A weekend back in time

To complete our unit on pioneers we decided to venture to one last 1860's replica pioneer village. We have been to three others this past summer during our study, this one being different by its size and the degree to which it operates. Upper Canada Village was recreated, the houses and buildings were brought in from surrounding areas. It truly is a village, complete with all the essentials; a sawmill, a gristmill, a blacksmith, working farm, bakery, cheese making shop, dressmakers, upper class tenant farm, tow boat to ride, the shoe store, signal tower, textile factory....I could go on and on but the most impressive part was that each shop or store was working, complete with interpreters who were really an artist in their craft. The tin shop was complete with a gentlemen who has been perfecting the art of the past ten years, the cheese shop was making curds which went on sale in the general store at 2pm, the bakery make loaves for sale at noon (which meant a delicious lunch!).
We had the opportunity to see life come full circle. For example, we walked in to see the sheep in the fields and the shearing of the fleece. In one of the homes they were cleaning, carding and spinning the wool which we could watch. The factory which put the thread onto spools; something new in the 1860's, was working. We saw the incredible machinery separate the threads into colors on spools. Upstairs they were weaving blankets, that we later saw on the beds in the tavern. In the general store we bought some of the carded roving and could have bought one of their blankets.

At the farm we saw the animals in their pens, we helped make apple cider in the press, we saw them stoking the smoke house, we watched the farmers turn the soil and thresh the grains, we walked into the farm house when the farm hands were eating pork chops from the previously smoked meat, potatoes, carrots and beans from the garden, all cooked in the summer kitchen which we also toured.

We left with a real appreciation for the hard work settlers put in. Seeing all the machinery in action, the sweat on the brow of the person, trying out the bed mattress at the main homestead and then at the tenant farm and noting the difference had an impact. Its the difference between reading things in a book, then seeing it in a museum to seeing through a window back in time to a working village.