Set in the hometown of Pennsylvania’s wartime governor, the event is an ambitious effort to bring history to life, reflect on the enduring lessons of our nation’s greatest conflict and spark conversation about America’s complex past and present.

Hosted by the Bellefonte Historical and Cultural Association (BHCA), a nonprofit dedicated to celebrating Bellefonte’s rich cultural heritage, the weekend will feature exhibits, an encampment, demonstrations, lectures, music, recreations of key speeches, cemetery tours and even a train excursion to Eagle Iron Works and Curtin Village.

“We’re going to go all in for the Civil War Weekend in Bellefonte,” said Joseph Griffin, BHCA president.

From today through Sunday, the schedule is packed with free events for both casual tourists and history buffs, featuring reenactors, historians, scholars, musicians, authors, cooks, actors and passionate local experts eager to share and explore the enduring legacy of the Civil War.

PHOTOS PROVIDED Coburn Brass will perform Saturday at the Gazebo in Talleyrand Park.

FRIDAY

Today, Friday, will kick off with fire and smoke at the Colloquium, a six-hour, ticketed, academic event at the American Philatelic Center for serious students of the war. A $20 ticket to the Colloquium will grant you the chance to attend lectures and book talks offered by experts to supplement the general offerings available to all. Three well-known Civil War experts — Scott Mingus, author of Flames Beyond Gettysburg; Derek Maxfield, author of Man of Fire: William Tecumseh Sherman in the Civil War; and keynote speaker Chris Mackowski — will discuss notable battles and figures of the conflict.

“The three talks are all emphasizing the violence and destruction of war,” said Griffin.

They will be joined at a reception by special guests Generals Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman, who will perform together on Saturday in the three-act play “Now We Stand By Each Other Always,” which illustrates their evolving relationship over the course of the war.

Friday’s festivities will also include a reenactment of Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address at St. John’s Episcopal Church and a tour of the historic Union Cemetery, focusing on the Civil War soldiers and leaders buried there.

PHOTOS PROVIDED Mike Kinney will re-enact President Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address today.

SATURDAY

Events on Saturday begin at 9 a.m. with an opening ceremony at the Centre County Courthouse, near the statue of Gov. Andrew Gregg Curtin, where a replica 1841 U.S. flag — the flag in use during the Civil War — will be on display.

The ceremony will be immediately followed by a living history rally where volunteers will be recruited to form a new company of soldiers to defend the Union.

Afterward, Camp Songer will open. Named for Civil War enthusiast and landowner Tom Songer (along with partner Mark Morath), the name of the camp echoes the historic Camp Curtin in Harrisburg, which was an important troop training and logistics center during the war.

It will be staffed by reenactors, including specialists in photography, artillery, embalming and camp cooking. As you wander the tents, you may even spot a lone Confederate infantryman who appears to have wandered away from the frontlines and found himself in Union territory.

Throughout the day, six scholars and local historians will give presentations, covering topics such as Bellefonte’s Union dead who never returned home, the Underground Railroad’s history in Talleyrand Park, Centre County’s role in the war, the restoration of First Lady of Pennsylvania Katherine Wilson Curtin’s 1880s dress, Pennsylvania’s “split personality” during the conflict and how newspaper editorials from North and South clashed during the 1860 Presidential campaign, among other fascinating topics.

Learn about Peter Meek, the slavery-sympathetic and controversial editor of Centre County’s Democratic Watchman, who, according to Griffin, “wrote the most scathing editorials, which you could not quote today,” and the draft riot that erupted in Bellefonte in 1863. Afterward, attend a Q&A with a panel of experts, including Matt Maris of Local Historia, who will try to answer any question you can fire off about the war.

Guests can also walk the camp’s static displays of Civil War-era money or cooking utensils, and listen to a powerful reenactment of Black abolitionist Frederick Douglass’s speech, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?,” performed by Wilson Kwamogi Okello, Ph.D. Meanwhile, Thompson’s Independent Battery “C” will hold artillery drills, firing their cannon throughout the day.

To immerse yourself even further, stop by Brian Sedgwick’s kitchen tent, where he’ll demonstrate how food was prepared during the war. You can sample Civil War staples such as buttermilk biscuits, hardtack (made ahead of time), beef stew, johnny cake, cornbread, sloosh (a.k.a. cush), molasses cookies, baked beans and chicory coffee — the sort of things your own great-great-grandfather may have tasted before battle.

You can also plan to stop by the gazebo in Talleyrand Park where the band Coburn Brass will perform Civil War-era classics.

For those looking to deepen their knowledge of the war, a special book sale will also take place during the weekend.

The Mechanicsburg-based Civil War and More Bookstore will open for a ticketed book sale from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., then open to the public until 3:30 p.m.

SUNDAY

The weekend winds down on Sunday with a train excursion to the Eagle Iron Works and Curtin Village, both located on an iron plantation founded by Governor Curtin’s father, where a tour will explore how its workers contributed to the war.

Tickets for the train trip are $40 per person for ages three and up.

Camp Songer will remain open into the early afternoon, and an additional tour of Union Cemetery will provide another opportunity to reflect on Bellefonte’s Civil War past.

The event will close with an interdenominational church service that will address the challenges of war, followed by a solemn ceremony to conclude the weekend among the green grass and white stones of a cemetery — a place where all wars ultimately lead.

For the full, detailed schedule, visit: bellefontecivilwarweekend.org/weekend-schedule/

Bellefonte Civil War Weekend would not have been possible without its sponsors, The Happy Valley Adventure Bureau, BHCA, Joseph Griffin, American Philatelic Society, Centre County Historical Society, Bellefonte Moose Lodge #206, W. Charles Young, Tom Songer, Mark Morath, Gary Hoover, Bellefonte Family Dentistry and Bellefonte Elks Lodge #1094.

With generous support from these sponsors, the weekend aims to foster reflection and understanding.

BHCA president Joseph Griffin described the event as a “nod to the polarization that is gripping our country right now.”

“We should not ignore the past,” he said. “If you want to be a reasonable person you should have some kind of understanding of how our country got here.”

The organizers hope the weekend will open attendees’ minds to the nuances of the Civil War and offer perspective on the nation’s current challenges.

“History is important,” Griffin said. “We ignore her at our peril.”