Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Monday 21 august 2017
Grab your bonnet and musket: It’s a 19th-century getaway

By TRACEE M. HERBAUGH lar beverage of the times.
Associated Press After the meal, exhaustion
STURBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) from the day’s labor set in.
— Perhaps it was the in- We passed on the offer of
trigue of a straw bed or 19th century games, too
the chance to finally shoot tired even for our wine.
a gun, but when asked to The straw bed — supported
spend a night living like a by rope — wasn’t great. I
farmer in the 19th century, I fell asleep at 5 a.m. out of
jumped at the opportunity. exhaustion, but I am, ad-
I like to think I’m always up mittedly, a finicky sleeper.
for adventure — I’ve taken Some in the group had a
overnight trains across In- better night’s sleep.
dia and smoked Cuban There was no morning
cigars in Havana. So this shower. We used the park’s
experience sounded fun in restrooms, a small luxury.
a campy sort of way. But I Breakfast was leftovers
soon learned I was hardly from supper, which helped
cut out for old-timey life — cement one of my biggest
in short, it was hard. takeaways: People of this
I wrangled a friend, who time rarely wasted any-
packed a cooler of wine, thing. Bones and leftover
and we set out for Old scraps fed the animals.
Sturbridge Village, a living In this June 10, 2017 photo, a red barn sits on the grounds of Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Egg shells could be used to
museum that recreates ru- Mass., a living museum that recreates rural New England life in the early 19th century. make coffee. Human urine
(Tracee Herbaugh via AP)
ral New England life from was used for household
1790 to 1830. It’s a place had packed — my iPhone, along with my bag of mod- my flip-flops and drive back cleaner after it turned to
where chickens run freely, flip-flops and camera — ern contraband, all while to Boston. Dinner chores ammonia.
men wear tall hats and were put in a cloth bag. wearing head-to-toe garb. were split between my Since the Bixby trip, I find
women don bonnets. Cos- When you participate in the In the end I loaded it with friend and me and another myself cherishing the com-
tumed pioneers greet visi- forts we mostly take for
tors with a hale and hearty granted — a dishwasher,
“Good day!” We were part air conditioning, flip-flops,
a program, called “Board- bug spray, indoor plumb-
ing with the Bixbys,” where ing. I returned relieved to
guests stay overnight in be in my modern clothes.
a house built in 1808 and I appreciate the crunch of
once owned by the Bixby fresh vegetables.
family in Barre, Massachu- Living like a Bixby was
setts. It was later donated tough, but it made me
to Old Sturbridge Village grateful for my modern life.
and moved the 25 miles (40
km) there more than a cen- If You Go...
tury later. OLD STURBRIDGE VILLAGE:
The $325-per-person cost https://www.osv.org/.
to board with the Bixbys in- About 60 miles (96 km)
cludes a night in one of the southwest of Boston. Peter
home’s three straw beds Pan Bus has limited service
and food. Many furnishings to the village from Provi-
and structural details are dence, Boston and other
exactly as they were when cities. “Boarding with the
the Bixbys inhabited the Bixbys” costs $325 a per-
wooden house. The mu- son and covers admission
seum’s costume seamstress to the museum, farm and
fitted me with a floor-length In this June 10, 2017 photo, mustard greens cook in a cast iron pot hanging over a fire at Old other 19th century build-
cotton skirt, petticoat and Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Mass. In the 19th century, most meals had to be cooked over the ings. Without the overnight
long-sleeved blouse. home’s central hearth. program, admission is $28
None of the fabrics (Tracee Herbaugh via AP) for adults (discounts for se-
matched, she explained, Bixby program, you choose a blank because the thing couple staying the night. niors and students; children
because people of that a period activity: typically was sending me into an We skewered chicken and 3 and under free).
era used whatever they knitting or watercolor paint- overheated panic. hung it above the fire. Sides OTHER ATTRACTIONS: Op-
had. The clothes were utili- ing for the women, musket At the Bixby house, we were included cooked parsnips, tions include boat tours
tarian. Clothing was meant firing or blacksmithing for offered potted cheese, cooked greens, biscuits of the Quinebaug River,
to protect the skin from a men. But I chose musket a mixture of cheese, but- and rhubarb pie. Pies were which runs through Old Stur-
day’s labor in the sun and firing because I’d never ter and spices, and crack- served at every meal as an bridge Village, and rides on
from biting bugs. held a gun. The musket ers. Then, guided by a staff easy way to pack in calo- a reproduction of an early
I was given two bonnets was surprisingly heavy, at host, we started the four- ries. And most food was 19th-century stagecoach.
— a petite version for in- least 10 pounds (4.5 kg), hour process of making cooked. Even the toma- Sturbridge Townships, com-
doors and a wide-brimmed and the trigger was difficult dinner. Inside, the hearth toes were cooked to death prised of 11 communities,
beast that inhibited periph- to budge. I quickly lost in- blazed. I walked to the and stuck in a pie. offers beautiful places to
eral vision in the same way terest in toting around the water pump, which was We dined at a white-cloth hike, stroll and explore na-
blinders do on a horse. Any anachronistic firearm in the connected to town water table by candlelight. We ture, with orchards, maple
modern accoutrements I 90-degree F (32 C) heat supply. I wanted to put on drank apple cider, a popu- sugar houses and farms.q