Woodman Museum 12# Napoleon Restoration Unveiling

This past Saturday, four members of our wargaming club went to Dover NH's Woodman Museum to attend their unveiling of their recently restored original Civil War 12# Napoleon cannon.  The Woodman Museum has a complete colonial-era garrison house in its collection which was relocated from nearby Dover point in the 1850s, a nice collection of historical artifacts from it and the surrounding area from both the colonial and 1850s era when the house ceased to be occupied. The museum also hosts several other collections including John Wilkes Booth artifacts.

The 12# Napoleon cannon was recently restored and according to the Museum's website, "was forged in 1863 by Henry N. Hooper & Co. of Boston, MA and was one of four acquired by the New Hampshire National Guard after the conclusion of the Civil War. The original limber and carriage were manufactured by the Woodman Brothers of New York.  The limber itself includes rare and original sabots (cupped wooden projectile holders)."

There are a lot of original Civil War cannons remaining, but precious few retain their original carriages, caissons and hardware. Although this restoration had to replace many pieces of the original wood, the original hardware, including the copper caisson cover remains. The restoration looks beautiful. The cannon will be housed in a sealed garage at the museum which will be opened up for public viewing and the cannon pulled out for special events. This should protect it from further damage from the weather. For those interested in helping the Woodman Museum recoup the cost of this restoration, they have a gofundme page for you to support the effort.

The reveal included an initial salute by NH reenactors firing a 10# Parrot cannon in salute, followed later by two full firing demonstrations. All three can be viewed below, videoed by me at the event.

Northern Conspiracy July 2019 Game Night

Last Friday night was the Northern Conspiracy's July game night. Two larger games were run. I played in Charlies 28mm Napoleonic game featuring his rules, Napoleon's Rules of War. Ralph, Kevin, Byron and I played the outnumbered French trying to link up around a Spanish held Town. Mark, Rob and Dick did a good job of keeping Ralph and I controlled and surrounded while fending off Byron and Kevin's repeat attacks. Good fun!

On the other Table Phil ran a very popular 15mm Fire & Fury civil war game. The ever popular rule set brought out some faces we haven't seen in a while which was great. UPDATE! More photos taken by Rob available here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/45w6f2aj15tl2ll/AABvY3PpWEOtuftoitH9Sq3Na?dl=0

Owl's Head Transportation Museum

This past week my wife and I vacationed in Thomaston, Maine visiting family. While there we visited the Owl's Head Transportation Museum in nearby Owl's Head Maine. My primary interest in the Museum was the collection of flying replica WWI aircraft as well as several original WWI items, including Crosses from a German plane shot down by Maine WWI ace and former Maine Govenor, Sumner Sewall.  This is a well maintained and active museum. The collection includes a running gnome rotary engine that they run for demonstration purposes and flying WWI replicas in 1:1 scale. The collection also includes many WWI-era cars and trucks as well as other era vehicles. Well worth a visit for any fan of turn of the century transportation.

For many more photos, see this Google Gallery.