Old Sturbridge Village

The Boston Sr. Missionaries had their Senior Training at the Old Sturbridge Village

and we kind enough to invite us along once again!

Guess Who

????

Elder and Sister Excell

Sister Ashton and Sister Excell outside the
"Friends Meetinghouse"
The Friends Meetinghouse is a meetinghouse of the Religious Society of Friends,
Also known as Quakers


The Fiddler along the pathway - He played while they would
try to get visitors to dance along

Some of the missionaries getting with it!

Stage Coach

Nineteenth-century New Englanders called this building a meetinghouse. This one was build in Sturbridge in 1832 and moved to the museum in 1947. Buildings like this were used every Sunday for worship by members of the local Congregational church. There were morning and afternoon services, each over two hours long. Christmas and Easter services were very rare, but there was always a special Thanksgiving morning service. Periodically the community would meet here to hold town meetings. They would also hold concerts, public meetings, lectures, and Independence Day celebrations.

Inside the meetinghouse

This is what they called Town Pound. If your livestock got out they would be

put in the pound and you would have to pay to get them out.

This was posted inside the Shoe shop. An historic ten footer, which was a

small backyard shop structure built in the 18th and 19th centuries in

New England to serve as a shoemaker's shop. I didn't get a picture of the tools - ect.

Display of shoes - they didn't look to comfortable!

There were several different houses to walk through - that would have

furniture of the day in them

They had the fire going - think that would have been really hot to

work around in the summer time.

She is getting ready to start dying some yarn

The colors for the dye usually game from different plants

Demonstration of shooting the musket

It makes you jump because it is so loud - even though you know

what it sounds like! When it shoots fire comes out the top.

Now the Grist Mill

One of the stones that would have been used at the Grist Mill

Inside the Mill

Then the saw mill - they say this is still working, but

wasn't while we were there.

Outside the mill

Logs on the platform ready to go into the mill

And . . . . . the saw!

Old Sturbridge Village (OSV) is a living museum located in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, in the United States, which re-creates life in rural New England during the 1790s through 1830s (the Romantic Period). It is the largest living museum in New England, covering more than 200 acres OSV has a large staff of historians in costume, 59 historic buildings on 200 acres, three authentic water-powered mills and two covered bridges. Visitors can ride in a stagecoach, view antiques, heirloom gardens, meet the farm animals, and take part in hands-on crafts year-round.

Have to say this is my favorite!

Evidently Pato is a Spanish cartoon. The missionaries love to draw on our appointment board.

Today was transfers and none of the missionaries that we work with in the Employment Center were transferred - so that means they will be here for another 6 weeks. Yeah!!

Edler Canfield's Birthday Dinner

Ana (the Sisters are teaching her), graduated this year and is getting ready to go to college in the fall. She drew us this picture to hang with the rest of the Grandchildren's pictures.

Ana, Sister Chatfield, Sister Wilson, Elder Canfield and Elder McMullin

Elder McMullin, Elder Canfield and Elder Ashton

We took the missionaries to dinner for Elder Canfield's birthday.

Sharon Vermont

We made it to Royalton - which is not far from Sharon and is where the Vermont Law School is.

Eaton's Restaurant in Royalton. Good food, good company!

Missionary couples.

Made it to Sharon Vermont!

Sign where you turn to go to the monument.

Statue inside the visitors' center.

At the base of the monument.

In memory of this great prophet, a granite monument was dedicated on the 100th anniversary of his birth. The shaft was sculpted from a single granite block quarried in Barre, Vermont, and is one of the largest polished shafts in the world. It stands 38 1/2 feet tall, one foot for every year of the Prophet Joseph Smith's life. The shaft weighs 40 tons.

The grounds.



Thought that maybe you would be able to read the plague - but looks a little hard to read. It says the following:

BIRTHPLACE OF JOSEPH SMITH, THE PROPHET
December 23, 1805 – June 27, 1844

This plaque marks the place in the old Solomon Mack home where rested the family hearthstone (27X54 inches) now preserved in the New Bureau of Information 200 feet Southeast from here. Around this hearthstone and its glowing fireplace, two days before Christmas 1805, the smith family washed dessed and cuddled the future organizer of “God’s kingdom restores”
_____
December 23 1963

This would have been what the original home would have looked like.

I'm pretty sure the stone by the chair is from the foundation of the original home.

Elder and Sister Excell work in the Boston Mission in Employment (they are under our Employment Center) and so we work with them some. They invited us to go to Sharon Vermont (birthplace of Joseph Smith Jr.) May 22nd with them and the couple missionaries in the Boston Mission. Of course, we couldn't turn down an offer like that! And we are soooooo glad that we went. It was a great experience!! At the visitors' center, they also had a display of Sculptures done by Angela Johnson, think it was titled "Come Unto Christ" and was absolutely amazing. Elder and Sister Excell are awesome - we really have enjoyed getting to know them.