Old World Wisconsin

Caroline, my sister-in-law Kim, and nieces Sarah and Alyssa, and I all traveled to Old World Wisconsin this past September.  It is an outdoor museum or sorts, dedicated to showing what life was like in Wisconsin in the mid 19th century for various groups - Germans, Danes, Poles, etc.  Many of the buildings on site were deconstructed, transported here from all over, and painstakingly reconstructed.  It was a wonderful glimpse in time of a bygone era. 

An old Catholic church

 Singing at the organ

This kind woman showed the girls the "pin-keep" she was hand-sewing. 

 This woman showed the girls how ironing used to be done and let them try it with a hot iron right off of the wood-burning stove.

 The girls learned about the old General Store...

In the blacksmith's shop, the blacksmith explained what his job was, and how it changed after the industrial revolution. 

 

 What rooms looked like in typical farm houses of that era (and the style both inside and out varied based on ethnicity and occupation.)

 What dishwashing used to involve. Boy did they feel lucky that we have running water!

Very interesting and atypical style of polish house and garden. 

Here, the girls learned how to soften flax in preparation for making thread. 

This woman taught us how to make thread from the prepared flaxseed.

and then how to weave cloth on this giant loom. The setup alone is unbelievably time-consuming!

The girls had to put on wooden shoes and do some typical farm life chores. 

The boarding house/hotel.

 Riding the tram

 The girls got to see what school was like in a one room schoolhouse.

 The last building we visited had typical games and toys that children played with during that time.

 Dinner at Paisanos

What a fun excursion.  I definitely want to take the boys to see it in a few years!