Living History at The Farmers’ Museum in Cooperstown

by Farmers' Museum⁽¹⁾
Farmers' Museum

As one of the oldest rural life museums in the United States, The Farmers' Museum in Cooperstown, NY blurs the line between exhibition and working farm. The Museum's legacy stretches back to the early 1800s when it was owned and operated by noted New York author James Fenimore Cooper. The farm changed hands and operated as a sheep farm during the mid-1800s, before it was acquired by the Clark family who later donated the 1918 stone barn to the Museum, which opened in 1944.

Today, this Cooperstown museum consists of over 20 historic structures brought to the site from locations around central New York. The buildings represent traditional crafts such as broommaking, printing, blacksmithing, and tavern-keeping as well as residential and professional structures including a pharmacy. All of the buildings are furnished with the museum's collection of more than 23,000 artifacts that preserve traditions of agriculture and craft in 1840s New York.

Another Cooperstown attraction located on the Museum grounds is The Empire State Carousel, billed as "the museum you can ride." It features 25 hand-carved animals representative of the agricultural and natural resources found in New York State. Its elaborate and intricate artwork and paintings depict historical figures and scenes from New York's past. In addition, The Country Fairgrounds is a seasonal interactive exhibit, where people can experience a first-hand visit to a fair in the 1900s. Visitors can even try old-fashioned games like lawn bowling, skittles and stilt walking.

The Museum also uses its unique grounds to host workshops, lectures and special events to help educate visitors about farming techniques and rural life from the 1800s. Interaction with the land, exhibits, animals and staff is integral to The Farmers' Museum experience. On the museum grounds, visitors to the Lippitt Farmstead can help plant, cultivate and harvest crops especially hops (a traditionally important cash crop from the Cooperstown area) tend to farm animals, shear sheep, and then spin and weave the wool. Visitors are encouraged to try their hand at milking Buttercup every day at 3:30; make sure you arrive at the barn early!

Erin Richardson is a curator at The Farmers' Museum in Cooperstown, NY, an open-air Museum celebrating rural life with historic architecture, traditional farming and crafts and hands-on workshops and seasonal festivals. Visit www.farmersmuseum.org for more information.

Article submitted Friday, August 13, 2010 & read 277 times.

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