One of my best friends is turning 30. I haven’t gotten her a birthday gift probably since she turned 18. I figure now would be a good time to get her something cool.
She doesn’t have too many exciting interests but I do know she is a big American Civil War fan. Or, buff, if you will.
She’s got all the books and movies and documentaries. And soundtracks. I don’t want to get her something she already has or would buy for herself.
I am pretty sure she doesn’t have any gear or swag from the War. She just studies it from afar.
I am sure there’s a bunch of Civil War buffs here…any suggestions for a cool gift under or around $50 that I could get for her?
Being from Ohio I’m pretty convinced she’s on the “side” of the North…so if you point out any replica (or real) gear please tell me what “side” it’s on - I have no clue.
When I was looking into this for my son a while back, I was surprised at how inexpensively you could purchase authentic ammo from the period. Not sure how you protect against fakes, tho.
A town near me sporadically does Civil War reenactments. Perhaps you could see if there was something near you and then drive her, accompany her, or buy her a ticket, or something like that?
What town would that be? You and I live close together I think. Close enough.
I did not know you could go watch these things. It never occurred to me.
She’d LOVE to participate but she has really bad knees. She’d also probably not be interested in women’s roles. But if we could go watch, that’d be cool!
Thanks for the link, Rodd. I am pouring over the site.
This site has some really nice 19th century writing things. There’s a beautiful writing chest for $53. Or this magnifier for $22. Everything is high quality – I have a couple of the smaller pen and ink sets, and they’re very nice.
That suggestion aside, I think the idea to go to a reenactment with her is an excellent one. It’s not any fun to go by yourself, and I would say the gift of time is the best one of all.
Oh, yeah. It’s quite fun to watch. Lots of running around and charging horses and cannons. Most of them have campgrounds that you can go through, and the people can be insanely accurate about the period.
It looks like the town near me hasn’t had one since 2000. I’m down in SE Ohio.
But I found this one in September in Zoar which would be a really easy drive for you from Cleveland:
One of the largest Civil War Reenactments ever in Ohio!
I found a link that I was looking for when this thread originally came around. Sullivan Press has lots of reproduction Civil War paper goods – blank army forms that you can fill out yourself, soldier’s papers, Beadle’s dime books (Idiot’s Guides for the 19th century, basically) etc. There are forms for both the Union and the Confederacy. Unfortunately, there are no dishonorable discharge forms, so you can’t fill one out stating your friend was kicked out for being a woman!
Dixie Gun Works has some neat stuff. Civil War reproductions, ‘Rendezvous’ accoutrements, American Revolution stuff, black powder firearms, cannons, swords, buckles, belts, buttons, period fire starting kits, etc.
Ohio stuff:
[ul][li]THE BORDER WARS OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY $24.95 [/li][li]Ohio State Flag $32.50 [/li][li]Ohio Country Map $12.00 [/li][li]Forts of the Ohio Country Map $12.00 [/li][li]Ohio Long Rifle Blueprint $7.95 [/li][*]Civil War Camps in Ohio Print $12.00[/ul]
Her birthday was Feb 2. I ended up printing up a nice “coupon” for an “all expenses paid trip to the Battle on the Ohio-Erie Canal” which is the reenactment jsgoddess mentioned. Told her I’d pick up the hotel (if needed), food and a souviner. She thought it was awesome and is excited to go.
If you want to get a jump on next year, you might look into doing a battlefield tour. Gettysburg is awesome. There a museum, a movie, the electric map display (giant sandtable, with lights indicating troop positions while a narrator describes the timeline of the battle) plus the actual battlefield, with historical markers. I think you can rent a tape that has narration keyed to different locations.
Oh, yay, ZipperJJ! I’m sure that was the best route – this way you’re making memories. As corny as it sounds, a memory is something worth its weight in gold, which is quite light, but I understand to be more than, let’s say, its weight in tin.
A trip to Ford’s Theatre and the Petersen House across the street might be something you could do. But it would be under $50 only if you had friends in the DC area you could stay with. The theatre is very accessible via the DC Metro. (Trust me; public transportation is the only way to go. ) Be sure to check ahead of time whether you can visit the presidential box because the National Park Service (NPS) occasionally closes the balcony. It seems NPS doesn’t always have enough staff to properly watch over the site.
As long as you’re in town you can then visit Lafayette Square where Daniel Sickles of Gettysburg fame gunned down one of Francis Scott Key’s sons (yes, that Key), Philip Barton Key Daniel Sickles - Wikipedia The people at the Stephen Decatur house can point you in the right direction as there really isn’t any marker.
Don’t even try to visit any of the local forts that surrounded DC (a.k.a. the Federal City). The neighborhoods are pretty crappy :eek: except for Ft Ward in VA.
) Be sure to check ahead of time whether you can visit the presidential box because the National Park Service (NPS) occasionally closes the balcony. It seems NPS doesn’t always have enough staff to properly watch over the site.