BY CHELYEN DAVIS

In September 1859, there were still slaves in Spotsylvania. Virginia hadn't yet seceded. John Brown's raid in Harper's Ferry was a month off. The Montpelier Guard militia was as much a social club as a fighting force. No one had heard of the Confederacy, nor made distinctions between who wore blue and who wore gray.

It was a time Spotsylvania County tried to re-create, in small part, this weekend with the first "Past in the Present" fair.

The fair, held Saturday and Sunday in the courthouse area, was part of the state's commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.

Speakers enacted political debates of the time, including a debate over potential secession. A man sang slave songs. A medicine show entertained old and young alike.

Those who came Sunday might have seen two club nines use a willow to hit the apple then leg it around the bases for an ace.

It was vintage baseball, which comes with its own terms, and rules, circa 1864.

That meant three balls were a walk, and if a ball was caught after one bounce, it was still an out. Pitches (from the "hurler") were underhanded.

"Before TV, million-dollar contracts, and gloves," is how Bruce Leith described the vintage game. Leith is from of the Eclipse Base Ball Club of Elkton, Md., one of the teams playing.

Leith said his group is a reconstitution of a club that was formed in 1866.

The team plays with wooden bats and wears uniforms that look like those of the era--long-sleeved woolen shirts and knickers.

Leith said in the 19th century, chambers of commerce would outfit the local team, trying to make them look as spiffy as possible because when they traveled, they were walking billboards to lure tourists to their hometown.

Leith said the team travels the East Coast, mostly D.C. and north, to play other vintage teams.

Their opponents yesterday were the newly-formed Pastime Base Ball Club of Williamsburg, who were playing their first game.

Team member Stephan Zacharias said most of the team members work at Colonial Williamsburg, so historical reenactment "is a field we're all familiar with."

For them, Zacharias said, playing vintage baseball isn't just about the sport.