History is a way of life for Mark Humphries, who not only reenacts and shares local history of frontier days with tourists, but also uses social media to demonstrate the importance history has on current times.
“To me, it’s just cool,” he said.
A full-time mail carrier with the U.S. Postal Service for more than 26 years, 66-year-old Humphries had been longing to reenact history since he started dating his wife Missy when he was 21. Missy was a tour guide in the historic Old Washington neighborhood of Maysville and had to dress in period-correct clothing for tours. Missy says that over the years, Mark told how much he would love to be involved with history activities if he wasn’t so busy with his job.
His fascination with black powder guns began in 2016, when Missy’s brother gave him a musket. After hours of figuring out how to operate the gun, he decided a year later to start a YouTube channel to educate others and connect to the black powder gun community.
Mark named the channel “Black Powder Maniac Shooter.” His reason for only shooting black powder is simple: “It’s the community, and just the love of shooting,” he said.
Since he’s not a hunter, Mark likes to spend his time going to his “secret shooting spot” on property owned by one of his best friends. He nicknamed the spot, where some metal targets might resemble a pig or coyote, “Zoo Bottoms.”
Outside of shooting at Zoo Bottoms and creating videos on Black Powder Maniac Shooter, he also spends time as a frontiersman reenactor, educating others during large community festivals and tours of Mefford’s Fort.
“I’ll go down there and put the garb on and take the guns and the tomahawks and the knives and that kind of stuff,” he said.
Mark gives tours of the fort, erected by George Mefford for his wife in 1787, to classes of children, mainly those in late elementary to early middle school. Educating the youth in local history means a lot to him, especially when he gets to entertain them with fascinating facts and tricks like showing how a flintlock works on a musket.
“He was a big kid himself,” Missy said of her husband. “So, he holds your attention. You just got to stay focused and try to keep up with him.”
Though he keeps himself busy with all of his history and gun activities, he also enjoys spending time at home, especially accompanied by his cat Ty in his “man cave” filled with many historical relics he’s obtained over the years, including Civil War artifacts and his collection of black powder guns. History remains a significant influence on Mark, no matter what he’s doing.
“It’s about the love of teaching and showing others what early Kentucky was like before it was a state.”
