WORTH THE DRIVE: Castle will transform into a French chateau for a day

A historic castle near West Liberty will become a French chateau for a living history event.

GIs and Jerry, Life at the Front, is a free outdoor program at Piatt Castle Mac-A-Cheek held Saturday, Oct. 3 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Visitors will see how troops during World War II lived on the front lines during the 1944 Moselle campaign in France during the re-enactment of United States and German encampments.

Weapons maintenance, patrols, skirmishes and aid stations will be among the historical recreations on the grounds of the home.

The castle is one of a pair located in Logan County called the Piatt Castles, built by brothers Donn and Abram Piatt in the 19th-century.

Mac-A-Cheek, owned and operated by the Piatt family, has been open as museum for more than a century. The second home, Mac-O-Chee, was sold last year.

“Looking at artifacts from a different time period being used is engaging and transformative,” said Margaret Piatt, the sixth generation of her family to live on the land.

The castle, with a looming five-story tower and surrounded by trees, is the background for the historical event.

“There is magic to thinking about two different time periods, two different places from multiple perspectives and it all seems so real,” Piatt said.

This is the seventh year the Greater Ohio Living History Association, WWII US Mech Forces HQ have returned for the program.

This year visitors can also watch as a video is filmed about a woman working for the French Resistance. The video will be used for school and educational organizations.

Admission to the World War II reenactment is free. Admission to Piatt Castle Mac-A-Cheek is $13 for adults, $7 for youth (5-15) and $11 for seniors (65 and older).

Piatt Castle Mac-A-Cheek, 10051 Township Road 47, is located one mile east of West Liberty. The current hours (Sept. 12 – Nov. 1) are Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

More information can be found at piattcastle.org.

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