I’ve posted various Fair Camp setups from the Ft. Fred Fair in previous year’s posts. Most folks setup with a wedge or wall tent and a dining fly. This year I thought I would focus on the minimalists of the fair – the folks camped under diamond flies and such like affairs..
Diamond flies are square pieces of canvas measuring anywhere from 7x7 to 14x14 feet in size. They typically have reinforced corners with a tent peg style loop and a centered canvas reinforcement with a tent peg style loop or web ties. The plow point pitch is the most popular around here. Two adjacent sides of the diamond are staked down with the corner in the back set into the wind. The free corner is then tied off to an upright pole which is itself held firm with guy lines. A third rope is tied to the diamonds center and a second upright. This gives one a bit more headroom under the diamond.
These two diamonds share a front upright and use a two pole rear set for each diamond. The headroom created is easy to see in this photo. Diamonds are easy to setup but don’t provide secure and dry sleeping in a wind driven rain.
This lean-to setup uses 2 rectangles of canvas and 4 tied on triangular end pieces. As you can see by the man inside, the headroom is fairly low. There are also canvas pieces to tie into the openings between the lean-tos. This gives good rain protection while also allowing ample ventilation in hot & clear weather.
These folks hadn’t finished setting up yet. It shows the basic lean-tos without any tie in sections.
This is a true Lean-to with sewn on sides. The front section of the roof has been dropped down to act as a door for privacy.
Just for comparison, here’s a statelier dining area:
Ft. Frederick State Park has been setting up the inside of one barracks with “rooms” from the fort’s garrisoned era. This year they also has an officer to give a more personal side to life in a frontier fort.
He was just finishing a presentation on enlisted soldier’s wives as I came in.
They’re expanded the military equipment in the quartermaster’s storeroom and made the contents of the various kegs and boxes easier to see.
These are some of the equipment added since last year.
The Laundry Room now has laundry as well as a baskets, washboards and small wash basins for spot scrubbing.
There does seem to be a deliberate effort to show things in an in-use state, including broken bits and things needing repair or replacement.
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