Tag Archives: Old Sturbridge Village

April 2, 2023

Celtic Celebration (Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, MA)

Date Of Visit: March 18, 2023

Location: Old Sturbridge Village, 1 Old Sturbridge Village Road
Sturbridge, MA

Summary: A variety of Celtic related events such as dancing, a harpist and other family friendly events took place at Old Sturbridge Village

Website: https://www.osv.org/event/celtic-celebration/

Summary: Old Sturbridge Village celebrated St Patrick’s in style with dancers, musicians and a few other special events!

Everyone was Irish at the inaugural Celtic Celebration at Old Sturbridge Village. The Celtic Celebration event celebrated Irish culture and history. The event also also included horse carriage rides and animals on the grounds. The babies were especially popular.

The event also showcased some of the cultural aspects of Celtic tradition. Lee (MA) Irish Dance performed a style of dance called Step Dance. People from a variety of age groups, abilities and experience danced to Celtic music. Step dance is a form of dance that is deeply rooted in Irish tradition. As you can see in the photos below, the dancers incorporate a stiff upper body with fast and precise movements of the feet. The dancers kept their vision at eye level (likely ignoring or trying to not notice their friends and family who were intently watching them) and exhibited a serious manner. The dancers dressed in an array of colorful, glitzy apparel. They even added sparkly accessories to their footwear. Their abilities as well as their poise and concentration were all very impressive

In addition to the dancers there was also Celtic music performed by a skilled harper.

Celtic Harpist Cate Mahoney performed Celtic songs. It was amazing watching her make such beautiful music with such ease. Just to show how difficult and taxing it id on her fingers to make this music, you may notice a white bottle on the ground of the second photo. Between songs, Cate would have to use talc on her fingers. Her music, which you can hear in the video below, was very soothing and pleasing.

There were other family friendly events such as dipping candles, a bagpiper performing and readings from Celtic literature. Or, you could just walk around and take in all of the Irish culture in the air and be Irish for at least one day!

4 Comments | tags: baby animals, dancers, Irish, Massachuetts, music, New England, Old Sturbridge Village, photograhy, Sturbridge | posted in animals, dancers, fun, historical, Irish, Massachusetts, New England, Old Sturbridge Village, photography

December 29, 2022

Christmas By Candlelight 2022 (Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, MA)

By New England Nomad

Date Of Event: December 17, 2022

Location: Old Sturbridge Village, 29 Stallion Hill Road, Sturbridge, MA

Hours: Held annually, November 25, 26, 27, and December 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 23, 27, 28, 29, and 30. Christmas by Candlelight runs from 2:00 – 8:00 pm.

Cost: $32 for adults and $16 for youth (4-17)

Parking: Free ample parking is available on site

Summary Houses are decorated in traditional style while period style actors bake, make ornaments, play musical instruments of the day and tell stories of days of yore.

Website: https://www.osv.org/event/christmas-by-candlelight-2022/

Have you ever wondered how some of the earlier settlers of New England celebrated the holidays? Then Old Sturbridge Village has just the thing for you.

Luckily, you can see see an accurate display of how New Englanders celebrated Christmas during the 1830s, 1850s and 1870s (except for bonuses like having indoor plumbing and electricity in homes and other modern day comforts) at their Christmas By Candlelight event. One of the biggest attractions is the Center Meeting House, especially during the evening.

The Center Meeting house was used for meetings, elections and sermons. During my visit they were playing music at the Meeting House.

Many other homes were also decorated for the event.

Everything from the furniture and the way the curtains were hung was true to that era, Even the character actors were dressed in clothing of that time.

This worker at Sturbridge was making stockings

As the light was waning and I didn’t want to use a flash in this environment, even though it would have helped bring out some of the features of the people and the settings, I used a prime lens with a low aperture so I could photograph in the low light conditions.

There were also people making decorations, knitting hats and baking holiday treats

There were also musicians performing traditional holiday music

As the sun set on Sturbridge Village, I was able to capture

In case you got cold, there were open fires for people to warm up

Sturbridge Village also showcased acres of lights and decorations

But not all of the lights were on trees and houses. Visitors also wore festive lights to get in the spirit of the event!

Each year Sturbridge Village holds a gingerbread home contest. They have showcased some incredible works in the past and this year was no different. It was a nice way to end the visit

12 Comments | tags: Massachusetts, New England, Old Sturbridge Village, photos | posted in historical, history, Massachusetts, New England, photographs, photography, photos, Uncategorized

April 21, 2017

Family Farm Fest (Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, MA)

By New England Nomad

Date Of Visit: April 15, 2017

Location: Old Sturbridge Village, 1 Old Sturbridge Village Rd.
Sturbridge, MA

Cost: Adults $28.00
Seniors (55 and over) $26.00
College Student (with valid college ID) $14
Youths (4-17) $14.00
Children age 3 and under Admitted Free

(if you do visit again within 10 days of the purchase of your ticket, your second visit is free)

Hours:

March – April
Open Wednesday – Sunday | 9:30 am – 4:00 pm

Open Daily | April 15 – 23 | 9:30 am – 4:00 pm

May – October
Open Wednesday – Sunday | 9:30 am – 5:00 pm

(hours vary upon the season)

Parking: Free parking with the purchase of a ticket is available for about a couple hundred cars.

Handicapped Accessible: Yes. Old Sturbridge Village offers handicapped parking, and , upon request, wheelchairs for some visitors. Only about half of their historic buildings are wheelchair accessible

Web Site: Old Sturbridge Village

Warmer temperatures and longer days of sunlight are not the only things coming to Old Sturbridge Village. The baby animals have also arrived!

Just in time for April school break, Old Sturbridge Village is home to a variety of barnyard animals. It is always a treat seeing the baby animals at the living history museum.

I have already made multiple visits to Old Sturbridge Village (click here to view my original post about my first visit there in July of 2016) and I am sure to make many more visits when they have fun events like this one.

Although they did not have as many animals as the Strawbery Banke Musuem’s baby animals exhibition, Old Sturbridge Village still had a wide variety of animals to view and, in some cases, pet.

Many of the animals, particularly the little ones, were pretty tuckered out after all that traveling and playing.

Meet Jake (on the left) and Patrick (on the right). They are donkeys who were rescued from a farm in Texas and are looking for a good home, if you’re interested!

In the fields in the middle of the common area, there were chickens, alpacas and pigs and other animals in their pens.

This mommy hen was digging for food for her chicks.

There were also living actors playing parts of the people from that era (the 1830s). They also interacted with the audience and they were very informative.

Fun fact: it took a shoemaker about one whole day to make…that’s right one shoe. One. Well, I guess it’s a “fun fact” unless you’re one of the shoemakers.

Okay, nerd alert: I could listen to these living actors (I hope they’re “living”) all day. But, I couldn’t spend too long as I had photos to take and only so much time to spend there. One day, I plan on just spending the entire day and taking it all in.

These aren’t real actors in case you were wondering (although in the first photo, the woman looking mannequin looks like a ghost). These mannequins are dressed in common attire of the day.