On Aug. 22, from 7-9 p.m., the Society will host an evening reception celebrating the 200th birthday of the King Caesar House.  The event will be held at scenic Bumpus Park, once King Caesar’s wharf.  Tickets are $35 per person and may be obtained by contacting the Society at 781-934-6106.  The reception will feature music, food by Crazy Chefs Catering, and a silent auction.

A key component of the evening will be the debut of a new mini-documentary titled, “In the Days of King Caesar: The Weston Estate on Powder Point.”  The video will be screened for the first time at the King Caesar House on August 22 during the reception.  Produced by Duxbury resident Bryan Felty of Good Bones Productions, the short video is a computer animated simulation depicting the evolution of the Weston Estate in the 18th and early 19th centuries.  Included in the “virtual tour” are the first Weston shipyard, the Eliphas Weston House, the Ezra Weston I House, the wharf with its commercial buildings, the Ropewalk and the King Caesar House, as originally built and as modified c. 1840.  Felty also produced the recreation of Duxbury’s World War I Memorial, currently under re-construction, that was shown at this year’s Town Meeting.

Thanks to an 1840s architectural plan book assembled by Alden Bradford Weston (King Caesar’s son who came to inherit the King Caesar House), all the data necessary for a 3-D re-creation of the estate was already documented.  According to Patrick Browne, Executive Director of the Society, “We’ve long wanted to use the architectural drawings to create a simulation of the property, but the technology has only recently become readily accessible.  Also, without Bryan’s involvement, this simply would have been impossible.”

Viewers of the video may be surprised to learn that Bumpus Park once contained five large wharf buildings, including a counting house, a sail loft and warehouses.  The Ropewalk, where the Westons manufactured most of the cordage for Duxbury’s shipyards, has, according to tour guides at the King Caesar House, always been a difficult structure for visitors to imagine.  It was 1,000 feet long, stretching from King Caesar Road to Powder Point Avenue.  The video provides an accurate sense of the tremendous size of the industrial building.

Those with questions about the video project or the evening reception on August 22 may contact the Duxbury Rural and Historical Society at 781-934-6106 or visit the Society’s website at www.duxburyhistory.org.