There is something wonderfully circular about history.
Sometimes, the best stories aren't found in faraway battlefields or behind the glass of a museum case. Sometimes, they begin right here—on the roads, in the villages and among the communities we still call home.
This Saturday,
August 29, 2026, The Windmill Farm & Craft Market will host a
Civil War Living History Encampment and Demonstrations, featuring a group portraying the
148th New York Volunteer Infantry.
And if you happen to be walking through the encampment, listening to the stories, watching the drills or hearing the crack of a musket, take a moment to consider this:
The men of the 148th New York didn't come from somewhere far away.
They came from here.
From the Finger Lakes.
From communities whose names are still familiar to us today.
Dundee. Penn Yan. Branchport. Benton. Milo. Jerusalem. Torrey.
The very communities that line our roads and surround our lakes sent young men south in 1862 to fight in a war that would forever change the nation.
Nearly 164 years later, the story is coming home.
A Regiment Born in the Finger Lakes
The 148th New York Volunteer Infantry was organized at
Geneva, New York, and mustered into United States service on
September 14, 1862.
Just eight days later, on September 22, the regiment left New York for the war.
It had been recruited principally from
Ontario, Seneca and Yates Counties, making the 148th very much a Finger Lakes regiment.
And the recruiting records make the local connection even more remarkable.
Company B drew men from
Dundee, Starkey, Barrington and Milo.
Company F included men from
Rushville, Potter Center, Penn Yan and Middlesex.
And
Company I included men from
Benton, Milo, Jerusalem, Torrey and Branchport, as well as Geneva and Seneca-area communities.
Think about that for a moment.
In 1862, a young man from Dundee or Branchport could look across the same landscape we know today and then leave it all behind.
He would board a train, travel south and enter a war unlike anything his small Finger Lakes community had ever experienced.
Yates County Answers the Call
The Civil War left a deep mark on Yates County.
When word reached the county in 1861 that war had begun, citizens gathered in Penn Yan. Recruiting stations were established, funds were raised to assist volunteers and their families, and local men began answering the call. The community even formed the
Keuka Rifles, one of the county's early volunteer companies.
The story of the 148th came a little later, but the same spirit of community was present.
Men from the farms, villages and crossroads around Keuka Lake became soldiers.
They were not professional warriors.
They were neighbors.
Farmers. Laborers. Tradesmen. Young men who had families, friends, work and ordinary lives waiting for them at home.
Then they went to war.
From the Finger Lakes to Virginia
The 148th spent its first years largely in Virginia, serving at places including
Suffolk, Norfolk and Yorktown.
For a time, military life meant garrison duty rather than the great battles that would eventually define the regiment.
But in 1864, everything changed.
The regiment became part of the Army of the James and entered some of the fiercest fighting of the war. The 148th fought during the campaigns around
Bermuda Hundred, Drewry's Bluff and Cold Harbor, and later participated in the long struggle around
Petersburg. At Cold Harbor, the regiment suffered
124 killed, wounded and missing.
At Petersburg, the losses continued. The young men who had left places like Penn Yan, Dundee and Branchport were now fighting in trenches and battlefields hundreds of miles from home.
The Cost of War
The numbers tell a sobering story.
During its service, the 148th New York lost
267 men to death.
That included:
65 killed in action
44 who died from wounds
158 who died from disease and other causes
24 enlisted men who died while prisoners
The regiment served from September 1862 until June 1865.
Behind every number was a name.
Behind every name was a family.
And behind every family was a community waiting and wondering if their son, husband, brother or father would come home.
More Than a Reenactment
That is what makes Saturday's event at The Windmill so interesting.
A Civil War living-history encampment isn't simply about putting on a uniform and pretending to be somewhere else.
It gives us an opportunity to
step into the past.
To see the tents.
To watch soldiers drill.
To learn about the equipment they carried.
To hear about camp life.
To see demonstrations and experience, as closely as possible, what military life looked and sounded like in the 1860s.
And perhaps most importantly, it gives us an opportunity to remember the people behind the uniforms.
Because the 148th wasn't just a number.
It was made up of men from places we know.
The Beautiful Circle of History
There is something wonderfully circular about this particular event at The Windmill.
The 148th was born in the
Finger Lakes.
Its companies were filled with young men from the small communities that still surround us today.
Dundee. Penn Yan. Branchport. Benton. Milo. Jerusalem. Torrey.
They left these communities in 1862 and traveled hundreds of miles south into a war that would change the nation.
Now, nearly 164 years later, a living-history group portraying the
148th New York is setting up camp in our own backyard.
That's more than a reenactment.
It's a chance to remember that the Civil War has a
Finger Lakes story.
And some of those soldiers' roots are right here around Keuka Lake.
Come Walk Through History
If you're heading to The Windmill this Saturday, take a little extra time to visit the encampment.
Civil War Living History Encampment & Demonstrations
Saturday, August 29, 2026
The Windmill Farm & Craft Market
3900 NY-14A, Penn Yan, NY
8:00 AM–4:30 PM
The Windmill is open Saturday from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, with free admission and parking, making the encampment an easy addition to a day of exploring the market. The Windmill Farm & Craft Market
Come for the market.
Stay for the history.
And when you walk among those Civil War tents, remember something that is easy to forget:
Those soldiers came from here.
They walked these same Finger Lakes communities.
They knew these roads.
They left behind families who waited for them.
And for one Saturday, their story comes home.
Small Towns. Big Personalities. One Crooked Lake.
That's Keuka Roots.
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