Back to Our Roots: A New Vision of New England Farming and Rural Life

FAIN: BR-50017-06

Old Sturbridge, Inc. (Sturbridge, MA 01566-1138)
Jack W. Larkin (Project Director: February 2006 to July 2009)
J. Edward Hood (Project Director: July 2009 to April 2010)

Implementation of three permanent exhibitions that explore the market-driven transformation of rural life and landscape in New England farming, 1790-1840.

OOld Sturbridge Village, a history center and outdoor museum of rural New England life, seeks support from the National Endowment for the Humanities for an implementation project, Back to Our Roots: A New Vision of Farming and Rural Life, aimed at creating a new integrated approach to the visitor’s experience and understanding of New England agriculture, rural life and rural landscape in the years of the Early Republic, 1790-1840. Three major exhibit venues will be created in buildings that are part of OSV's historical environment: Introduction to Farming at the Fenno Barn; Farmers and Markets at the Towne Barn, both on the Village Common; and a new Learning Center, housed in a museum-built service structure in the Village's Countryside area. The project will also upgrade and revise some existing exhibit signage in coordination with the new exhibit approach and create a family brochure/guide to farming and farm life.