CHARLESTOWN — The donation of three leather-bound facsimiles of 18th-century religious books is adding an educational component and an increased sense of historical accuracy to the Fort at No. 4.

The books, donated by the organization 18thCenturyBibles.org, include replicas of a 1735 King James Bible, a 1767 Isaac Watts Hymnal and a 1697 John Playford Psalter, all of which are now used for Sunday services at the fort.

18thCenturyBibles.org is a private organization devoted to preserving the historical accuracy of Christian literature of the 18th century.

The Fort at No. 4 is a living history museum that portrays colonial life on the New Hampshire frontier during the period of the French and Indian War.

18thCenturyBibles.org finds and purchases original volumes, electronically scans the pages and prints and binds them. The group then sells the books to historical reenactors or, as in this case, donates them to a museum or organization.

Earlier this month, the Most Rev. Brian Marsh, presiding bishop of the Anglican Church in America, blessed the Bible at a Sunday ceremony that included the Rev. Art Bennett, vicar of Christ Church in St. Johnsbury, Vt., Deacon David Moody of the Anglican Church of the Good Shepherd in Charlestown and Wendy Baker, museum director at the Fort at No. 4.

Baker said Tuesday that the Bible and other prayer books enhance the museum, since religion played a vital role in the daily lives of people in the 18th century.

“It adds another dimension to the fort. It adds more depth. We think of religion as being very separate from people's lives, but in the 18th century, we know that it had control of a lot of activity. It was a different way of looking at the world,” Baker said. “It wasn't a question of being able to separate your life from your religion or your spirituality, as we would now say.”

Since the books are copies, not originals, people visiting the museum can touch and read the books, said Moody, who, along with Bennett, has portrayed clergymen of the period at the fort; both have conducted Sunday services there over the past few years.

Moody became a reenactor after attending a French and Indian War reenactment battle in New York in 2002 that included a reenactor portraying a Jesuit priest.

“I was very inspired of having the role of the 18th-century parson,” Moody said, adding that religious leaders “played a very important role” on the New England frontier.

Moody conducts a Sunday morning Anglican service of morning prayer at the fort, following the Book of Common Prayer of 1662.

“Since I am an ordained deacon, these are real religious services. We're not pretending in any sense of the word,” Moody said, adding that most of the attendees of these services are historical reenactors.

“I can't tell you what a strange feeling it is to sit there waiting for the religious service to begin and have these people come in and hanging their muskets on the wall,” he said.

In the past, one of Moody's old family Bibles was used in the services. The Bible, printed in 1829, was printed more than 50 years after the period of the French and Indian War, but it had to do: “The fort didn't have any Bibles of the period,” Moody said.

But the new 1735 replica is actually what people of that period would have read.

“It becomes a centerpiece for discussion of language, the typography of the Bible of that time. Long s's were still in vogue,” Moody said. “Little things like that make the world of that period come alive.”

The Fort at No. 4 is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Sunday prayer service is at 11:30 a.m.

Regular admission is $10 for adults, $7 for seniors 55 and up and youths 13 to 17, $5 for children 6 to 12 and free for children under 5. For group rates, call the fort at 826-5700.

Most special activities are held on the weekends, including a World War II Saturday lecture series held through the summer and a Revolutionary War Encampment on Sept. 15 and 16.

For a full listing of calendar events, go to fortat4.com