3 Fun Ways To Camp At A Medieval Event

My first time at a medieval event I was in awe of the campsites that were set up. As I drove though the gate I felt butterflies in my stomach at the sight of the white period tents standing proudly with banners flapping in the wind. The sheer amazement you feel when you see all of those medieval tents in one place is an incredible feeling. My question to myself was, would my modern tent be acceptable among a sea of medieval tents?

My first event was the Great Northeastern War in Hebron, Maine. When I first walked around I found out rather quickly my “mundane tent” was completely acceptable. What a relief. I would say about 75% of people that attend these events have what we call period or an attempt at period tents. The others have regular tents which is perfectly fine. It is a very relaxed atmosphere that allows for everyone to participate no matter what you have.

3 Ways to camp

• Medieval tent
• Vardo or Travelers Wagon
• Mundane tent or modern tent

Medieval Tents

As you can see in the pictures below some tents are hand painted, one has an amazing kitchen set up inside and one campsite had this really cool painted wall outside their site. Also having some modern amenities is nice like regular camp chairs and pop ups for shade. There are some that do have canvas awnings for shade, wooden tables and chairs and covers for coolers to make their campsite look more period.

Vardos

As you can see Vardos are another form of living quarters for many people who attend these events. The Vardo is a travelling wagon used by the Roma people throughout history. These wagons are very elaborately decorated on the outside as well as the inside. These two are just an example, one with more whimsy. In future articles I may post more pictures of different Vardos,

Personal Settings

These are some examples of how some like their front entrances presented to the public. I apologize for the darkness of the photos.

How it looks all together

Once again this is just a small snippet of what sites look like when all put together. It really is an incredible sight to behold. In future posts I will have more pictures of sites. Look for my article on Pennsic, or articles on Pennsic to see more incredible pictures.