Explore a bygone era at these New England living history museums.

By Valerie A. Russo

he early 1620s come alive in the English village at Plimoth Plantation. Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, Mass. As costumed PLIMOTH PLANTATION T role players bake bread, cook midday meals on the hearth and tend the garden and livestock, they converse Connecticut Maine Did You Know? with visitors about their daily lives as colonists (later known Connecticut’s largest living history museum is Mystic The Sabbathday Lake Shaker Museum is located within Old Sturbridge Village began with a collection of ordinary objects amassed by industrialists as Pilgrims) in . Seaport, a center of shipbuilding for centuries on the east bank Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester, the only Albert B. Wells and J. Cheney Wells, who purchased farmland and created a village of early New England buildings in which to exhibit their collection. It opened to the public At the adjacent Homesite, Native American of the Mystic River in Mystic. The museum’s 19th-century sea- active and functioning Shaker com- on June 8, 1946. interpreters demonstrate traditional cooking methods and faring village consists of antique New munity in the world today, with three boat construction. England buildings (moved from other Shaker members. Activities offered to Plimoth Plantation is just one of many living history mu - locations) that are staffed with crafts- visitors include guided museum WIN! seums in New England where historical settings have been men who explain their work to visitors. tours of six historic buildings, tours Enter to Win “The Charles W. re-created to simulate past time periods, immersing visitors There’s a cooper who makes barrels, a of the Shaker herb garden, traditional Morgan, A Picture History of an in a bygone era. Others include a seafaring village in Con- ship-smith who repairs whale har- craft workshops and concerts. Visi- American Icon” book by visiting AAAJourneys.com/prizes necticut, a salt marsh farm in Rhode Island, a Shaker village poons and a carver who creates eye- tors may attend Sunday worship ser- in Maine, a dairy farm and museum in Vermont, two replica catching ship figureheads. Visitors can vices in the 1794 Meetinghouse and Actors in a historical skit Shaker Village. Tea Party ships docked at a Boston wharf, and more. about whaling and pirates. participate in 19th-century activities, UNITED SOCIETY OF SHAKERS meet the Shakers after the services. There are several living history museums, but here are the VALERIE A. RUSSO including harpoon throwing, rope Non-Shaker employees lead most tours, but Brother Arnold Did You Know? highlights of 10 living ones in New England. Some are open making, whaleboat rowing and breeches buoy lifesaving Hadd, leader of the Shaker community, assists with tours on Mystic Seaport’s 1841 whaleship, Charles W. Morgan, is the last of a fleet of 2,700 year-round; others have seasonal hours. drills, as well as historic skits about whalers and pirates. Open Farm Day and the Harvest Festival. American whalers that sailed the globe in search of whales.

14 JOURNEYS • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER • 2016 JOURNEYS • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER • 2016 15 The Washburn-Norlands Living Old South Meeting House, where the colonists assembled to History Center in Livermore once protest the tax on tea. Each visitor gets a card with a name and was the home of the Washburn family, occupation of a Tea Party participant and the answer to a whose sons served as governors, con- question that comes up during the gressmen, foreign ministers, a Secre- skit. The tour continues to replica Tea tary of State, a Civil War general, a Party ships where costumed deck- Navy captain and founder of Wash- hands explain what happened on the burn-Crosby Gold Medal Flour. Today, evening of Dec. 16, 1773, and visitors visitors can learn about 19th-century Making butter at Norlands. throw chests of tea overboard. The daily life through guided tours and PATRICIA TURNER tour also includes viewing of a film group programs. The estate includes a working farm, 1867 and an original Boston Tea Party Mansion, 1883 Library, 1828 Meeting House and 1853 School chest and a visit to the Portrait Gallery, Annual re-enactment. House. Groups can book a 24-hour live-in experience with farm where portrait subjects come to life. MICHAEL BLANCHARD PHOTOGRAPHY/ BOSTON TEA PARTY SHIPS & MUSEUM chores and period games. New Hampshire Strawbery Banke Museum overlooks the Piscataqua Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge is the largest outdoor River in downtown Portsmouth. The 10-acre site presents the living history museum in the Northeast. The 200-acre muse- daily lives of residents from 1695 to um features 40 antique buildings re- 1954, featuring authentically restored stored and furnished to depict rural houses, traditional crafts, period gar- New England life in the 1830s. The vil- dens and costumed role players. At lage also has heirloom gardens and Goodwin House, meet the Gover- heritage-bred sheep, cattle, pigs and nor’s wife and stroll through her 1870 chickens. Activities include stage- Victorian garden. At Shapiro House, coach and riverboat rides, historic meet a Jewish housewife, one of 596 craft classes, 19th-century tavern Goodwin Mansion and immigrants in the Puddle Dock Stagecoach at Goodwin Gardens. Old Sturbridge Village. nights and 19th-century cooking. VALERIE A. RUSSO neighborhood of Portsmouth in 1912. OLD STURBRIDGE VILLAGE Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth At Cotton Tenant House, watch the weaver at work and try consists of a re-created 1624 English village with costumed role your hand at operating a loom. players representing the Pilgrims who arrived on the May- flower, the Wampanoag Homesite, Rhode Island where traditionally dressed native in- Through use of costumed interpreters, historic buildings, terpreters speak to guests from a mod- heirloom plants and heritage-bred animals, Coggeshall Farm ern perspective about 17th-century Museum re-creates the daily experience of late 18th-century Wampanoag life and Mayflower II, tenant farmers on a saltmarsh farm, where nutrient-rich salt- a reproduction of the Pilgrims’ ship. marsh grass was harvested for livestock feed. Set on 48 acres of Historic Deerfield in Deerfield coastal farmland in Bristol, this living history museum offers focuses on the history and culture of hands-on activities, including hearth cooking, candle making Wampanoag Homesite at the Connecticut River Valley and early Plimoth Plantation. and hand sewing. New England. First settled in 1669, KENNETH J. KOUBEK Deerfield retains its original scale and town plan, with Historic Vermont Deerfield museum buildings interspersed with private homes Billings Farm & Museum in and schools. Visitors are offered tours Woodstock is the only living history of 12 houses built between 1730 and museum in the country that combines 1850, as well as changing hands-on a fully operational dairy farm with activities, such as making paper from interpretative programs, such as Up flax fiber and grinding pigments to Close with a Jersey Cow and How to Billings Farm & Museum. make paint. Also offered are cooking Keep a Sheep. The restored 1890 Farm DARLYNE FRANZEN/BILLINGS FARM & MUSEUM demonstrations, a cook’s tour of the House showcases the farm office, family living garden and a historic trades demon- quarters and creamery. ■ Old Main Street in Deerfield. stration series held in the fall. VALERIE A. RUSSO The Boston Tea Party Ships and

Museum, located on the Congress Street Bridge over Boston’s BOSTON TEA PARTY SHIPS & MUSEUM Fort Point Channel, tells the story of the Boston Tea Party with a one-hour tour featuring costumed actors and visitor participa- Patriot Calling at the Boston Tea tion. Visitors enter a room resembling the interior of Boston’s Party Ships & Museum.

16 JOURNEYS • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER • 2016