The 19th Century

The village of Cooperstown in Upstate New York has fenced the past and kept it open for business. Famous because of baseball, the village is designed to evoke the nostalgic America that the sport of baseball brings many people back to. There are many local laws requiring the quaint atmosphere to be maintained, but nowhere is it maintained so much as within one particularly nostalgic zone within the village: the Farmer's Museum.

This museum is dedicated to preserving 19th century American life by keeping up a small little village area containing wooden sidewalks, craftsmen's shops, homes, barnes, a church, and an inn. Last weekend was the first time since COVID that the museum has put on its typically annual Harvest Festival, inviting reenactors to perform 19th century folk music and vendors to sell all kinds of souvenirs and foods.

Maybe the major hospital that is located in Cooperstown should start transporting people by horse-drawn carriage instead of by ambulance, due to the condition of the surrounding country roads.

Just a cosplay walk to the horse carriage stop at the entrance to the Farmer's Museum.

The horse-drawn carriage waits for no farmer.

Inside is a delightful merry-go-round ride, while in the foreground the sack toss game is not being used. Meanwhile, the living horses continue to go around their circuit, pulling the carriage full of passengers.

The re-enactor wearing traditional Bavarian clothing and filming another re-enactor who was playing a simple tune using traditional German bells.

The wooden sidewalks pass buy shops that the re-enactors run just as they had been in the past. Sometimes they print the actual signs and papers used by the museum at this print shop.

This puppet play about Mother Nature evoked the folk tales of the Appalachians. The Cooperstown area at the top of the Susquehanna valley is definitely related to the Appalachians, even though the hills here are too far north to be part of the mountain range.

The puppeteers were excellent, as was the artisanship of the puppets. In the background is an old church building.

The horses' next stop was right beside the puppet theater.

The village green beside the inn was used for dining. One building is designated as a cafe, and grilled cheese sandwiches were sold inside. But there were several other food vendors around selling roasted corn, old fashioned pastries, etc.

Visitors can walk in to any of the buildings in the reconstructed 19th century village. Here is a detail of some items inside a book case in one of the family houses, which was an actual home of a slightly famous local family.

These ugly little squashes on the wall of the church cemetery remind passersby that it is a harvest festival, after all, and not merely a history festival.

Reenactor musicians played fiddle music on the porch of the tavern, which was a Classical style building.

The inn was open for visitors to walk through. One could spy on the musicians through the window.

The sitting room of the inn had usually been used by the friends of the women of the family that owned the inn, according to the displayed information. The Farmers Museum in Cooperstown, New York makes history feel hospitable.

I took the photos with my iPhone and lightly edited them using GIMP 2.10.