Freeman Farmhouse at Old Sturbridge Village, circa 1990

Freeman Farm
House, Sturbridge, Massachusetts, c. 1810-1815
Moved to OSV, 1950. Relocated, 1956
Barn, Charlton, Massachusetts, c. 1830-50
Corn Barn, Thompson, Connecticut, c. 1830-60
Smokehouse, Goshen, Connecticut, c. 1800


Haying began in the cool of the morning. Farmers, with their sons and hired neighbors, mowed as fast as they could, spreading, turning, and raking hay into windrows, and rolling it into cocks to minimize damage from rain or dew. As one observer described it, “everything about it has the urge, the hurry, and the excitement of a battle.” Once mowing had begun, any mismanagement or delay could have costly consequences and good farmers made ready well in advance an extra supply of scythes, pitchforks, and rake handles.

The signs of the working life of a farming family are found all around the Freeman Farm, even in the house where buckets of milk are taken into the buttery to cool and separate. Country women seemed endlessly busy with the chores that were traditionally their own. Taking care of the dairy and making butter and cheese were skills that provided much of a household’s trade with the outside world. Thrifty management of large kitchen gardens meant not only planting, weeding, and saving seeds, but also harvesting and preserving the produce. The work of putting food by, whether in sand in the root cellar, dried, pickled in brine, or smoked, just led right on to the planning, cooking, and serving of household meals.

Everyday bread for New England tables was traditionally “rye and Indian,” a combination of rye flour and corn meal, both ground at a neighborhood gristmill. Indian corn, or maize, was the region’s most important grain crop, borrowed from Native American agriculture. It thrived, while wheat, the settlers’ favorite European grain, had failed through southern New England. Rye was grown instead. But by 1825, even breadstuffs showed signs of the changes that were starting to overtake New England farming. Many rural families were buying newly available wheat flour from New York and Ohio. Some gladly abandoned their heavy traditional loaves for lighter bread. Others added one-third part wheat flour to the old recipes.

Following early 19th-century practice, the re-created landscape at the farm is divided into parcels for mowing, for pasture, for tillage, and for woodlot. New England farmers were steadily clearing their holdings, opening up forested land for grazing and hay. Native grasses were allowed to flourish in the pastures, but hayfields were sown with more nutritious “English” ones. Farmers prepared their fields with ox-drawn plows and harrows, and cultivated them through long days of hard labor. Through the winter, farmers could be found felling trees for fencing, repairing tools, building sheds, chopping firewood, or working at a supplementary trade. Caring for livestock was year-round work. Feeding the animals and cleaning their stalls, attending when they gave birth, shearing the sheep, milking the cows, and training young oxen were the common doings of everyday life.

Work still follows the old seasonal and daily rhythms at the Freeman Farm today. Crops are planted and harvested, food is prepared at the kitchen hearth, animals are tended in the barnyards, and produce is prepared for use or for trade. Field and garden crops are the traditional varieties originally grown in early New England. The cattle, sheep, swine, and poultry have been carefully bred to resemble early 19th-century animals in size, shape, and coloring. Visitors can discover here the re-created patterns of a whole way of life, which even then was beginning to show signs of giving way to the future.

The modest one-and-a-half story gambrel-roofed house at the farm was home for Pliny Freeman, his wife Delia, and a varying number of their seven children and kin. Their story is typical in many ways of the experiences of New England families. As the population of New England grew, it was harder to pass on an enduring connection to the land. Pliny, unlike his father or father-in-law, did not have enough land to