Old Sturbridge Village...

So what do you do when you have a mile long chore and project list? ......

You get the Heck out of Dodge!!!! No seriously, you do. I'll back track for you. My oldest son was scheduled to be at a cheering competition at Kings Island in Ohio. We bought him a plane ticket and he was staying with my parents. Last minute(Friday) half the team drops out and cancels. Way to go with team commitment (but that is another story). We had already bought the ticket, so he arranged with another girl who had also bought a ticket to have her get on his flight and they would fly out together. Then both stay at my parent's house and then spend Sunday at the amusement park. With her parents then meeting her there and my son would go home with my parents and fly home Monday. I of course had objected to to this whole trip from the get go months ago, but flying and staying with my parents was the best compromise. Anyway, feeling a bit odd and shall we say, nervous, about having my "baby" gone a thousand miles away for the first time, and realizing that none of my family was up to the chore list I had planned(we still have to finish my daughter's room, clean my sewing room, do yardwork, etc), I through caution to the wind on Saturday afternoon(1pm to be exact) and said "let's go to Sturbridge village".

I had never been there but had always wanted to go. So I called JellyStone, they had plenty of spots open, packed up the camper, and we were on the road by 5:30pm. It's about a 3 hour drive, so by the time we got there, we just had enough time to check in, hook the camper up, get a quick bite to eat at McDonalds, and go to bed. Next morning we got up and headed to Old Sturbridge Village. We at a fantastic brunch at their restaurant(not the one in the village, but just outside of it but still on the grounds). And to top off a great meal, we found out when the check came that the kids ate free! You just had to pay for 13 and up! We then went to the village. And I will warn, you this is a very picture heavy post.....

The pics aren't really in order, so I'll try to explain as I go. This first one is looking down the main commons area.

Some costumes in one of the buildings...
Quilt displayed in a stairwell...
Room set up for spinning...
More period dress...
One of the houses, which housed the above pics...
The Cooper shop, they made barrels, buckets, and milk churns...
Loved this red farm house... The Freeman house
Inside the barn of the red house
Sheep at the house...
Cattle...
I love the floppy ears of this pig, he looks so prim. I think I want to make a stuffed one of him(with out the stink)....
Inside the red house. They had racks by the fireplace to try things. The string you see happens to be squash.
Young girl getting read to work. The front of her apron was full of ash.
Inside the saw mill. It really cuts wood and they showed us how.
Saw mill men. They also put on a demo at the gristmill.
One of the workers in the pottery shed throwing a cup. He was new to this craft, so none of his work was in the store yet.
Two men squaring a log for a barn beam. My boys saved some of the fresh wood chips as sourveniers .
Men working on something in the towne barn.
Big house in town, called the Towne house...
Inside the front foyer. The wall paper was not my style. But apparantly they used quite a bit of it in the 1830's and it was all historically correct.
One of the parlors. Again, not quite my style.
Upstairs.
One of the bed chambers. Love the baby bed with canopy.
Notice the painting on the walls. Most of the upstairs walls were freehand painted with woodland scenes.
Quilt on rack to be quilted in another bed chamber.
I liked the colors of this bedroom best, browns and blues.
Kitchen.
ktichen
kitchen
Hubby and the kids took a stage coach ride. I stayed back with Mason.
This woman asked my boys to help her get water for the horses while they waited for the coach. They were more than happy to help.
My 4 yr old pumping water.
The horses getting their drink.
While they road, Mason ate his first apple. I bit the skin off half of it and then he gummed it and sucked on it. He loved it and was upset when it eventually fell to the ground. Look at that intense face and those huge baby hands, he's going to be a big boy.
One building contained over a dozen historic samplers. I took pics of most of them, but just too many to share on here.
This was the general store and the back room was my favorite(these three pics below). It was all wood and crock items and I just loved the browness of it.


Here is the front of the store...
Lots of fabrics and shoes.
The meeting house with candle chandelier..
Just an outdoor pic.
This was inside the "small house". The only building there that was reproduced and not authentic, but they did a good job of aging it. Again with the wall paper. I asked, and it was time appropriate.
Women dying wool...
Long shot of the wool area...
Goofy pic of kids...
My munchkins playing with a hoop and stick.
And playing flying hoops, this was their favorite game and we had to stop again on the way out and play it.
This is a far shot of the small house as we were heading out. We spent the whole day there and I don't think really saw it all. It was a perfect day though, the weather was gorgeous and the kids really seemed to enjoy it. I have a lot more pics and there were a lot more buildings than what I showed you. Including a store that you could buy stuff in, but it was packed and we walked in and out. I ended up going to the museum store by the entrance that was less crowded. Guess what, they sold Old Sturbridge Village fabric and dresses all ready made. The fabric was lovely and I would have bought some, but I couldn't spend $10.99 a yard when I just got their fabric for $2.99 at Marden's !!!! I can't wait to go back to Marden's and see what prints they get in next:)

All in all, I liked OSV, but I was expecting to see more antiques, especially after reading the history of how the place came about it. I think the best thing about the whole place was how my kids came out thinking. They want me to make them old clothes and my youngest daughter said she would love to work at a living museum. They really enjoyed it and I can't wait to get started on some period clothing for us all. Maybe I can get the whole family into reenacting!!!!!

Back at the camper, hubby made a fire and we roasted hot dogs and then smores. I stayed inside with the baby and read my new book.(the beginning about her childhood is a shocking )

Mason was a happy little camper as long as mommy stayed close by.
We left Jelly stone at 9 this morning as we had to be home in time to pick up my 16yr old at the airport. I would have loved to spend another day or two and explored the town of Sturbridge and go to the shops, but that can be another adventure.

So that is how we spent our Labor Day Weekend. Very spontaneous for us. And although we got nothing accomplished around the house, we DID make some very nice family memories.

Have a lovely, lovely, week,

Tiff