This weekend, on June 2 and 3, Clark will be transformed into a battlefield. Black powder smoke and the sounds of muskets cracking will fill the air around the Dr. Robinson Plantation and nearby during the 's Living History Weekend. Several groups of Civil War reenactors will make camp at the Plantation and hold demonstrations and skirmishes all weekend.
Festivities will take place between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday, and from 10 to 3 p.m. on Sunday. The site will play host to the 2nd Rhode Island, 3rd New Jersey and 7th Virginia regiments, totaling about 35 reenactors. The group will make an authentic Civil War-era military camp on the plantation grounds, sing marching songs, display and clean their weapons, and interact with visitors. The reenactors and visitors will also head over to Esposito Park, where the reenactors will perform a skirmish like those fought in the Civil War.
The Robinson Plantation will be open for tours throughout the weekend, including a candlelit tour between 8:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Saturday. Also present throughout the weekend will be other period players, such as a caner (wicker weaver), toymaker and haberdasher. This will mark the fourth year reenactors will have performed in Clark.
Though no battles took place in New Jersey during the Civil War, Clark and the Dr. Robinson Plantation did not remain unaffected. George Zimmerman, resident of the plantation house, fought for the Union, and his discharge papers, dated 1866, hang framed on one of the plantation's walls.