Tina and I Visit Sturbridge Village

Tina and I had a great time touring Sturbridge Village together yesterday. We were both disappointed that Diane wasn't able to join us. When I e-mailed Tina to let her know that I would be in Massachusetts for a meeting on Wednesday, we put our heads together and decided to meet on Tuesday, and not just for dinner. Tina suggested that we meet in the morning and spend the day at Sturbridge Village and then end the day with dinner at the Publick house. That sounded good to me, so we both took the day off from work and headed for Massachusetts. Tina started in Connecticut and I started in New York. We met at the bookstore and I think I could have spent several hours in there. It is the greatest little store. Not only did it have books, there was a gift shop too. I just loved it. I found several books that I purchased for gifts. We had to put a time limit on our shopping. We couldn't spend the whole day in the bookstore/gift shop. Could we? I think we could have, but it would have been a shame to miss out on the village. It was amazing!!! Sometimes as we toured through some of the simple old houses, I would think how nice it would be to live such a simple life style, but I soon was reminded of why I'm so thankful that I live in the modern days of washing machines, air conditioning, heating, in-door plumbing, electricity and the list goes on.

We started our day at the book store.

This is where Bob and I would have lived in the 1800's. It was a pretty nice house. But in those days the pastor just rented their house because they had a one year contract and were paid $400 at the end of the year. It would be too difficult to have your own house when you might be moving yearly.

This is the saw mill where you would go if you needed lumber.

This was the mode of transportation.

Covered Bridge

This is the Cooper. The Cooper was also a farmer, but he could make more money being a Cooper than a farmer. Being a farmer you could make about 30 cents a day, but being a Cooper you could make up to $1.50 a day but usually just 90 cents.

There was a potter in town too. This is the kiln where up to 800 items would be loaded to be fired.
Here is a picture of the inside of the brick kiln. The potter said that he would lose about 10% of the items due to misfortunes during the firing.

Tina poses next to the white picket fence that is a must in the olden days.

The printer told us that the paper in the early 1800's was made out of white rags. The binding of books was done by hand stitching. I sure am glad I have a photo copier in the office. I would never get all my work done if I had to copy one sheet at a time. Not to mention that I would have to set the type too. This was amazing. He would get $30 for 2,000 copies. He didn't print newspapers. Just political advertisements and books.

This man makes tin pitchers, bowls, candle holders, etc. (I can't remember what he was called)

I think this little house is so cute and I want Bob to build one for me so I can use it as a potting shed. I took a picture so he'll know exactly what I want.

This is one reason I don't want to live in the 1800's. But this outhouse had two seats. So I guess two could be in there at a time. Maybe so you wouldn't be scared when you had to go out there at night.

It was called a Privy - not an outhouse.

This was growing outside the "Privy"

One of the gardens.

I was quite sure that I could wash clothes and churn butter at the same time. So I tried.

This is what the dish rags/clothes were hung on to dry.

Here is the kitchen. We found out that they would spread sand on the kitchen floor so that it would stay clean. The floor would be swept once a week. The sand kept the oil and fat drippings from getting on the wood floor. Interesting. Tina and I thought that there would be sand all over the house, but we were told that the shoes worn in the house were flat on the bottom so there wasn't a problem with that.

In this kitchen, we were told that breakfast consisted of fried cucumbers. You slice cucumbers about 1/8 inch thick, dip in flour, salt and pepper, and fry in butter. We were told they are delicious. I'm kinda hesitant about trying this recipe. But, maybe . . .

A lean-to storing fire-wood outside the kitchen door for handy use.

The church. The men sat on one side and the women on the other side.

This lady was showing us how to dye wool. I asked her how they could boil the wool without it shrinking, and she told me that you have to gradually warm the wool up starting with cool water, then a little warmer, a little warmer, a little warmer, and so on. She also said that at the general store you could purchase urine. Yes you could have a home business of collecting urine and then sell it to the general store. People would buy it because of the acid content to color the yarn. (Tina. Help me out here. I can't remember the rest of the story.) I think I would stick to just plain wool. Urine? No Thank YOu!!!

No curtain rods needed here. They used a string.

This blue must have been a popular color in the 1800's. The house we bought had this color on the woodwork in the upstairs hallway and bedrooms.

This lady was in the general store. It was so cute. We asked her why they wore a bonnet all the time. She let us know that people in those days didn't wash their hair but maybe once a year. She said there was a real problem with lice. She also told us that people only bathed once or twice a year. She said the odor was horrible. I would think so. And, no thank you for living in the 1800's.

Tina and I finished our day with dinner. The food was fabulous. Why is it salads taste so good at a restaurant? Tina had butternut squash ravioli and I had fettuccine Alfredo along with the salads. It was all delicious. We loved the fresh pecan sticky buns that were included in the baskets of assorted rolls.

It was a perfect day and ended much too soon. As we went to our cars to say our good-byes we continued talking and it was so difficult to say good-bye. Tina had brought some clothes for Gracie that her granddaughters had outgrown. They are really cute and I know Gracie will enjoy wearing them. There was a gift exchange and we were on our way - in different directions.

Thank you Tina for making my trip to Massachusetts so memorable and fun. It was great spending the day with you.