News-Record.com

Musket fire briefly drowned out the cicada calls and children danced to violin music this week at David Caldwell Historic Park in Greensboro.

Under the canopy of green trees and the white tops of a small tent city, Tim Langdon took 10 day campers back to colonial America.

Camp Flintlock, founded in 1999 by Langdon and his wife, Renne, of Four Oaks teaches school-aged children about American history during the Revolutionary War. The camp's hands-on activities emphasize character development.

Brianna Dobson, 11, of Greensboro, tried to outpace fellow camper Matthew Jones' 66 steps on a pair of wood stilts. "I think it's really fun," Dobson said. She quickly realized how hot the period dress - consisting of a long, white petticoat and a checkered pinafore - can get. The purple bandanna, however, helped keep the bugs away and her head shaded from the sun.

Playing colonial games, dancing, braiding strings to make a fancy cord and cooking over an open fire are a few of the activities these campers enjoy.

Perhaps the most popular is the tomahawk throw. Launching a sharp, wood-handled hatchet at a target seven paces away seemed to be the favorite. It's tough to make the blade stick in the wood, but camp counselor Nicholas Revels of Selma was able to successfully demonstrate, and a few campers followed his example.