Over the next few days I’ll be sharing some of the cool places The Girl and I have visited on our latest adventure. I hope you’ll follow along and don’t forget to checkout my instagram page for more travel pictures.
The other day The Girl and I decided to check out the Old Sturbridge Village New England Living History Museum with my buddy Heather and her daughter. Sturbridge is about an hour from Boston and let me tell you Bob, I am so glad we stopped by because it was seriously super cool.
The museum opened in 1946, and in the years since, it has evolved into an internationally recognized museum for education. They offer tons of classes for local school aged kids {and adults} on a range of different topics, in addition to their standard exhibits.
The museum houses tons of different artifacts that early settlers from 1790 to 1840 would have used. The museum started largely in part to two American industrialists who, in the 1920’s began collecting antiques from early rural New Englanders.
The men had a deep respect for the craftsmanship and hard work of the early Americans–and much of their collection started the museum. One of the buildings was outfitted with an old printing press. I never knew freshly printed paper was hung to dry. When you think about it, it’s kind of sad how so little we know how handmade things are made these days.
The “living” part of the museum added so much fun to the experience. Museum employees are dressed in time period costume–and kids and adults can interact with several of the exhibits {i.e. candle making, season maple sugaring, sleigh rides, etc.} to really get a feel for what life was like for many New Englanders. Here’s a picture of Heather and I making our own candles!!
The museum isn’t really just one building of artifacts. There are several exhibits throughout the property. My favorite was the farm exhibit {surprised?}. They have recreated a barn from the 1700’s to show you what it would have been like to farm during the late 1700’s to early 1800’s.
I couldn’t help but think that it’s they way we should still be farming, but that’s another topic I guess. I will admit though that some modern day machinery really, really cuts down on the back breaking labor–so I guess there has been some progress.
There are actually several barns on the property, each dedicated to a different aspect of rural life {equipment, farming, etc.}
We missed the maple syrup run by about a month, but I guess it’s pretty cool too. The smell of the sugaring process is supposed to be the “first smells of spring.” But, we did get to ride a horse drawn sleigh in the SNOW!!! How cool is that?
If you’ve never been to Massachusetts, go there, it’s RAD. Seriously, New England is fast becoming my new favorite place. The buildings, the history, the accents… it’s all pretty amazing if you ask me.
~Mavis
Old Sturbridge Village New England Living History Museum
1 Old Sturbridge Village Road
Sturbridge, MA 01566
(800) 733-1830
This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.
