Museum Memberships

We have memberships to two different museums: Old Sturbridge Village and the Boston Children's Museum.  In the 6 months we've had the OSV membership, we've gone 9 times.  The Children's museum we've had since the end of July and we've gone twice.  The latter was a good idea in theory, but seems to take more planning on our part.  Plus we have to pay for parking, which is also a deterrent.  It will pay for itself in 2 more visits, and we're confident we'll do that (especially over the winter), but I don't think we'll be renewing that membership.

But we definitely love OSV.  My family had a membership for a while when I was younger and I fondly remember our visits.  Then Chris and I got a membership a couple of years ago (while I was pregnant with Bennett, actually).  I know we got our money's worth with that membership, but it was nothing like now!



Hanging out with Mumma in the Boba

 What's nice about the membership is that we don't feel bad if we're there for only a short amount of time.  And we mostly look at the animals, check out the gardens, etc.  Occassionally we go into a building, but not usually.  It's also interesting to see how our visits have evolved from Bennett being mostly in the stroller to mostly in the Boba (baby carrier), to mostly walking/riding on shoulders.  We went last weekend and he pretty much refused the Boba, but was happy as a clam riding on Daddy's shoulders.

 

The new waterwheel, officially in action for the first time
since being replaced.  (They had tested it earlier in the week.)



On our most recent visit, this past weekend, they were celebrating "Harvest Days".  It was a chance to help harvest corn, potatoes, beets, etc.  Plus they gave tours of the root cellar, smoke house, and barns.  Unfortunately we had to miss that since it was in the middle of nap time.  But an added bonus of our visit on Saturday was the rededication of the gristmill.  It's been out of operation for a number of years as it needed a new waterwheel as well as some other repairs.  It was finally done!  We happened to be in the area of the mills when the ceremony was coming to an end.  We stopped by, and as we were standing there, someone vaguely familiar looking walked by.  He had a name tag on because he was a trustee of the museum.  It was none other than Norm Abram, host of This Old House and The New Yankee Workshop.





Norm Abram watching the rededication ceremony

After the ceremony Norm went to talk with the master craftsmen who had worked on the project. Chris wanted to take a picture and talk with him, but he also didn't want to interrupt. We waited around for a little while, but they were having a nice long conversation. So in the end, this is the only photo I have- taken on the sly with my phone as we all stood watching the ceremony.



I think at this time of year things are going to quiet down a bit at the village.  Most of our other visits had been on weekends where special events were going on, but the calendar looks a bit sparce for the next few months.  Makes sense, since there's really no farming to do over the winter.  Plus with the chillier weather, I imagine fewer people will want to visit.  Maybe now we'll make a point of going into all of the buildings to check them out.

Also, as a random aside, I got stung by a yellow jacket while we were there on Saturday.  4 days later and it still hurts!