ll take people back to the 1735-1785 time period to see the spirits of the dead. We’ll have a person coming out of a coffin telling stories and see a hawk, who may be the “spirit” of an ancestor.”

The ghost walks on Saturday are free and will include storytellers and special Hallow’s Eve colonial era shows such as fire-eating performers, 18th-century circus routines and a curiosity tent, and period music, said Thompson.

People will hear stories about the history of the houses and people who may have died there, said Thompson. The park includes a colonial village with a public house, tavern, blacksmith’s forge, meeting house, cabins, slave quarters, smokehouse and cooking pit, and encampment grounds. Native Americans trade and barter around the village. Some of the site’s original structures were restored including the waterworks buildings.
Living History Park received a 2007 Bundy Award from the state. At the same time, Lynn Thompson was awarded the 2007 HEY (Hospitality Employee of the Year) Award, the first time that one attraction won both awards in the same year.

Colonial Times
Another October event is the Colonial Times weekend reenactment on Oct. 18 and 19. The free reenactment, named a top 20 tourism event in the Southeast, has demonstrations and living exhibits by reenacters who come from throughout the Southeast to interpret Colonial times. Watch butter being churned, sample bread from Colonial-era ovens, go to school or church, and watch blacksmiths and candle makers. See colonial troops in formation and encampments.

Dec. 1 brings Christmas for the Birds, an annual event to create Christmas time decorations for trees that the birds can enjoy throughout the winter.

Other activities include Last Saturday at the Park, monthly interpretations held the last weekend from January through October, showing a typical day of activities in Colonial times, and the Olde Towne Artisans’ Faire, a juried art show in April.

The sensory garden, opened last fall, includes walking trails designed for wheelchairs and special features for the visually impaired. Designed to be a sanctuary, the garden includes fragrant plants, herbal gardens, tactile hedges, trickling fountains, a nature trail, and wind-propelled chimes and melody makers.