Bennington Battlefield, New York August 25-27, 2017.
Bennington Battlefield, New York
This class was held in August 2017 at the Revolutionary War battlefield at Bennington, New York. The class was hosted by the Benniungton Battlefield State Historic Site. The classroom session was held at the Walloomsac Brewery, a repurposed 19th century factory on the edge of the battlefield. A driving tour of the battlefield was presented on Friday evening. Saturday and Sunday found the student and instructors in the fields that saw partial British surrender at the end of the first battle. Twenty-three students completed the class.
A variety of battle-related artifacts were recovered, including a solid shot from a British 6-pounder during the second battle. The class also resurveyed an area that had been examined previously by avocational detectorists, and the differences in the types of artifacts recovered show some of the inherent biases in collector behavior.
Instructors in attendance were Sheldon Skaggs, Patrick Severts, Rita Elliott, Dan Elliott, Jo Balicki, and Chris Espenshade. The field session also benefitted from the assistance of Joel Bohy and Bill Rose, who were made instructors following this class.