1830: the People and Buildings

It took me awhile to get back to finish my post. This is a very busy time of year. I am looking forward to summer vacation SO much!!

I always enjoy seeing the people at Old Sturbridge Village. They are very friendly and sharing. I also like to see how they dressed then. I can't imagine wearing all those tight, heavy clothes in hot weather.

One of my favorite buildings to visit is the store. Here is part of their selection of fabrics. Pretty easy to make a decision with so few choices!

Here is a view of all the fabrics!

Lots of amazing goods in this picture. Check out the shoes on the bottom shelf. The itty bitty red ones on the left were for babies. They are all very skinny and long. I can't imagine squeezing my modern feet into those!

This section had some household goods. There were also many small drawers with drygoods, like saleratus, spices, etc.

This area had a few books and a wooden "tree" with drying tobacco. Also some school supplies.

This pretty blue-gray building was one of the homes. I think it must have been quite dim inside with so few, small windows.

The wool carding building had this machine, which took the carded wool and rolled it around and around into sheets, which were then collected on the bottom roller. It kept getting thicker and thicker. You would eventually take it off in a thick mat and pull off however many layers you wanted for your "batting."

Here's a picture of the rollers stretching out the wool into thin sheets.

Here's the blacksmith at work. The boys were fascinated by him. You can't even imagine how smoky this building was. I wouldn't even want to do this as a volunteer- I'm sure it was really bad for your lungs!!

This red farmhouse was very pretty.

I only had my zoom lens, so it was hard to get a shot of the whole room. Isn't this rocking chair cozy? And check out the pretty wallpaper.

Here's the large bed with the children's trundle underneath. The mattresses were thin and lumpy, stretched over ropes.

Here are some of the foods the lady of the house was making. There was an apple bread pudding, a cornbread, and some real eggs with very thin shells (at first I thought they were fake).  The redware pottery is all made right there in the village. I have to admit, the food did not look very appetizing.

Here's the potter who makes the redware. He had a large studio filled to the brim with the un-fired pottery. There were probably a few thousand pieces. He said it was about 3 months' work. Wow!

Here's one corner of the workshop. See all the items on the floor? They turn the pretty reddish-brown color when fired.

This is the kiln, right outside the potter's shop. It wasn't burning the day we visited. Isn't it a lovely shape?



This fancy house is where the governor lived. We didn't have a chance to go inside this time, but I know it has the fanciest furniture of any of the homes as well as servant quarters and beautiful draperies and wallpapers.

If you live nearby, you should plan a visit to Old Sturbridge Village!!