PRAIRIE DU ROCHER, Ill - The Midwest's largest gathering of 1700s era soldiers, settlers, traders and campers will held this weekend at the 23rd annual Rendezvous at Fort de Chartres State Historic Site near Prairie du Rocher, Ill.

Activities in Randolph County are scheduled from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday.

"Rendezvous brings people from across the country who are interested in reenacting the settlement of the Illinois territory in the mid-1700s. It recreates the traditional French fur trapper's holiday of that time period," said Darrell Duensing with the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. The fort is administered by the agency.

The event is similar to the annual Fort Massac Encampment held each October at Metropolis, Ill., except the Fort de Chartres Rendezvous is much larger.

All activities are free and open to the public. Many of the activities will include public participation for adults and children. The event is co-sponsored by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and Les Coeurers de Bois de Fort de Chartres.

Each day's activities will begin with a posting of the colors ceremony inside the fort. All participants, including soldiers, their families and settlers, will march into the fort to the sound of mid-1700s fife and drum corps and bagpipe music.

All-day activities include flintlock muzzle loading competitions, tomahawk and knife throwing, and military drills and shooting. The fort's cannon will be fired hourly, preceded by an instruction in the art of cannon firing by the 17th Illinois Territorial Rangers.

This year, Adam Adrian Crown, Master-at-Arms, from Ithaca, N.Y., will present fencing demonstrations all day, with free lessons and a "fence-off" for all age groups.

There will be more than 150 blanket traders, numerous dancing groups, five folk music groups, three fife and drum corps, a bagpipe unit, 15 historic and modern food vendors and 900 primitive campsites.

Artisan and craft demonstrations will include pottery, blacksmithing, tinsmithing, coopering, pewter casting, cordwaining, felt making, lace making, weaving, woodworking, basketry, hide tanning, gun~smithing and silhouette cutting. Many of the crafted items will be for sale.

On Saturday evening, there will be a candlelight tour of the Pierre Menard Home, located on the Bluff Road, between Chester and Ellis Grove.

Duensing said Fort de Chartres was established by the French on a swampy bank of the Mississippi River in 1720. The original fort was destroyed seven years later by a flood and was rebuilt of stone, becoming the seat of French military and civil power and the strongest military post west of the Atlantic coast. "The military commandant at Fort de Chartres had jurisdiction over an area from the Great Lakes to Arkansas," he said. "Although the guns at Fort de Chartres never fired a shot to protect French interests, the fort, and other forts like it in the French Colonial District, including those at Fort Massac,, Ill. and Lafayette, Ind., served as a deterrent to Indians who might otherwise attempt to attack the weak French settlements in the area."

The fort's powder magazine is the only original structure that was still standing when Illinois purchased the site in 1913. Since then, the entire front portion of the fort's 15-foot wall has been recon~structed, and visitors can also see the framework of the fort's buildings reconstructed over the original foundations.

The Ste. Genevieve-Modoc Ferry will be in operation throughout the Rendezvous weekend, with special operating hours. The ferry will operate between Ste. Genevieve and the Illinois side of the river from 6 a.m.-9 p.m. on Friday, 6 a.m.-10 p.m. on Saturday, and 7 a.m.-10 p.m. on Sunday. Fees are $5 per car, $8 for RVs, $10 for small buses and $25 for large buses.

To reach Fort de Chartres from the Cape Girardeau area, take Interstate 55 to Ste. Genevieve and cross the ferry. Watch for signs to the fort. Those who do not wish to cross the ferry may take I-55 to Perryville, then go east on Route 51 and cross the Mississippi River at Chester. Turn left on Illinois Route Three in Chester and drive north to Ruma, Ill. At Ruma, turn left on Route 155 and drive west to Prairie du Rocher. The fort is located four miles west of town.