Area families and residents participated in Fairfax's seventh annual Civil War Weekend, which occurred on the grounds of the Blenheim estate May 3 and 4. Visitors to the weekend got to take tours of the Blenheim house, listen to period music, watch a skirmish between Union and Confederate troops, and listen to re-enactors talk about artillery and various battles of the period.
"We enjoy teaching people history," said Fairfax resident Cal Doucette, who, with his wife, Suzanne, portrayed parents of a Union soldier hospitalized in Washington, D.C.
"It's brother against brother," Suzanne Doucette said. "It's very emotional. It's very unique. The heritage of both sides should never be forgotten."
As visitors wound their way through the makeshift campgrounds of Civil War soldiers, they stopped to talk with Gens. George Pickett and Robert E. Lee.
Colleen Shaneybrook of Baltimore County, Md., was one of several re-enactors from out of state. She portrayed a female member of a unit of the Maryland Bible Society. The unit would follow a company of Confederate Maryland soldiers and pray for them as the soldiers went into battle.
"It's just a lot of fun," Shaneybrook said. "I've always enjoyed that period of time."