Daily events are subject to change.
Saturday, November 4, 2023
Welcome to Old Sturbridge Village, a recreated 1830s rural New England town! Fall is an exciting time here.
See if you can spot marigolds, autumn crocuses, and dahlias in bloom. See our Blacksmith, Potter, and Tinners
at work, and food being prepared by an open hearth with the remains of last year’s harvest, anxiously awaiting the autumn harvest. Our farmers and gardeners are beginning to bring in the harvest, and of course, our farm animals always enjoy a visitor too. Enjoy your visit! Please note: due to hunting season, the Woodland Walk (#44) and Pasture Walk (#46) are closed.
Throughout the Day
Hog Butchering At the Freeman Farm & Farmhouse
Join us to see how we turn a pig into meat for the table. We will demonstrate the process starting in the barn with scraping, removing innards, and halving the cleaned carcass. Inside the farmhouse blood sausage is being made and the organs are fried to eat today. The crops and animals raised on our farms are used throughout the year in our daily hearth cooking programs. We recognize this is a sensitive topic for many visitors, please use your own discretion. (at the Freeman Farm and Freeman Farmhouse, the area surrounding building #34)
Daily Activities
10:30 a.m. & 1:00 p.m. A Guided Tour of the Salem Towne House: Tour the home of a prosperous farmer with a costumed educator (meets in the hallway of the Salem Towne House, Building #15).
11:30 a.m. & 2:00 p.m. Devilish Tales: Folk tales wherein the Devil gets his due (in the Salem Towne House Lower Kitchen, Building #15).
3:00 p.m. Poetry For the Season: Hear 19th Century poems with a seasonal theme (in the Salem Towne House, Building #15).
Special Guest Lecturer- John Bunker
2:00 p.m. Apple Whisperer: Join us for a lecture and discussion led by John Bunker, a self-taught “apple explorer,” author, and founder of Fedco Trees and the Maine Heritage Orchard. John has spent decades tracking down and preserving rare apples, learning their histories, and making these rare fruits and trees available to the public (at the Bullard Great Room, Building #3).
Music Performances
10:00 a.m. Music at the Tavern: Hear a sample of 1830s fiddle tunes
(at the Bullard Tavern, Building #3).
11:00 a.m. The Singing School Practices for an Autumn Concert (at the Center Meetinghouse, Building #12)
12:30 & 1:30 p.m. The Singing School Performs an Autumn Concert (at the Center Meetinghouse, Building #12)
3:30 p.m. Musical Highlights, the “Hurdy Gurdy”: Listen to this strange and unusual instrument (at the Bullard Tavern, Building #3).
The Carryall (weather permitting)
We offer a horse-drawn carryall ride included with the price of admission. From 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. you can board behind the Bullard Tavern (#3) or in front of the Blacksmith Shop (#37) about every 20 minutes for a ride around the Mill Pond. There is no carryall operating outside of this time.
Civics & Religion
11:00 a.m. We Gather Together: The Thanksgiving Basket and Celebrating Thanksgiving in early New England (in the Richardson House, Building #12).
2:30 p.m. Town Officers Tour: What are the positions a town citizen and their neighbors might undertake as part of their civic responsibility (Starts in front of the Center Meetinghouse, Building #6).
Farm
3:00 p.m. Milking Demonstration
(at the Freeman Farm, Building #34).
Trades
Tin Shop (Building #14) Experience our tinners creating authentic reproductions of household items made from tinned sheet iron.
Community
Asa Knight Store (Building #10) Country stores brought in goods from all over the world, through seaports like Boston and Providence. They also bought locally produced goods such as butter, cheese, and handwork for sale in those urban commercial centers.
10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Ride the Stagecoach|$4.00 per person
Hundreds of stagecoaches linked most towns in early New England, carrying passengers and mail on set schedules. Today the stagecoach circles our historic common. Purchase a $4.00 token at the Visitor Center or the Miner Grant Store. Picks up outside the Bullard Tavern. Please note tokens are nonrefundable. Unused tokens can be redeemed on a future visit.
The Carryall (weather permitting)
We offer a horse-drawn carryall ride included with the price of admission. From 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. you can board behind the Bullard Tavern (#3) or in front of the Blacksmith Shop (#37) about every 20 minutes for a ride around the Mill Pond. There is no carryall operating outside of this time.
Dining & Shopping
Bullard Café (Building #3) (on the Ground Floor)
11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Hungry? Stop by lunch or a late snack.
Miner Grant Store & Bake Shop (Building #18)
9:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Stop in to buy our famous chocolate chip cookies, Joe Frogger cookies, and treats. Shop for Village-made wares, historical children’s toys and gifts, too!
Ox & Yoke Café (Building #1)
10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Featuring scrumptious sweet and savory baked goods made right on-site, along with freshly ground coffee, beer and wine, maple water, and more.
Enjoy pies, focaccia, cheesecake, or a “flight” of cookies!
Ox & Yoke Mercantile (Building #1)
10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Take home a traditional rural New England treasure or unique gift. Village-made crafts and kits, home décor, books, and more await!
Exhibitions
For the Purpose of Illumination: This new exhibit draws upon OSV’s large collection of lighting devices and prompts us to examine the impact that artificial lighting had in the early 19th century and continues to have on our lives today
(in the Countryside Gallery, Building #38).
Needle and Thread: The Art and Skill of Clothing an Early 19th Century Family: highlights the responsibilities held by rural New England housewives in constructing new garments, patching, mending, and darning worn items, and repurposing old items into new wardrobes. The exhibit features over a dozen garments and accessories, along with other textile and clothing objects from the Old Sturbridge Village Museum Collection
(in the Dennison Building, #27).