Old Sturbridge Village

Before the village

Prior to European colonization, the Nipmuck people inhabited the Quinebaug region of which OSV is a part.

In the early 19th century, the land on which Old Sturbridge Village now stands was a farm owned by David Wight. The farm included a sawmill, gristmill and a millpond which survives to this day. The millpond, which still powers the mills, was dug in 1795.

In 1795, David Wight's son went to Boston to conduct some business on behalf of his father. While in Boston he bought tickets to the Harvard Lottery, which was set up as a fundraising technique for then Harvard College (now Harvard University) He won $5000 (equivalent to $76.6 thousand in today's dollars).. He gave his father money to pay off the mortgage on his farm and logged the timber of the cedar swamp which today is the millpond. After the logging was complete, they dug the pond with a team of oxen and a scoop. This entire process took two and a half years.

Inception

George Washington Wells started a small spectacle shop in Southbridge, Massachusetts, in the 1840s which became the American Optical Company. His three sons—Channing M, Albert B ("AB"), and J Cheney Wells—followed him into the business, which continued to expand.

In 1926, AB began to shop for antiques. This influenced Cheney to collect early American timepieces and Channing to collect fine furniture. By the early 1930s AB had more than 45 rooms full of antiques in his Southbridge home.

In 1935 AB, along with his brothers, family members and associates, formed the Wells Historical Museum. The Museum was given title to the various collections and charged with the care and exhibition of the artifacts. In July 1936 the Museum's trustees met to determine how the collections would best be presented to the public. AB wanted to create a small cluster of buildings in a horseshoe around a common. His son George B proposed "a revolutionary idea."

AB later said of George, "He pointed out that the historical value of the things I'd been collecting was tremendous, provided that it could be put to proper usage... He suggested that to make this material valuable it would be necessary to have a village, a live village, one with different shops operating... it was essential to have water power." J. Cheney Wells pledged his clocks and other items and to help "in every way I can to develop a village along the lines that George suggests." It is believed that various members of the family had visited European folk museums, including Skansen in Stockholm, Sweden, which led to the genesis for what was to become Old Sturbridge Village.

Within a week of the meeting, the Museum purchased David Wight's farm and within a few months hired Malcolm Watkins as the museum's first curator. Architect Arthur Shurcliff was called in to help lay out a suitable country landscape. By 1941, the Fitch House, the Miner Grant Store and the Richardson House (now the Parsonage) were on the common and the Gristmill was in operation.

After a pause for World War II, Ruth Wells, George B.'s wife, became Acting Director of the Village. Quinnebaug Village became Old Sturbridge Village and it opened on June 8, 1946.

Word of mouth

Attendance climbed, mostly through word of mouth. In a 1950 article in The Saturday Evening Post, OSV was featured as "The Town That Wants to be Out of Date".

Adding buildings

By 1955, OSV acquired the Meetinghouse from the Fiskdale neighborhood of Sturbridge, the Salem Towne House from Charlton, the Fenno House, the Friends Meetinghouse, the Pliny Freeman House, the Printing Office and the District School.

The hurricane

On August 18, 1955, gale-force winds and a torrential downpour from Hurricane Diane created flood waters that broke dams in surrounding towns and flooded the Village.

Fifteen staff members were stranded by the rising waters. The Freeman Farmhouse was flooded and the Covered Bridge was swept off its foundation. Helicopters kept staff members supplied for three days until the waters receded. The damage was estimated to be $250,000 in 1955 dollars. With great effort, Village employees managed to re-open the Village in just nine days.

OSV today

Gone are the "movie set" displays with a fixed range of dialog. In their place, interpreters engage visitors in a more personal and interactive process, encouraging them to actively participate.

The museum continues to add interactive exhibits such as a wintertime ice rink, baseball games and a Christmastime celebration.

Structures and exhibits

Old Sturbridge Village has over 40 structures, including restored buildings purchased and relocated from across New England and some authentic reconstructions.

The village is divided into three main sections. The Center Village represents the center of town, with the town green as its focal point. Countryside consists of outlying farms and shops. The Mill Neighborhood features various commercial structures that rely upon the millpond for their power.

Center Village

The Center Village contains the following structures:

The Countryside

The Countryside features the following structures:

The Mill Neighborhood

Mill Neighborhood features the following structures:

Collections

Old Sturbridge Village has several buildings devoted to displaying their assorted collections of early American antiques.