Tag Archives: Old Sturbridge Village

Printing Office, Old Sturbridge Village (1780)

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Daniel

The Printing Office at Old Sturbridge Village was built around 1780 in Worcester, where it was located next to the County Court House. It was owned for a time by printer Isaiah Thomas, who moved his business from Boston to Worcester during the Revolutionary War (although he probably did not do his printing in the building). The Printing Office was relocated to Old Sturbridge Village in 1951.

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Dennison Schoolhouse Replica (1946)

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Daniel

In 1946, Old Sturbridge Village built a replica of an 1849 schoolhouse. It stood on the Common, where the Thompson Bank is now located. In 1963, it was moved elsewhere in the Village, where it is now used for historical performances and special programs. The original Dennison Schoolhouse, on Dennison Lane in Southbridge, is now a private residence.

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Pliny Freeman House (1815)

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Daniel

The Pliny Freeman Farmhouse at Old Sturbridge Village was built elsewhere in Sturbridge by Chester Belknap between 1812 and 1815. It is named for Pliny Freeman, who bought the property in 1828 (his third in town) and spent 23 years there. He and his wife Delia Marsh had seven children, most of whom were grown by 1828 and most of whom eventually migrated westward. He sold the farm in 1851 and went to live with his daughter Delia until his death in 1855. The Freeman House was condemned by the Massachusetts highway department and moved to Old Sturbridge Village in 1950 (and relocated again in the Village in 1956). Today, it is surrounded by farm fields and historic outbuildings which collectively depict the life and work on an early-nineteenth century New England farm.

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Bolton Friends Meetinghouse (1796)

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Daniel

Quakers in Bolton formed the Friends Meeting in 1779 and constructed the Bolton Friends Meetinghouse in 1795. By 1930, membership had dwindled and the Friends joined the Unitarians and Baptists and formed the Bolton Federated Church, known as the First Parish of Bolton. In 1952, the Friends deeded their former meetinghouse to Old Sturbridge Village. It was moved to Sturbridge in 1953 and restored to its original 1796 appearance, necessitating the removal of an 1818 addition.

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District School, Old Sturbridge Village (1810)

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Daniel

The District School at Old Sturbridge Village is a one-room Schoolhouse, originally built in Candia, New Hampshire, c. 1800-1810. It was moved to Sturbridge in 1955.

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Bullard Tavern, Old Sturbridge Village (1946)

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Daniel

Although surrounded by eighteenth and nineteenth century period buildings, Bullard Tavern at Old Sturbridge Village was built in 1946-1947. Although resembling an early New England house or tavern, it was not designed as a strictly accurate historical reproduction. Bullard Tavern was built as a service building, originally intended to provide visitor amenities and exhibit space, but it soon became a restaurant. The woodwork in the Tavern’s Tap Room was salvaged from an eighteenth-century house in Brooklyn, Connecticut.

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Pottery, Old Sturbridge Village (1819)

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Daniel

Harvey Brooks (1779-1873), of Goshen, Connecticut, began work at the age of sixteen as an apprentice potter. After 1819, he worked for himself as a rural farmer-potter, producing 26 different varieties and sizes of redware pots, pans and jugs. He had a pottery shop and an adjacent kiln, where he burned his last batch of ware in 1864, long after most other redware potters had given up practicing their craft. Brooks‘ pottery shop, built around 1819, was moved to Old Sturbridge Village in 1961 and a replica kiln was built in 1979.

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