Re-enactments and history hikes scheduled for Feb. 25 will honor the 285th birthday of George Washington and his travels through Butler County. The annual commemoration will be held at at Jennings Environmental Education Center near Slippery Rock.

BRADY TWP — Later this month, people can hike through history, stroll through nature and enjoy some cherry pie in honor of George Washington's birthday and his 1753 journey through the region.

It all happens Feb. 25 at Jennings Environmental Education Center, where hikers will meet re-enactors portraying Washington and his guide Christopher Gist, as well as Native Americans the two encountered.

Echoing through woods that morning will be the re-enactment of the gunshot that could have ended Washington's life when he was just 21 years old.

The annual commemoration is sponsored by Washington's Trail 1753, the Butler Chapter of the North Country Trail Association, Historic Harmony, Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau, North Country Brewing and Jennings Environmental Education Center.

To learn about the history surrounding Washington's 1753 mission, hikers can sign up for a half-hour “history hike” that includes the re-enactment of the attempt on Washington's life that happened on Dec. 27, 1753, near today's Evans City. Washington and Gist had spent the night of Dec. 26 camped in the snow somewhere close by the Jennings site.

There are six history hikes, the first one taking place at 9:30 a.m.

Participants need to reserve their hike or nature walk times by Feb. 23 at the state park website, dcnr.pa.gov. Go to events, then search “Cherry Pie.” This will go to a page to reserve hike times. The event starts at 8:30 a.m. Exhibits and the re-enactor encampment will be closed about 2 p.m.

The activities for non-hikers include interacting with circa 1753 re-enactors encamped near the main building at Jennings, meeting noted history author Brady Crytzer, and seeing and touching the equipment travelers and soldiers used to survive the harsh wilderness that was Western Pennsylvania in 1753.

There also will be information about the North Country National Scenic Trail, which passes through Butler County.

It is 4,600 miles long and traverses North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Vermont, where it joins the Long Trail and the Appalachian Trail.

The day's festivities honor the 285th birthday of the first president.