The Ladies’ 1860's Society was started so girls could get together and do things related to the Civil War time period (1861-1865). I heard of other Civil War groups that were around, but none were really that close to where my friends and I lived. So, last April (2002) I thought about just starting our own group. I wanted to be able to get together with other like minded girls and do things we always talked about doing. Each month we get together and mostly sew Civil War era garments. I thought it would be good to start with the foundational garments first (the under garments). To get the period correct “look” you should first make the undergarments. Most people would like to make a dress first, but believe it or not, it really is best to start from underneath and then work your way out. With this group I wanted to teach girls that didn’t know already, the “authentic” way of doing things. Most girls that know me, know I am pretty particular about making things really how the ladies in the Civil War would have made them. I not only want the “look” of a person from this period, but I also would like to feel like they did as well. I wanted a group that could teach girls the right way so that they wouldn’t have to spend a bunch of time and money on something that wasn’t done in those days. I guess you would pretty much call this an 1860's sewing group, but I wanted to be able to do more than just sewing so I changed the name to make it more in general. Sometimes we might just get together and learn some period dances, work on hair or maybe just dress up for the fun of it! Most of us also like to go to Civil War re-enactments together. Since you really don’t find too many people that seem to like this type of thing, this society I guess is sort of a support group for us. All of us like this and it’s just so much fun getting together and doing what we all like and sharing things we have learned together!