Pictures From Old Sturbridge Village

As promised, here are the pictures that I took when I went to Sturbridge Village.

This is a picture of the Meeting House, and look at those clouds! It was an amazing November day.

This was taken at the Tin Shop. Part of what I love about this living museum is the ability for those who work there to step out of a character and lines to show an interested little girl exactly how to curl a piece of tin. She was so interested in what he had been doing and was so excited to be able to help for a few minutes.

This is a picture of the Potter. One of the very few qualms I have with Sturbridge Village is that natural light is the only light one gets in these buildings. So very spacious buildings are very difficult to take pictures in without a flash because they are very dark. This is a totally understandable however, I don't advocate for unnecessary (and modern) light usage. I actually like this picture a lot, it shows the potter in action. I also like it when people can both work and talk, rather than some who have to stop to talk to someone.

This is a picture taken at the Cooper Shop. The Cooper was not there at the time. :-(

This is a picture from the Blacksmith Shop. Look at all of the tools! Also very interesting was how the Blacksmith had an apprentice. I liked that since it adds another element of reality to it all.

And what is a living museum with out real live animals? So here are a few pictures of them.

My Favorite Living Museum

My favorite Living Museum is Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, MA. Meant to capture life during the 50 year period of 1790-1840, it consists of 59 buildings including homes, a traditional New England church, places of work and industry and farms with real animals. Whereas some other outdoor living museums close during the Winter, at Sturbridge, there is something to do year round.

I enjoy it for numerous reasons one of which is the personnel's ability to perform characters but step outside of the role and truly explain what one is doing with a more modern understanding ... moving beyond a scripted dialog, so to speak. This also provides a revisitability because you could walk around on numerous occasions and hear different things said each time, even from the same people.

Once upon a time I may have not chosen it because of its having moved its houses to that spot to create an artificial village that never existed. I appreciate that now, however, because although these houses have in part lost their authenticity having been moved from their original contexts, they have been saved from a much worse fate. This, I think is a very good thing.

I last went two years ago in the Fall. It was a beautiful day and Sturbridge was a great way to spend that day.

Pictures to come.

------------------------------

There are a limited number of other Living Museums that could have earned the title of my current favorite Living Museum. This is due primarily to the fact that I have been less often to this type than any other and the one I have been to the most is Sturbridge Village. It apparently was also the favorite of the teachers in my elementary school and of my Girl Scout troop leaders.

Other contenders:

- Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, MA.
- The Farmers' Museum in Cooperstown, NY. I haven't managed to go here during the museum season, missing it by only a few days the last time I went to Cooperstown. I did, however, participate in a hearth cooking demonstration here in one of the houses, which ranks among the top museum experiences that I have had. Hearth cooking is amazing and tons of fun.

I also intend on traveling to Williamsburg to visit Colonial Williamsburg. I don't know when that will happen exactly, but it is high up there on my list of places to visit.

Kingscote Photos

I knew I had some photos of Kingscote's exterior, and I found them last night. I apologize that they do not consist of a shot showing the proper massing or even a majority of one facade. These are the architectural elements that I enjoyed. So I thought I would share.

This is a shot of the entrance.

And another shot of the entrance, but from a different angle.

A detail of the roof line above the entrance.

And one last shot. I just love the architectural details.

-------------------------------------

I had also wanted to mention in my previous post that my favorite house museum from my childhood is the Gilbert Stuart Birthplace in Saunderstown, Rhode Island. Gilbert Stuart is a famous portrait painter, best known for his portrait of George Washington which is featured on the dollar bill.

The site also consists of a snuff mill, gristmill, and a fish run. In 2007, the Hammond Gristmill started working again for the first time in about 100 years thanks to the efforts of the many who wanted to see it happen. It is definitely a sight to see and I highly recommend it.

My Favorite House Museum

Today is the first installment of my favorite museums. Today I feature my favorite museum house, Kingscote in Newport, Rhode Island.

Owned and operated today by The Preservation Society of Newport County, Kingscote is my favorite because unlike many other house museums, although certainly not all, everything in Kingscote is original to the house. Nothing has been brought in to add to the house or create an attitude. I always wonder how many people realize that the things in the Breakers, for example, were not necessarily owned by the Vanderbilt family. Many of these things are representations of what the family could have owned. In no way am I saying that this makes touring the Breakers not worth it. It is a fabulous mansion and totally worth the cost of a tour and the crowds. Look everywhere it is gorgeous both in its exterior architecture and its interior opulence.

Just make some time to visit Kingscote as well if and when you come to Newport. It is a great example of the Gothic Revival and as I have already mentioned, everything in the house goes with the house. The entire collection was left with the house by the last descendant of the King family. The Preservation Society became the property's owner in 1972. The collection contained within the house is large and amazing, but in some cases results in a little bit of object crowding. The tour groups are smaller however and the tour runs at a slower pace, allowing one to appreciate much of the collection and tour guides do a wonderful job pointing out the intricacies of certain objects that might get missed with only one glance around the room.

--------------------------------

Other favorite museum houses:

Smith's Castle in Wickford, RI - the history of the Smith family alone is enough to tour the house. It was also a dairy farm for sometime before becoming a house museum. It is also situated on a beautiful plot of land near the water, an area with a history of it's own.

The Whitehorne House in Newport, RI - owned by the Newport Restoration Foundation, it is a house museum in the sense that it is a house, but is more the home of a wonderful furniture collection. It also has a very interesting restoration story with the pictures to prove it. Well worth a visit if you are spending some time in Newport.

Edith Wharton's The Mount in Lenox, MA - this might be my favorite of the house museums that I have not yet visited but are on my list. The website makes it look beautiful, a very rags to riches in terms of preservation and restoration. It was recently saved from foreclosure and an uncertain future by the tireless efforts of those who work and love the Mount. I have been wanting to get here for quite some time; maybe I will see you there.

On Why I Do Not Have A Favorite Musuem

As promised, here is my elaboration on why I do not have a favorite museum. You will all find out eventually that with most things in my life I do not have just one favorite of anything...except maybe with sports. So I have favorite museums, however, they fall into different categories. In other words, I have a favorite house museum and a favorite living museum (and favorites in other categories), but I don't favor one over the other. At least I don't think I do anyway. Also, as my geographic range has been mostly limited to the Northeast, I reserve the right to change my favorites, as all people should. Although as I visit more museums elsewhere I might just end up having my favorite house museum in the Northeast and my favorite house museum in the Southwest. That's just the way I do things. :-)

Next week, I shall make it the week of my favorite museums. Tomorrow I will finish up the rest of my introductory questions.