Hillsborough invites childlike curiosity through living history event –

Writer Suzanne Adair sat on the front porch of the Visitors Center alongside her historical crime novels. She said she used to be a reenactor with her sons, one of which was on the back lawn performing a battle reenactment between the British Army and the American Militia. 

During her childhood in Florida, Adair said that people around her seemed to forget the state’s involvement in the Revolution. One of the books in her “Mysteries of the American Revolution” series partly deals with Florida’s colonial history. 

She has now written numerous novels, with her most recent series taking place during Wilmington’s occupation by the 82nd regiment of the British army in 1781, featuring Michael Stoddard, a minor character in her earlier novels. 

“The Michael Stoddard series is actually a huge cautionary tale about what happens when we don’t keep our vigilance when we fight among each other, and we’re not paying attention,” she said.

Adair said she had been at “Rev War Day” many times and she always enjoyed it. The event brings out people’s childlike curiosity, Boyd said, making it a unique experience that draws people in, year after year.

“You’ll see tons of families out here — young kids, they love to do it, especially the firing demonstrations and when you see anybody in a red coat or any type of regalia, you’re just like ‘what is going on?’ and you get more curious,” she said. 

The Alliance for Historic Hillsborough helps with the back end of many different events and assists in different aspects of local organizations, Boyd said. Through working with Visit Hillsborough, she said the Alliance gets to “be the megaphone for how awesome our town really is.”

She said that “Rev War Day” is one of the yearly highlights for the Hillsborough community.

“Being able to really say that this is a community-wide, free event for people is really important for us to make information and public history — and the fun parts of public history — accessible to everyone in a unique way,” Boyd said.

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