Kings Landing Historical Settlement

King's Landing is a donald recreation of a New Brunswick town from the period of 1780-1910. It was created around buildings that were saved and moved to make way for the headpond for the Mactaquac Dam.

It was primarily settled by Loyalists (called the United Empire Loyalists in Canada), although the Scottish, Irish and English were early settlers as well. It is approximately 40 km west of Fredericton, New Brunswick in the community of Prince William.

Kings Landing Historical Settlement is a representation of rural New Brunswick during the 19th and early 20th century. It is not a replica of an actual village, but a collection of salvaged or recreated buildings from around the Mactaquac headpond and other locations around New Brunswick. With few exceptions, all the historical buildings on site have been moved and remodelled to specific years in their history. The project was originally started in the late sixties and continues to the present day, new buildings are being added every few years.

Interpretation

While the collection and preservation of artefacts is a major part of daily business, Kings Landing is first and foremost a living museum. The principle is simple, "Tell them and they'll forget. show them and they'll remember. involve them and they'll understand," costumed interpreters with extensive knowledge of their area, and often more than one area, bring the site to life for the visitors. Interpretation on site ranges from simple explanations of household objects to complete demonstrations of period activities.

Areas

There are currently more than a dozen houses on site, all of which are original buildings. In the houses, employees welcome visitors, go about daily chores, cook period meals and create period crafts, all while in costumes representative of the setting year. There are also "Trades" buildings, these are out of the home "jobs" in the village. Being a living museum, these buildings are kept in working order whenever possible and, in some case, even provide goods and services for other parts of the village and for sale in the shops. There is also a number of barns, and appropriate livestock to go with them. This ranges from chickens and geese to large work horses and oxen. The animals are kept on site not only for show, but for practical purposes, as well. For example, the chicken give eggs, the cows produce milk and the horses are used to pull wagons for the visitors from one end of the village to the other.

pecial Events

Every few weekends, there are what is known as Special Events. These are often recreations of specific events in New Brunswick's history. They normally correspond to s particular date, or time of the year. For example, around and on July the 1st, there is the Confederation Debate where Charles Fisher and William Needham are portrayed by actors and the visitors get a taste of the controversy surrounding the formation of Canada. As with most of the activities on site, the visitors are encouraged to join in, asking questions, giving votes, and heckling opponents to their views, all in good fun, of course.

External links

* [http://www.kingslanding.nb.ca/english/index.htm King's Landing Historical Settlement]