Today we took a trip to Old Sturbridge Village, the largest outdoor history museum in the Northeast. It is a journey through time to a rural New England town of the 1830s. It is a village set up with more than 40 original buildings that were restored and brought to one central location. These include homes, meetinghouses, a district school, country store, bank, law office, printing office, carding mill, sawmill, gristmill, pottery, blacksmith shop, shoe shop, and cooper shop. All through the village there are authentically costumed staff carrying out the activities of daily life back then. We were able to wander country roads and visit with a farmer plowing fields, listen to the blacksmith's rhythmic hammering, watch as they train a pair of oxen pull a cart through the village, or watch in the sawmill as they cut a tree into boards. The period portrayed by Old Sturbridge Village, 1790-1840, is of major significance because it was a time in which the everyday lives of New Englanders were transformed by the rise of commerce and manufacturing, improvements in agriculture an transportation, the pulls of emigration and urbanization, and the tides of educational, political, aesthetic, and social change. (I borrowed some of this info from the website, I can't come up with stuff like that :) , but it was so nice and relaxing. Even though they had to work harder back then physically, it just doesn't seem as complicated as life can be now.
This is a new feature of the village, a ride in a real stagecoach. It sure was bumpy. The girls said they felt like Cinderella going to the ball.
They have a lot of hands on activities for the kids. They were able to dip their own candles and then make a little tin candle holder to put it in.
There was a house just for children to dress up and touch things. The kids especially loved pretending to be pioneers and doing housework (I did say PRETENDING to do work). Brianna liked it so much she bought a bonnet with her own money.
This is at the playground where the kids had all kinds of things to climb on and play with. I really like muesums where the kids can touch things and learn how things really work. There were also several stations set up throughout the village that showed different games the kids in the village would have played and the kids would get to try them, like walking on stilts or rolling the hoop. One very interesting part was the blacksmith's shop. There were people there actually making a hook. My dad loved watching this and told me that his grandpa was a blacksmith (I never knew that). My dad remembers helping him in his shop. There was a head blacksmith there who looked just like my dad's grandpa which brought back a lot of memories for my dad. The whole day was very relaxing, the weather was nice and not so humid, and Cord was happy because he didn't have to be in the stroller. He could just walk around with us. My mom especially loved the lesson at the old school house. Being a school teachert herself, she loved learning about how the schools functioned back then.
This is a new feature of the village, a ride in a real stagecoach. It sure was bumpy. The girls said they felt like Cinderella going to the ball. 
They have a lot of hands on activities for the kids. They were able to dip their own candles and then make a little tin candle holder to put it in.
There was a house just for children to dress up and touch things. The kids especially loved pretending to be pioneers and doing housework (I did say PRETENDING to do work). Brianna liked it so much she bought a bonnet with her own money.
This is at the playground where the kids had all kinds of things to climb on and play with. I really like muesums where the kids can touch things and learn how things really work. There were also several stations set up throughout the village that showed different games the kids in the village would have played and the kids would get to try them, like walking on stilts or rolling the hoop. One very interesting part was the blacksmith's shop. There were people there actually making a hook. My dad loved watching this and told me that his grandpa was a blacksmith (I never knew that). My dad remembers helping him in his shop. There was a head blacksmith there who looked just like my dad's grandpa which brought back a lot of memories for my dad. The whole day was very relaxing, the weather was nice and not so humid, and Cord was happy because he didn't have to be in the stroller. He could just walk around with us. My mom especially loved the lesson at the old school house. Being a school teachert herself, she loved learning about how the schools functioned back then. 
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