Sari Marissa G.
Yelp
I cannot recommend this living museum which depicts life in rural New England in 1830 enough....especially for those who want to teach their kiddos, and for lovers of history.
First of all, the 200 acre grounds are just lovely! We first visited in autumn when the leaves were starting to change and fall to the ground. It seemed to make the perfect, appropriate backdrop for the vast wooded space and 60 gently rusted buildings, all which are original and had been collected form various regions of New England! Vermont covered bridges, Quaker meeting houses, a bank, homes, an outdoor kiln, a saw and gristmill and more! Very cool!
It's a tad on the pricier side and no discounts or coupons are really available. It is however a non-profit so that admission price is all they have to maintain their artifacts. With your ticket you have the option to validate for complimentary return visit within 9 days. If we weren't heading out of town, we would've done just that. That is how much we enjoyed our time here!
From open to close the museum is jammed packed with demonstrations, activities, free horse rides and minimal cost boat and carriage rides! We honestly planned on just stoping by for an hour or two and wound up staying most of the day! You can check the day's activities prior to your visit and plan accordingly. Although we didn't particularly follow the map and schedule we were given, we found we didn't miss anything we wanted to see.
The fam and I loved watching the blacksmith, the tin maker, the shoemaker, the potter, the women making colonial fare and baked goods in an original oven, the woman spinning wool, and of course seeing the musket being firing...to name a few. All experiences were absolutely authentic!
The staff who were all dressed in period garb and remained in full character were all outstanding! They interacted with every guest, especially catering towards the wee ones anxious to learn. You could tell just how much they loved their jobs!
The kiddos also enjoyed feeding the heritage breed sheep and if you visit in the spring you can see the babies being born! The kids got some wiggles out on the small playground too. Hit that up of your little one needs a break.
The museum has tons of seasonal events such as maple sugaring in the spring, July Fourth fireworks, Thanksgiving Day dinner, "Christmas by Candlelight" and the retelling of "Sleepy Hollow" which they were setting up for when we visited late September.
I can imagine the village is quite lovely in winter when it's covered with snow. We may have to come back for that! It's then they offer horse-drawn sleigh rides on antique sleighs, ice skating and sledding on 1830s-style sleds!
There's a tavern on site serving lunch and fare from the region such as "chowdah". There's also a lovely gift shop with hot coffee, baked goods, wooden toys, bonnets and locally made treats to take home such as jams, maple syrups etc.
My recommendations would be to get there early, plan on spending a full(er) day, and wear comfortable, closed toes shoes. It's a lot of walking and it's dusty!
We stayed overnight less than 10 minutes away at Publick House and combined a visit here with ones to Orchards and Farms in Woodstock and strolling the adorable town of Putnam, Conneticuit for dinner and shopping.
An awesome experience!