Thanksgiving in New England

My mom came out to visit for Thanksgiving and we went to Old Sturbridge Village (OSV) for Thanksgiving dinner. It was really good. Everything one would expect for a "typical" meal and MUCH MUCH more. Unfortunately we weren't able to take leftovers home, but it was buffet style so we could eat as much as we wanted to. OSV is a museum village that has buildings and other original "things" from all over New England, brought together to show what it was like in a small town. There were town homes, churches, mills, stores, etc. It was pretty cool to see what it may have looked like long long ago. And it was neat to be in the area where the idea of the Thanksgiving feast first happened.

When one starts off in the main museum area, there are a few smaller exhibits about food and living habits. There was a room that had so many clocks I couldn't count them. I was just glad they all didn't tick...wow that would have been a seriously disturbing room if they had all been ticking.

In the room, it tried to explain why "clocks" were so important to New Englanders and there was a plaque that explained why:

Early New Englanders thought of time primarily as an earthly period between birth and death to be lived in such a way as to reflect the glory of God in each individual. Men and women responded to daily and seasonal rhythms, but they paid relatively little attention to smaller time segments...An hourglass symbolized the relentless and continuous passage of one's entire time on earth, although Father Time with his scythe could cut life short at any moment.

I thought this was an interesting way to think about life.


There were actually two churches in the "village." I'm not sure what denomination the congregation was of the church on the left, but it seemed like a typical New England look. The picture on the right is the inside of the Society of Friends congregation...yep, the Quakers. I loved their simplicity, although it was much colder in there than it was outside. :)

This are views of the village. Which is interesting...add more trees and a bit more room in between the buildings and New England hasn't changed much.

This was an interesting view from the store, but then there was a guy who got in the picture...
These are two pictures of the same bridge by a cute pond. It did make me think, where is Ichabod Crane when you need him? Can't you hear the headless horseman...I can.


"About two hundred yards from the tree, a small brook crossed the road, and ran into a marshy and thickly-wooded glen, known by the name of Wiley's Swamp. A few rough logs, laid side by side, served for a bridge over this stream. On that side of the road where the brook entered the wood, a group of oaks and chestnuts, matted thick with wild grape-vines, threw a cavernous gloom over it. To pass this bridge was the severest trial. It was at this identical spot that the unfortunate Andre was captured, and under the covert of those chestnuts and vines were the sturdy yeomen concealed who surprised him. This has ever since been considered a haunted stream, and fearful are the feelings of the school-boy who has to pass it alone after dark." (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Washington Irving)

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving...now, let's all pray for snow!!!