The Rev. Sigmund Podlozny of Lowell was recently named Fort Ticonderoga s 2012 Volunteer of the Year. Podlozny spent most of July and August as a minister
The Rev. Sigmund Podlozny of Lowell was recently named Fort Ticonderoga s 2012 Volunteer of the Year. Podlozny spent most of July and August as a minister performing 18th-century divine services based upon his own research of the era. COURTESY PHOTO

LOWELL -- Retired Rev. Sigmund Podlozny has a unique skill for an ordained minister -- he can deliver a sermon from two vastly different eras.

Podlozny can usher his listeners effortlessly from 1775 to 2013, and right back again. He doesn't need a time machine. His specialty is historical re-enactment, and last year Fort Ticonderoga named the Lowell resident its volunteer of the year.

Podlozny said he was asked to work a week last summer at the historic fort along the banks of Lake Champlain in New York. He wound up staying for two months, contributing 436 hours of work. He doesn't recall working a single hour. For him, it was fun.

Q: What first got you to Fort Ticonderoga and connected you to it?

A: I went there for the first time when I was 8 years old. I'm 68 now. There were no major highways, and it was a family trip. Great as a kid with all the cannons but after about a half hour, it's just another museum and you want to go somewhere else. But then I got involved in living history.

Q: So here in Massachusetts, what living-history group are you a part of?

A: I'm with the Danvers Alarm List, located, of course, in Danvers. We own and operate the Rebecca Nurse Homestead. Like Fort Ticonderoga, we're a nonprofit. All the money is raised by volunteers. Rebecca Nurse was accused of being a witch. She was really one of the older women and quite saintly. There was a film done about her on PBS.

Q: When did you get involved in living history?

A: It was 1972.


A group I had formed was in Newburyport. It was a naval unit. Then all of a sudden, the call came to ministry and education, history and biblical studies, here and overseas. Then this was after school, and a person asked me if I would do 18th-century religious services. I said I'd do a couple. And that was it. I had known the Danvers Alarm List a long time, so a member named Dick Trask asked me to join. I didn't have much interest, but he told me about a minister he'd like me to portray.

Q: But you eventually gave in. Who was the minister?

A: Yeah, he got me hook, line and sinker. I could talk to you in the first person, just on him, for three hours. This man is Rev. Benjamin Balch. You have to actually portray someone who fought on April 19, 1775. He was a lieutenant of the alarmist company and the first chaplain of the continental navy. He owned an inn with his wife in Danvers. He was there for the siege of Boston. Saw the Battle of Bunker Hill and Charlestown -- the place where his dad was born -- burn to the ground.

Q: You learned all about this man's background, but have you ever met any of his descendants?

A: Yes, I have. I've done a living-history program at the Balch House in Danvers, and those are all his descendants. It's a little bit weird because I'm killing myth. They have grown up with all of these stories, and here I am saying, "No, it didn't happen that way." You would be asking me a question, and I would be in the first person: "I was there, madam, and I do not recall the incident you were talking about. I was actually at such-and-such a place. I couldn't be in two places at the same time." So I'm not sure I'll ever get invited back.

Q: What wisdom about acting in the first person would you give to someone who wants to try it?

A: There's a real fine line you have to watch about first person. A lot of people don't realize it. But if they're looking for 21st-century information, you have to be able to recognize that and come out of your character, otherwise all you will do is create frustration. So to get out of my persona, I'll say, "You have to excuse me for a moment -- I'm leaving the 18th century and going into your century to answer your question."

Q: How easy it is for you to slip in and out of centuries, of your character?

A: It's difficult. Sometimes I can answer it in the 18th century way with no problem at all. But then someone will ask me, "Where did you get your clothes?" They don't want to know which 18th century tailor made them. They actually want to know where I got my clothes. They want to know the 21st century answer of where I got my clothes or where I got my musket. You have to answer the question.

Q: Do all re-enactors share the same philosophy?

A: No, some of them just do first person. All it does is, it alienates the public, and you cannot do that, just staying in your century. I remember an incident from Old Sturbridge Village. This is the problem -- I'm an ordained minister. There are others playing the role of an ordained minister, and they come across as though they are ordained. I knew (a re-enactor) was talking to this young lady. I told him, "She wanted to know about seminary." So he's talking about where he went to seminary as a persona. So finally I just butt in, "You have to excuse me, but I'll answer the question you're looking for. He isn't ordained, he's just portraying a clergy person." I think there's a problem with someone portraying a profession like that. I think it's wrong because they can do more damage than good.

Q: What's a common mistake among re-enactors who play clergy members?

A: Some people that play clergy from that time period don't know that this isn't a fire-and-brimstone period. That comes later. This is where I'm just talking to you and delivering a sermon. I'm not screaming at you. I'm not yelling at you or damning you to hell. It's the Great Awakening. It's a time of renewal. Some of the ministers out there -- what are they thinking?

Q: Sell me on a trip to Fort Ticonderoga. What would you tell somebody who has never gone?

A: This is America's Fort. It's everyone's, and it is not under any government or park-services control. Children can go right up to the cannons and check them out. There's not many ropes you have to stand behind. Watching someone fire 250-year-old cannons -- pretty fun to watch.

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