Older Americans Recreate Life, and Strife, in 1776

Meet the people who participate in historical reenactments and ‘living history’ exhibits

Ellen Ryan,

AARP

Comments

Published June 01, 2026

Revolutionary War reenactments and similar historical events are expected to receive renewed attention as the U.S. celebrates its 250th anniversary. Reenactors of the 1st Delaware Regiment march through the parking lot at Brandywine Battlefield Park, a historic site in southeastern Pennsylvania near the Delaware state line, on March 8, 2026.

Dolly Faibyshev

“Make ready,” the lieutenant called out to his troops. “Take aim.... Fire!”

In their blue coats and yellow-trimmed tricorn hats, the soldiers of the 1st Delaware Regiment pulled the triggers on their muskets.

The scene was a reenactment at Brandywine Battlefield Park, a historic site in southeastern Pennsylvania near the Delaware state line. It was March 8, 2026, but it could have been Sept. 11, 1777, the day the 1st Delaware and the rest of Gen. George Washington’s Continental Army took on British Gen. William Howe’s redcoats in the Revolutionary War.

Revolutionary War reenactors firing guns

The reenactors of the 1st Delaware Regiment demonstrate their firing skills. They used blanks.

Dolly Faibyshev

While American patriots and British forces fired on one another (using blanks, of course), women portrayed soldiers’ relatives and other camp followers. They chatted with visitors to the reenactment as some set out a light meal of apricots and figs, dried beef and pickled eggs; others mended uniforms.

As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, expect Revolutionary War and similar historical reenactments to receive newfound attention. It’s a practice that has gone on for more than 50 years, and one that many older people find is an active way to satisfy their love of history. “A lot of people started during the bicentennial, putting on uniforms and such,” says Bob Bendesky, 67, president emeritus of the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment, based in Philadelphia. “The bug of history was so much stronger during the bicentennial. Now those younger people are the older people.”

Sheri Lyons helps with Fane Wheeler’s costume at Brandywine Battlefield Park. Wheeler has been doing Revolutionary War reenacting for more than 10 years.

Dolly Faibyshev

Reflecting the era

Across America, reenactors stage Revolutionary War–related events at the Margaretta Days Festival in Machias, Maine; Colonial Market Days in Lebanon, Indiana; and American Revolution: 60 Years War for Ohio in Perrysburg, among many others. In addition, places like Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia and Plimoth Patuxet Museums in Massachusetts use living history to interpret colonial and prerevolutionary life on an ongoing basis.

Visitors come for the sensory experience — the sounds and smells of gunfire and the up-close visuals that can’t be captured in books or movies. Reenactors take pains to make the military drills, as well as the clothing, firearms, and fife and drum as accurate as possible. Many have spent years studying this era. Stephanie Billon, 66, who portrays a civilian camp follower (a member of a soldier’s family) with the 1st Delaware Regiment, even took classes in clothing design to learn how to make her costumes fit.

Most Popular

But some modern differences remain. Many reenactors wear glasses or hearing aids, notes Chris Mlynarczyk, 54, a member and president of the 1st Delaware Regiment living history group.

At the end of an event, after all the campfires and marching, itchy clothes and sun glare, “if it’s a weekend event, I stay and sleep on a cot in a tent. If it’s a one-day event, I go home to my own bed,” says Fane Wheeler, 56, an industrial mechanic who has done Revolutionary War reenacting for more than 10 years and was part of the March event in Pennsylvania.

Sharing history

“Whether portraying rebels or loyalists, farmers or frontier folk, reenactors keep coming back for the camaraderie and to pass on their knowledge to visitors,” Wheeler says. Reenactors may demonstrate how to start a fire using 18th-century tools or how to shoulder a musket.

a Revolutionary War reenactor looking at his glasses

Milton Sherman, one of the reenactors with the 1st Delaware Regiment, adjusts his glasses.

Dolly Faibyshev

“You learn that so much is still being learned,” Mlynarczyk says. “For instance, the Delaware Regiment had nearly every ethnicity — African Americans, people from all over Europe, Native Americans.”

That sense of discovery, of our shared past, is what reenactors enjoy. Billon, a retired intelligence analyst, demonstrates weaving using a tape loom and says, “We do living history because it creates a link between the present and the past.”

Interested in attending a Revolutionary War event? Search online for “Revolutionary War 2026,” “living history,” “250th anniversary events” or “reenactments,” along with your state or region. At the event, talk with organizers about joining as a reenactor in the future. Screening and training will likely be required. Other types of historical reenactments include Civil War battles, the siege at the Alamo, War of 1812 and living history events, such as Lewis and Clark’s expedition, the California gold rush, Midwestern farm living and old-time baseball games.

%{postComment}%