Colonial Times event returns to North Augusta’s Living History Park after Helene damage

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. (WJBF) – North Augusta’s Living History Park is bringing the 1700s back to life—more than a year after Hurricane Helene caused major damage to the site.

Families gathered this weekend for the park’s annual Colonial Times event, which featured historical re-enactments, demonstrations, stories, and traditional food, celebrating the Colonial era of the CSRA.

While the park hosted events last Christmas season and on the Fourth of July, much of the property remained closed after the September 2024 storm. 

“A beautiful barn which was built from reconstructed materials that are hundreds of years old still has a thirty-by-twenty-foot hole in the roof,” said Bob Kaltenbach, a blacksmith at the park. 

“We have not recovered. The road you’re standing on essentially was not passable to get into the park.”

Kaltenbach said fallen trees—some at least a hundred years old—blocked access to much of the roads at the site and took months to clear.

Adding to the park’s challenges, founder Lynn Thompson passed away on July 4th, 2025.

“About the time she passed away, they set off the fireworks down at the ballpark, and it was a proper sendoff,” her husband, Jerry Murrell, said.  

“She was the one constant for the park. I have a lot of folks that came and stayed a while and left, but she was the constant.”

Organizers and volunteers say they plan to continue Thompson’s legacy by rebuilding the historic village and teaching future generations about the region’s history.

The Living History Park is expected to fully reopen for field trips and public events in March 2026.