Raw States
Fort Massac Encampment
Metropolis, IL · Arts & Culture
- When
- October 17–18, 2026
- Where
- Fort Massac State Park · Metropolis · IL
- Cost
- Not confirmed
- Status
- Confirmed from the organizer's published schedule
Fort Massac State Park, Illinois's first state park, hosts a living-history encampment each October reenacting eighteenth and early nineteenth century military life. Illinois DNR and the Friends of Fort Massac have run it since 1974, with mock battles, tactical demonstrations, and retreat ceremonies. The 2024 event marked its fiftieth anniversary.
The history within reach
- Fort Massac Encampmentsame spot
Fort Massac State Park, Illinois's first state park, hosts a living-history encampment each October reenacting eighteenth and early nineteenth century military life.
Enriched uranium for weapons and reactors for sixty years, at one point drawing more electricity than any other site in the country.
Two Paducah men shaped how the country saw itself: Barkley, Senate majority leader and Truman's vice president, who coined the term Veep.
The explorer bought 37,000 acres at the mouth of the Tennessee for five dollars, laid out a town and named it, by his own account, for the Padouca people, though no such group is known to have lived here.
- Battle of Paducah7.5 mi
Nathan Bedford Forrest raided the town and demanded the surrender of Fort Anderson, held partly by Black troops of the 8th US Colored Heavy Artillery.