By Nacogdoches Miller

Sun Intern

Fort Boonesborough will host the 19th annual Summer Trade Days Saturday and Sunday.

The park will feature camps and stores where guest will be able to purchase commodities related to the 18th Century, allowing patrons to compare modern life to life in the histrical period.

“There will be a Blacksmith with iron tools, there will be hand spun yarns, there will be leather work,” said Emily Burns, a historic interpreter for the park.

In Burns’ role she focuses on gardening items for food, medicinal purposes and natural dyes.

This year’s venue added new selections of “period skills” people can learn including a quill pen workshop and a plant medicine workshop.

Skill classes start at $20 per person with limited slots and times available, giving people a couple hours to immerse in the class.

Skill demonstrations will be seen both days throughout the weekend.

“It’s a gathering of traders, 18th century artisans, long hunters, scouts, other frontier characters,” Burns said.

This year, the park is offering “frontier peddlers.” Frontier peddler were often known for carrying goods on their backs, so in honor of that, the park is hosting a contest at 4 p.m. Saturday to see who can do the best impression.

The fort is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days; regular admission is $8 for adults and $5 for children.

The Fort Boonesborough foundation will be selling hotdogs, burgers, BBQ and chips to support programing for the fort.

For more information, visit fortboonesborough-livinghistory.org .