Postcard from Massachusetts- 1

14-15 September

Sturbridge, MA

Friday AM we were on our way to Jellystone Park in Sturbridge, MA. Sturbridge is the home of Old Sturbridge Village. OSV is similar to Colonial Williamsburg in VA if that helps. Now that I've seen both, I think of Williamsburg as being a place for upper-middle class families, but OSV seems to have been home to middle class families in about 1834. They were farmers with much of their production consumed and some sold/traded. We hiked around the site till lunch, then I went back to the trailer an walked the dogs. Then it was back to OSV for some more looking around. It's was well worth the $22 ea for entry (Seniors price). If you're in the area you owe it to yourself to visit. I filled 2 memory cards and went thru 2 batteries... everywhere you look is a photo op!

Jellystone Park was less of a happy experience than the Jellystone Park in Sioux Falls: in Sturbridge it's sand & dirt, small spaces, terrible access roads. I was expecting better than the very rustic, but it was all of 5 minutes from OSV, so convenience made up for a lot. Sites are small and typical of much of what you find in the east where these campgrounds are very old.

Here's a few of the photos from the day. More later...

Entrance area to Old Sturbridge Village

Oxen in the field to demo plowing... or maybe fertilizing!

The reality of getting a drink of water or taking a bath!

A small house. Only wallpaper for insulation.

Basket making in her spare time. 10 hrs/day was devoted
to the main meal!

The docents were in costume but not in character
as I found in Williamsburg.

Found the silhouette fascinating.

The Quaker Meeting House.

More window stuff

Quaker Meeting House interior with its
2 floors of seating. The rows of seats
were inclined to allow those in the
back to see over those in front.

Small pastures for the sheep.

They were dying wool beside the barn. Took her 2 hours
of feeding wood to get the cauldron to boil!

Village center. Old Sturbrige Village, restored to ca. 1830,
was first opened to the public in 1946.