TUNBRIDGE — In 2001, Israel “Izzy” Provoncha was in his third year as a historical reenactor and the United States celebrated its 225th birthday.
But the unit he was with at the time didn’t attend many larger events that acknowledged that anniversary.
“I basically missed out on the 225th,” said Provoncha, 44, who started reenacting when he was 16. After that, he vowed that the 250th would be different. “In some ways that has always been my goal.”
Provoncha, a Tunbridge resident and longtime history teacher at Hartford High School, has spent the past few years doing just that, as a reenactor portraying a member of His Majesty’s 27th Regiment of Foot (Enniskillen), Light Company.
Last spring, he was at the Battle of Lexington and Concord reenactment in Massachusetts. Last summer, he traveled north for the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Quebec.
“I need to experience these things because this is my last hurrah, right?” Provoncha said in an interview outside Hartford High School, where he works as a history teacher. “I should be around for the 275th … but I’m going to be like 70.”
This year, he’s been to at least a dozen reenactments, with many more planned for 2027, which is also the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Vermont in 1777.
“He’s quite a model of sharing and getting people excited about things,” Laura Trieschmann, state historic preservation officer for Vermont’s Division of Historic Preservation, said in a phone interview.
The two are members of Vermont’s 250th Anniversary Commission, which Gov. Phil Scott established in December 2020.
“I’ve never heard him say ‘no I don’t think we can do that,’” she said of Provoncha. “He comes with fantastic ideas that make it so easy to say yes to.”
‘A turning point in my life’
Provoncha didn’t have much interest in history until his sophomore year of high school.
“I was a classic, disheveled teenager,” Provoncha said.
But at Mt Abraham Union High School in Bristol, Vt., his history teacher staged a mock Constitutional Convention and cast Provoncha as George Washington. Provoncha researched the Revolutionary War hero and engaged in America’s history in a way he hadn’t before.
“I fell in love with George Washington … and I got really into it,” Provoncha said.
His teacher saw his interest and introduced him to another teacher, who was involved in historical reenactments.
“It was a turning point in my life,” Provoncha said. “Not that I was headed down a bad road or anything, but it literally changed my trajectory.”
The summer after his sophomore year of high school, he participated in his first reenactment gathering. It was at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum and he rowed aboard a replica of the Revolutionary War era gunboat the Philadelphia, “which I thought was the greatest thing ever.”
Provoncha was hooked. In the years to come, he primarily reenacted as a British soldier, serving in various regiments and units.
Reenacting is also what inspired him to become a history teacher. It took him some time to get there though: After high school, he joined his family’s monument business and worked as a cook at a French restaurant before attending UVM for three semesters.
But he left college due to the cost, then spent the next 4½ years working in commercial construction, primarily as a drywall finisher, before returning to UVM.
“I was six years behind the curve, but if I were to go back in time, I wouldn’t change anything because I learned a lot. I got a lot of experience,” Provoncha said.
And throughout it all, he continued reenacting.
His first teaching job was at Hartford. He remembered the people who interviewed him mentioning his reenacting.
“Their thinking was, somebody’s that passionate about history, that would be relatable to kids,” Provoncha said.
After multiple years at Hartford, he lost his job due to budget cuts and spent three years at White River Valley High School before returning to Hartford.
One of the classes he teaches now is called Learning Through Place, which focuses on Vermont history.
“I feel like maybe I’m having some kind of impact,” he said. “I feel like I look at teaching, it’s like throwing mud at a wall … a lot of it falls off, but some sticks, and you never know what’s going to stick.”
One of the students struck by Provoncha’s reenacting hobby is recent Hartford High graduate Daniel Beaulieu.
While he was not in any of Provoncha’s classes, Beaulieu had heard about his reenacting exploits and reached out to him for assistance with a play he was writing about Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys.
Beaulieu wanted to make a coat as part of his project and thought Provoncha could help.
“I’d never sewed before or anything, but Izzy guided me through it all,” Beaulieu said in a phone interview.
Beaulieu was also part of a group of roughly 10 students who were part of a three-day trip Provoncha organized to Revolutionary War sites throughout the region, which included stops at Mount Independence in Orwell, Vt., and Saratoga National Historical Park in New York State.
“He was dressed up in his uniform the entire time of course,” Beaulieu said, even while he was driving the bus. Sometimes, other visitors to historic sites would stop and listen to Provoncha’s talks, even after he told them he wasn’t an employee. “He is inspiring so many people to learn about history.”
‘The same fences they jumped over’
When state officials were looking for 250th commission members, they knew they wanted educators and reenactors to be part of it.
“I immediately could think of nobody better,” than Provoncha, Trieschmann said. The two had known each other for years due to their involvement at various educational programs and reenactments throughout the state.
“If you want fresh ideas that will engage people, Izzy is the one to have on your team,” she said. “Because he brings the educator angle, he can advise if something will work with students or how to get their attention and hold it.”
Trieschmann pointed to Provoncha’s work on the “Unfinished Revolutions: Vermont Student Art Celebrating the 250th,” which was displayed at the Statehouse this spring and is now on display at the Chimney Point state historic site.
The commission was sure to include reenactors in events it has been hosting at state historic sites and elsewhere because they can often reach people in a different way than walking through a museum or listening to a lecture.
“It’s a first person, one-on-one experience you can have to see how people dressed, how they lived, the conditions they were working in,” Trieschmann said.
The weekend after the Fourth of July, Provoncha will be at the Battle of Hubbardton Revolutionary War Encampment. Beaulieu will join him there.
“It’s just remarkable how a little email to Izzy … led to me meeting all of his reenactment buddies and making all these connections,” Beaulieu said. He is hoping to do more reenactments in the following years.
Provoncha is hoping he does too. When he first got into reenacting, his favorite parts were the battles. That’s changed over the years. During a Green Mountain Boys reenactment to Fort Ticonderoga last fall, it rained for a day and a half. But instead of being discouraged, Provoncha relished the experience.
“No good story started with, ‘It was a beautiful day and it was sunny and everything was going great’,” Provoncha said. “But it’s like, man, we were going through literally mud.”
Such experiences made him a better reenactor, he said, like when he marched 23 miles with all his gear as part of the Lexington and Concord reenactment. They add to the stories he can tell when he talks to people, in character, as a Green Mountain Boy.
“Even though it’s not real, we’re in the exact place on the exact day, ’cause it was 250 years to the day,” he said. “We’re jumping over the same fences that they jumped over.”
The people Provoncha reenacts alongside come from a range of backgrounds. Some are military veterans who like the camaraderie while others have an interest in Colonial-era life and like to make their own clothes and candles. Some like to cook over an open hearth. What they all share is a love of history.
“When I was a teenager, I’d sit around the campfire with these guys and they just have all this information,” Provoncha said. “They just know so many things and I’d be like, ‘I just want to know things too.'”
Those are stories he continues to share to this day. Learning those stories around the campfire inspired him to read history books on his own time and he uses what he learns in the classroom, as well as at any reenactment events.
“My closest friends are people I might see five to eight times a year,” Provoncha said.
That comes, in part, from the amount of time they spend together. During weekend reenactment events, they participate in drills, eat meals and camp together, building bonds that keep them connected when they are not reenacting.
“I feel like I always have a friend, certainly within 50 miles, of wherever I go on the East Coast,” he said.
‘How cool is that?’
Provoncha is known as a “progressive” reenactor, which means he and his unit aim to achieve the highest level of historical accuracy as possible.
“If you show up with a beard, you can’t field,” he said, noting that beards were not common in the 18th century. “And we try to make sure that we have historically accurate food.”
That means his unit wouldn’t use corn when they take part in events in May or June, because they wouldn’t have access to it until later in the summer if it were truly the 18th century.
He’s picked up more skills along the way. Around four years ago, he started hand sewing his own uniforms.
“I find sewing to be quite cathartic,” Provoncha said. In the lead up to the 250th, he started making more uniforms, both of the Continental Army and those of the British so that he could jump in where he was needed for history events. “I don’t want to miss out on the American parts of it too.”
Jonah Spivak is a member of Vermont’s 250th Anniversary Commission and got involved in reenacting through his work on 250th events in Bennington, where he is the town’s communications coordinator. He is a member of Benjamin Whitcomb’s Independent Corps of Rangers, a New Hampshire-based group. During the Revolutionary War, they were part of the Continental Army. He sees Provoncha quite a bit during events.
“The units do kind of get to know one another over time,” Spivak said in a phone interview. “In the evenings there’s definitely fraternization between the two groups. We like to learn from each other.”
He has learned about engaging the public from Provoncha. One time at Hubbardton, Spivak watched Provoncha — who he described as “a rare talent” — give a talk at the historic site about what life was like there.
“I remember how he was able to engage both the grandma and the grandkid about being excited about 18th century history,” Spivak said. “He’s very good at engaging the public with his stories and his wit. He’s quite humorous and I’d say self effacing.”
Provoncha’s sons, ages six and nine, often accompany him on his treks. The trio are regulars at Fort Ticonderoga, to the point where every invitation for Provoncha includes his sons. They dress up too, often in clothes he has made for them.
“My wife’s rule is I can do whatever I want whenever I want as long as I bring my children,” he said.
There is a difference between reenactments and living history events. Reenacting tends to refer to just the military battles, while living history refers to what takes place around the battle sites, like life at the forts or at campsites, where people do laundry and cook meals like they were really in the 18th century. As his reenactor journey continues, he finds himself drawn more to those moments.
“To me, the battles are all the same. I don’t really get excited for battles anymore,” Provoncha said. “As I’ve gotten older … that part of it’s less interesting.”
Instead, he looks forward to the more immersive experiences, like sleeping in the barracks at Fort Ticonderoga in the middle of January, using candlelight as a light source.
“How cool is that?” Provoncha said. He’s particularly looking forward to the Fort Ti Real Time Revolution event, which is from Friday to Sunday. “I like more of the experiential stuff. So like, it sounds crazy, but I am looking forward to rowing 14 miles up Lake Champlain.”
