The Pennsylvania Civil War 150 Road Show is on exhibit now through Sunday between 1-9 PM at the southern end of Kittanning Riverfront Park. Admission is free.
by David Croyle
A traveling exhibit housed in an expandable 53-foot tractor trailer is located in the southern end of Kittanning Riverfront Park as part of this year’s Fort Armstrong Folk Festival.
The Pennsylvania Civil War 150 Road Show tells the compelling personal story of Pennsylvanians during the Civil War, both on the home front and the battlefield.
Richard Essenwein, Senior Vice Commander for the Department of Pennsylvania Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, explained the significance of the exhibit.
“The state of Pennsylvania is commemorating the sesquicentennial (150-years) of the Civil War. The Road Show is an interactive exhibit. We’ve been working on this for two years to get it to Kittanning. This trailer will be touring the state for the next four years.”
Essenwein said there are many technology features to the exhibit.
“There’s a recording booth in there. You can go in and record your Civil War family history or any stories you have about the war. The video is then posted online for the rest of the world to see. There’s a scrapbooking station where you can type in your email address and get your photo taken. By the time you get home tonight, it will be in your inbox and will print out as a Civil War scrapbook format.”
Essenwein said he believed the exhibit was approved to come to Kittanning so quickly after its launch because of the persistence of his group.
“We applied for it and honestly, I think we overwhelmed them with so much information on what we do. We have artifacts from Armstrong County during the war. We were required two programs per day. We have expanded it to four programs per day and five on Saturday. I think it just amazed them, when they looked at it and saw how much we could do and how much we were willing to do.”
Essenwein said the exhibit will be available for touring today through Sunday from 1 till 9PM. In addition, there will be five programs per day in the gazebo near the exhibit.
The visit is sponsored by the Sons of Union Veterans of Civil War Camp 43, the Sara A. Crawford Auxiliary, in addition to cooperation with the Fort Armstrong Folk Festival and the Armstrong County Historical Society.