Old Sturbridge Village

[gregV]

My review I left on the OSV Facebook Page..

I have not been to the Village in years, even though I only live 45 min away. I finally went this last weekend, .. and boy, .. did it make me very very sad. I have always loved OSV and am in the business and live on a 1700s homestead and OSV has always been an inspiration. But on this trip I saw how much it has changed. Almost a children's theme park, amusement park atmosphere. The museum houses w...ere now 'dead' in feeling. No museum employees actually demonstrating the lifestyle of the home. In place of these people are now modern plastic displays seemingly meant for those that arrive on yellow school buses. The Bixby House now roped off and the original kitchen split up in two so more modern plastic displays can be used to substitute real human interaction. The Freeman Farm and the Little House, which is new to me, were the only two houses showing any life what so ever, but even that was so staged and unreal with the girl at the farm house tending the kitchen being apparently quite unhappy she was even there.
I took a friend who had never been. $40 dollars for this? Really? I am seriously very sadden to see what has become of OSV. PLEASE remove the plastic cows and oxen, and all of those god awful modern displays and bring back the PEOPLE that we can actually talk with and learn from. Stop "dumming us down". Move forward with what got you there, not backward to make more profit! Uggggg

[KristenS]

Aw man! This STINKS! We went to Sturbridge on a class trip as kids (about 25 years ago, I guess) and it was fantastic. The people were incredibly in character, which was half the fun of it. One of our more goofy students asked one guy if he was going to watch the Super Bowl. The man looked confused and suggested that if we needed a super bowl, perhaps the blacksmith could make us one.

I'd been telling my man we should take a trip there. But now...I don't know. Not for plastic cows and roped off museum-type displays.

I'm finding this everywhere. It's like we've all gotten to self-conscious to suspend disbelief and have fun. I haven't gone to the Sterling Forest Renaissance Faire in a while either... cause it seemed to be going the same direction. I mean, I don't expect a RenFaire to be as accurate as a historic village. But when you see the Black Knight on his cell phone drinking Diet Coke between jousts, it kinda kills the mood.

[lisascenic]

The Farmers Museum in Cooperstown NY is excellent.

[bookish]

Plastic cows? shazzbatt! Our last visit was in 2004. I remember seeing real cows, real sheep, and chickens. They still had real humans in character at Strawberry Banke in Portsmouth the last time I was there in 2007.

[lisascenic]

http://www.farmersmuseum.org/

I used to live in this area, and always loved the ay the museum interpreted local rural life.

[jade mortimer]

oh my gosh, that is adorable...i want to name it then move in.......

[jharkin]

Has something changed suddenly? We were there just last year and there were actors in at least 1/2 of the houses, live demos going on at the blacksmith, the tin smith, the saw mill and hearth cooking in the yellow cape. Plus all the farm animals out at the red farmhouse.

You sure you didn't just go on a slow day?

[gregV]

Jeremy, Yes, there were renactors scattered throughout the village though almost every one I saw broke rank from behaving in the 1800s manner. The tin shoppe, the blacksmith, the cooper, the potter and the printer were there doing there demos with the cooper telling everyone about he being a professional chef. The houses were all empty but for the two I mentioned. The parsonage was closed. The little house had one lady sitting in the kitchen weaving straw. The farm house had a pissy girl at the hearth and one lady in the buttery, and a few farmers in the garden. That was IT. The other houses were for the most part just dead of any life and in place of what used to be people were now these new displays. It was a very busy day.
There is now a plastic cow in a barn and now a playground with plastic oxen and other plastic playground stuff. The general atmosphere of OSV now is of a place for inner city kids to just zoom through with the distractions of the modern types of displays to attend to their ADS rather then settling them into the atmosphere of the 1800s, the way I always remember it being done. I have been there many times, also chaperoning many times for both my kids classes when they were in elementary school. I know that economic times are tough, but to replace people for modern displays was not a result of the times I don't believe. As I understand it, OSV took in around $100,000.00 (low estimate) just in entry fees for just that one day I was there.

[lisascenic]

Interestingly, the interpreters at the Farmers Museum don't pretend to be 18th and 19th century farmers. They wear the clothes, but are pretty clear that they are showing what the farmers of a previous time would have done. I actually prefer that, because I think it is less phony. They demonstrate the linen production (or whatever) and say "the farmer would have taken the flax, and soaked it in water..." There's no fake old-timey language being used, and no pretending that the interpreters don't know what kinds of lives the visitors live.

I *love* living history museums! But it's a bit of a joke between me and my partner how quickly I can get an interpreter to "drop character" and start "talking shop." Colonial Williamsburg was hilarious that way. I really want to learn about the technical and historical aspects of what the interpreters are doing, so I ask a lot of questions, which leads to fascinating, informative discussions.

[gregV]

Well, the OSV employees never did fall into that much character for as long as I have gone and I don't want to get carried away with this issue. It was more of the lack of characters to even talk with. I agree that trying to talk with someone who insist that they are from the period gets you little of anything but frustration. I used to enjoy striking up conversations with the homesteaders about the houses and how they were used, etc. But the fact here is that there were little to none to chat with. It was now up to me to just read what the displays wanted me to know, touch, or see.
Just me. When I start seeing plastic playgrounds and kids running around with no feeling of intimidation by grumpy old 1830s characters, then I see the museum loosing touch with what it all about. I think its an unfortunate fact is that they have and are continuing to set the place up to flush as many paying visitors through as fast as they can. Makes scence as no one will hold up the flow getting into a discussion with a real human.