Led by Chuck "Strummer" Preble and Larry "Friar" Edwards, the group makes living-history presentations at schools, museums and historical encampments.

Trailblazers: Mountain Men in California.

We elucidate the largely ignored but primary role of the mountain men in settling California and other western states. This includes setting up a trapper's camp, displaying historical artifacts, and telling the true tales of Jedediah Smith, Kit Carson, Jim Beckwourth, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, James O. Pattie, Ewing Young, Louis Robidoux, Peg Leg Smith and other mountain men who blazed the trails across America's western frontier.

As Heritage, Friar and Strummer perform authentic old-time music on fiddle, guitar, banjo and mandolin, often accompanied by Mike "Hatman" Robinson, who plays spoons and other percussion implements, as well as Steve "Shouldamade" Woods on guitar and Nathaniel Woods on mandolin and guitar.

Hatman is a master hat maker and seamster, offering his wares for sale, and Naomi "Bead Woman" Lewis (you guessed it) creates works of art with her bead work, also for sale. Founding members include Frank "Choker Frank" Paul as well as renowned bow maker and arrowhead knapper Jerry "Red Hand" Hendry.

Books:

      Strummer and Friar each have written books relevant to the period:

• The Rendezvous Primer by Chuck "Strummer" Preble
• Food & Provisions of the Mountain Man by Larry "Friar" Edwards

      The books are available online at Downwind Press: Books for the Buckskinner

Up-coming gigs:

• Manzanita Rendezvous — May 1-10, 2008 — Living History: re-enactment of the annual mountain man rendezvous during the heydays of the Rocky Mountain fur trade, 1825-1840.
        Look for the Corps of Rediscovery. We'll be playing period music, throwing tomahawks, starting fires with flint and steel, and making presentations on the role of mountain men in settling California. Trade goods include Hatman's fine hats and Bead Woman's inspired bead work. Red Hand will be knapping arrowheads and might have a bow or two for sale.
        (Ask for us by our camp names. If you ask for us by our flatlander names, you'll probably get a glazed look of incomprehension in return. And if you add, "They have beards and are wearing buckskins," the reply will be, "You just described pert near every man in camp!")
  
  
• Living History Encampment - Idyllwild — Memorial Day Weekend — CANCELLED
  
  
• Laguna Mountain Rendezvous — October 2008 — Living History: re-enactment of the annual mountain man rendezvous during the heydays of the Rocky Mountain fur trade, 1825-1840 — held at Mesa Grande in northeast San Diego County.
  
  
• Battle of San Pasqual — early December (if it's not cancelled due to wildfire) — Re-enactment of the battle between U.S. and Mexican armies in 1846. The event features a historical encampment at the San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park just one mile east of the San Diego Wild Animal Park on San Pasqual Valley Road (State Route 78). Come on out and enjoy a bit of history. The Corps of Discovery will have its camp and historical displays set up. See below for a link to pictures from last year's event.
  
  

Recent gigs:

• Laguna Mountain Rendezvous — Living History: re-enactment of the annual mountain man rendezvous during the heydays of the Rocky Mountain fur trade, 1825-1840 — held at Mesa Grande in northeast San Diego County in October.
  
  
• Ramona Country Fair at the Ramona Rodeo Grounds — Living History: The Role of Mountain Men in Settling California — visitors were treated to a glimpse of history at a trapper's camp, and they tapped their feet to authentic music of the period. They also heard the tales of Jedediah Smith, Kit Carson, Jim Beckwourth, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau (Sacagawea's son), James O. Pattie, Ewing Young, Peg Leg Smith and mountain men who blazed the trail to California.
  
  
• Museum of the American West in Los Angeles — Living History: The Role of Mountain Men in Settling California
  
  
• Battle of San Pasqual — Re-enactment of the battle between U.S. and Mexican armies in 1846. The Americans lost — again.