Central Massachusetts welcome guests to historic homes and sites

Almost every kind of 19th-century activity or craft you can imagine is represented in the homes, shops, mills and other historic buildings at Old Sturbridge Village. The 200-plus-acre site re-creates an 1830s New England village, welcoming visitors inside its circa 1819 schoolhouse, 1796 Friends meetinghouse, Greek-Revival bank, 1810 blacksmith shop and other buildings (there are 40 in all), as well as extensive gardens and a farm with heritage-breed pigs, cattle, sheep, pigs and chickens. Costumed historians demonstrate everything from barrel-making and printing to cooking on a heart and preparing wool for spinning. There are exhibits on everything from tools and textiles to beekeeping as well as hands-on activities, games and presentations on early New England village tasks and everyday life.