

They take photos, and we’re literally on opposite sides of fence. We’re eating and they’re watching, even as we’re clearly trying to get some “Off display” time, to eat our 21st-century sandwiches. This is not to say that, costumed, one does not invite this, for are we not asking to be looked at in these curious clothes? But the visitors are rude and don’t seem to know how to behave. Smith’s Castle’s people had the best notion, I think, with a structured display and demonstration set up inside a fence. They had a barrier that we, in camp, under an apple tree, did not have.
Another time, I would do it differently. Tent, fly, camp kitchen: a table barrier between us and them, and a place to go and hide.
Not to say the visitors weren’t rude no matter where we were: I took Thomas up to a shop to get him a treat (candy and a quill pen; he likes to write that way) and the tourists were as odd there as anywhere, cutting in line for one thing, but also clearly not knowing what to do with the people dressed so funny. The OSV staff–they didn’t care. Everybody’s money spent the same.