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August 30, 2012

Living history re-enactment coming to John Work House

Event will take place Saturday and Sunday

NEWS AND TRIBUNE newsroom@newsandtribune.com

CHARLESTOWN — A 200th anniversary commemoration living history re-enactment of the Pigeon Roost Massacre will take place at the Historic John Work House at Tunnel Mill in Charlestown from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. There will be a special commemoration program at 1 p.m. both days.

Re-enactors will demonstrate the lives of American pioneers and Native-American residents throughout the day. The 200-year-old Historic John Work House, which is undergoing restoration, will be open for tours both days. The house is located at 3709 Tunnel Mill Road in Charlestown.

On Sept. 3, 1812, a band of Native American warriors on their way to join a combined tactical siege of Fort Wayne and Fort Harrison came across the small settlement of Pigeon Roost, near what is now Lexington. Most of the men of the village had gone out hunting, leaving the settlement unguarded and vulnerable. Heated from violent frontier warfare during the War of 1812, the war party attacked the settlement and destroyed it.

The home of Indiana pioneer John D. Work was close to this settlement and it didn’t take long for the news of the attack to travel. Several families gathered at the Historic John Work House, now on the National Register of Historic Places, for protection should the war party continue along the river. For days, Clark County residents prepared for another attack, however it did not come. Some weeks later they would learn of the siege of the two Northern Indiana forts.

This incident had a huge historical impact on the frontier. The goal is not to glorify war, or vilify either side, but rather to explain the atmosphere of the period and create a greater understanding of the cause and effect of a clash of cultures so uniquely foreign to each other.

The Historic John Work House was built in 1811 as a part of the Tunnel Mill site. In spring 2010, a historically-oriented company, Taylor Rose Historical Outfitters, contracted with the owners, the Boy Scouts of America, to restore the building and use as a primary business location, education and historical interpretive center.

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