Time Travel through the Mud at Sturbridge

It was fairly mild today, and we enjoyed a great visit to Old Sturbridge Village. The modern Visitors Center is in the background, but the rest of the village is set in the early 1800s. Nathan is looking for the cows and pigs. Maya is concentrating on walking through the mud and slush.

At the Cooper's, learning how to work a wooden lathe. The shop was filled with buckets and barrels.

Taking a seat in the village schoolhouse. Nathan commented that the schoolhouse was "kind of cool, except there are no toys."

Nathan plays schoolmaster as Maya the student is more interested in examining her muddy shoes. The little wood stove in the center of the room kept the schoolhouse warm.

The Potter's Shop was very dim but larger than some of the other buildings. Nathan stood in front of shelves of drying redware which is fired once a year in an enormouse brick kiln across the road. Nathan saw the kiln and then walked into the Potter's asking: "Where's the witch?" Perhaps he sees the early nineteenth century as a fairytale: "long, long ago" as interpreted by a child.

Nathan was fascinated that a lump of clay could be tranformed into a pot and watched as the potter used his foot to spin the wheel.Nathan and Maya are staring at the enormous steer on the Freeman farm. We also visited the Freeman home in which a costumed woman had just finished baking two apple pies and a pile of gingerbread. Nathan thought the house smelled "yummy" and wanted to eat the fresh treats. (No samples though.) We saw large pumpkins in nearly every room of the house (apparently the root cellar was too damp) and even a dried fish. Our most interesting food find from nearly two hundred years ago: dyspepsic bread.