Living History Days

At annual Grand Encampment Museum event, visitors can learn area and family history

When one walks onto the ground of the Grand Encampment Museum (GEM), it is difficult not to feel like one is being transported back in time or to the movie set of an old western. 

Old storefronts, cabins and liveries are immediately visible, all are connected by a boardwalk. The various structures, now neighbors, all had some part to play in the history of the Encampment area. While there is certainly a wealth of information on these structures during normal tour hours, during GEM's Annual Living History Days one is able to learn even more from local historians and descendants of those that homesteaded the area.

This year's Living History Days was a little quieter than in previous years. Normally, this event occurs the same time as the Sierra Madre Muzzleloaders Mountain Man Rendezvous, which was cancelled due to concerns over the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Additionally, those who came to experience the history the GEM had to offer were required to wear masks when entering the buildings.

This, however, did not appear to deter visitors.

Among the many structures that surround the GEM property are two cabins. One is a single-room building that was built by William Henry "W.H." Wolfard. Former Encampment teacher Cathy Lynch annually serves as the Wolfard Schoolhouse historian.

"He was born in Indiana. His mother died when he was three, so he was indentured as a servant to another family at the age of eight. They believed in education, thought it was very important, so they educated him. He ended up going to Kansas University and then eventually became a professor at the University of Kansas," said Lynch. 

Eventually, Wolfard contracted tuberculosis and made the move to Wyoming. Wolfard, his wife and four oldest children rode to Walcott in a boxcar with their cattle and eventually homesteaded a mile outside of Encampment.

"He educated all of them, one of them actually went to Harvard. Another I was just reading about last night, Noah, became a civil engineer and worked on some river projects in Ohio. He was so popular with the children in educating that the neighbor children became interested and decided that they also wanted to be educated. So, at one point, there were 20 children in this very small schoolhouse," Lynch said.

That love for education would continue on in the Wolfard family for generations. One of W.H. Wolfard's grandsons, Ronald Henry Wolfard, was the 4th grade teacher at Encampment where his wife, Dorothy, taught Home Economics. Lynch would, in fact, follow Ronald Wolfard as the 4th grade teacher. A number of W.H. Wolfard's descendents can still be found in the Valley and have married into the Johnson, Wagnon and Wells families.

"There are quite a few of them still living here; grandchildren, great-grandchildren. So it's quite a tribute to the family that this building is here," said Lynch.

Next to the Wolford Schoolhouse is the Peryam Cabin, which came into the family in 1912. Standing in front of this structure, which was originally built in 1877, is Andy Peryam, whose great-grandfather William Peryam homestead the area in 1879.

"Great-grandfather William Peryam and Alice Peryam and the oldest boy arrived here in 1879 to build their first cabin which was located about a mile north of Riverside," said Andy. "This cabin was originally built by a friend of Will Peryam's. His name was Guy Nichols and his nephew, Ezra Nichols. Guy was actually the uncle of Laura Nichols, who was born later."

William Peryam bought the Nichols ranch and the cabin in 1912 with the intention of two of William's sons, George and Benjamin, to start their own ranch. George being Andy's grandfather, his father and three brothers were born and raised in the Peryam Cabin. Not only can Andy serve as a tour guide and recount family history, but he has his own history with the cabin.

"It can get quite emotional at times when you start telling stories and it brings up memories that have emotions attached to them," Andy said.

Eventually, the Peryam Cabin was relocated to the GEM grounds in 1986, a donation arranged by Andy's aunt.

"My aunt Janet is the one who was very much involved with the museum early on and she made sure that his cabin got relocated here," said Andy.

This year, an exhibit not seen in the past was a mobile one and was that of a Civil War reenactor. Daniel Mattern, who also goes by Rojo Delgado when doing reenactments, had set up a small tent with historical items near the tram line that greets visitors. Mattern has been involved in reenactments for 30 years thanks to his father, who would portray a Civil War surgeon, and his mother, who would portray a Civil War nurse.

"I reached out to Tim (Nicklas, GEM Director). I was down here a couple weeks ago and we were going through the Encampment museum and they said they were having Living History Days," said Mattern. "Back in Casper, I am the National Historic Trails Foundation Board for the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center. Before that I was also on the Fort Casper Board Association."

For Mattern, a lot of research is required. Not only to make his reenactments believable but to answer questions asked by visitors about the time period he's reenacting. Mattern also sees a major education component to what he does.

"The education is very, very important. Especially now, especially that our school systems don't teach the history that we need to be teaching them on," Mattern said. "If the parents and kids can come out and learn what we actually did and what actually happened, they would get a lot more benefit out of that."

While museums are often able to boast that "history comes alive," for one day a year that sentiment rings true at the GEM in Encampment.

 

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