Visitors at the Northeast Georgia History Center took a step back in time Sunday at a Family Day event commemorating the region’s role in the Revolutionary War.

The family-friendly event had something for every age, including children’s crafts, artifact displays and re-enactments.

Children had the opportunity to make a Betsy Ross flag and decorate an old-fashioned inkwell to immerse themselves in activities relevant to the times.

Event-goers were also able to put their own John Hancock on a lifelike copy of the Declaration of Independence and later find out the consequences that came to the original colonists who dared to do the same.

Displays on some of Georgia’s most influential Revolutionary War participants, including Joseph Habersham and Nancy Hart, after whom Habersham and Hart counties are named, stood in the lobby.

Other figures included Archibald Bulloch, James Wright and Noble W. Jones.

Educational booklets on Northeast Georgia’s Revolutionary War role, authored by the History Center’s own Dr. Steve Gurr, were also displayed. These books were used in Georgia’s public schools to educate students on the role of the area.

Linda Muller and her grandchildren Adrian, 7, and Liza, 5, were no strangers to Family Day, but Muller seemed to think this one in particular was a big hit.

“The Revolutionary re-enactment is really great for the young ones, but I love it, too. I think it’s been the highlight of the day,” she said.

The re-enactment took place in the center’s Chief White Path’s Cabin and included demonstrations of weapons, artifacts and equipment used in homes then and actors dressed as soldiers and colonists.

Children were even able to sign up to become a part of the militia, although girls had to come up with a boy’s name since girls were not then allowed to fight.

Both of Muller’s grandchildren signed up.

“They looked like they were really soldiers. I think they might have been,” said Liza of the actors in the re-enactment.

By the end of the day, it seemed the History Center’s mission had been achieved for each visitor “to return home to their friends with their heads full of knowledge and covered with laurels.”