Pioneer Living

My family spent the 4th of July in 2010 in a log cabin in upstate New York, living as if it was 1802 (or so) on the Pioneer Farm at the Genesee Country Village and Museum.  

We all lived in a single room that probably measured no more than 14x20 feet.  We slept in beds we had roped ourselves, on mattresses we’d stuffed with straw in the barn.  We cooked on an open hearth, thankfully with the help of Aunt Marie, the Director of the Pioneer Farmstead.  

The Museum was open over the Fourth weekend, of course.  So technically, we were one of the exhibits.  And this place gets a LOT of traffic. A regular patron told me he had recently been to Williamsburg and was disappointed because Genesee had set his expectations so high.  I’ve never been to Williamsburg, but I can believe it — Genesee is that good.  But before opening at 10:00 AM and after closing at 5:00, we had the Village to ourselves.  We fetched our own water, fed the animals, read (and wrote with quills and ink) by candle and firelight, learned how to shoot a 1793 “Brown Bess” flintlock, and even made a few nails at the village blacksmith shop. 

That got me interested in blacksmithing, which I pursued for a couple of years (more on that later). It was a hot weekend, dressing like turn-of-the-19th-century pioneers. But it was a great education!