Old Sturbridge Village

This place is fun for the whole family. We haven’t been in years but would love to go back this year.

I’ve been many times to OSV like most New Englanders, on field trips. Being a history loving duo, my almost 7 year daughter and I decided to go today when it was quite cold (19° with wind chill). Pilgrim Plantation left us wanting more (although I prefer that time period and the presence of Native peoples lifestyles) and I recalled this place as being impressionable on me as a young child. Firstly I feel 42 $ is steep for pricing in winter when it’s off season and the village isn’t equally employed as in warmer months. The café was closed outside of the gift shop right off the bat. Kind of a bummer after driving 1.5 hours to get here and not wanting to forge on candy in the gift shop. First period actor
Was in the small house dipping candles. We then visited most of the main village (Quaker meeting house, center meeting house/​church, textile exhibit, Fenno barn, bank, Fitch house & barn, Salem Towne house and barns) before finally seeing our second period actor in the printing office. The hands-​on craft center, child’s world exhibit and cottage (serving light fare) were closed. The tin shop housed some very informative workers where my daughter delighted at the process (and I still hankered for a punched lantern after all these years– $ 99, I’ll still pass). Behind Bullard’s Tavern there is a large loop around water. The Bixby house, Freeman barn & farmhouse, sawmill, gristmill, carding mill, cooper shop, district school and pottery shop were all vacant! Only the blacksmith had 3 persons inside (and very interesting to watch). We still took our time despite the biting cold and made the best of it; I was particularly struck that despite my almost reliable romantic yearning for times past, I was definite in my appreciation for modern life seeing this depressing lifestyle. I appreciated a view of the hard New England past (and again I prefer earlier times) and it was a great conversation with my daughter about women’s rights and the lack of diversity and freedom. I just wish this place was more staffed and lively. I don’t think it’s a fair shake to pay full price and see 8 workers and virtually no interactive demonstrations beyond catching them bang some tin or weld iron… We’ll try again in the spring when there’s hopefully more life in the village. But do bring a lunch and leave it in the car– the food options leave a lot to be desired.

This is one of my favorite place to have a mother/​daughter date with my kid. It is one of those places that just lights up her little face and fills her with wonder and fascination. I enjoy the scenic beauty of OSV as we usually make our annual visit in the fall, but she really gets into the 18^th century vibe of the place. She is fascinated with the clothes and outhouses; she could watch the potter for hours; she is enthralled with the $ 3 carriage ride around the square; oh, then there is the bees… This is a chockful day for her and I love it! I am also so impressed how the staff, with their period dress, speech and behaviours, really engage with the kids. At our last visit, the «farmers» recruited some of the visiting kids to help pick up apples in the field, and the potter gave them clay to play with.
Overall, great place to bring the kids, well at least until they are too cool for it!

Went for a visit today and enjoyed the atmosphere of the place. Really felt like traveling back in time to a 1830’s rural town. All the people who work there are very nice and kept character as they portrayed residences of the community. Learned about printers and muskets and saw farmers tending their fields and livestock. Highly recommended going here especially with kids.

I went here for my birthday. I had brunch with my elderly parents, and my dad is practically blind. The waiter, Rick, was incredibly rude to my father. Rick made a special trip to our table to inform me that my father who had done nothing wrong, that my father was «an incredibly rude and hateful man». Wow… seriously… I don’t think an old man should be treated so poorly for asking for tap water, more cream and coffee. It was a buffet for petes sake how hard could Rick’s job had been, and he had to go so far as to insult a blind old man. I hope this doesn’t happen again. It was ridiculous. I can not believe Sturbridge would hire such fowl people, its bad for business, and drives patrons, like myself, away. This problem needs to be delt with.

Excellent place for learning some history, walking nice grounds and getting some good coffee and baked goods! The interpreters are friendly and happy to answer questions. Worth the trip.

They let the kids who visit run the show. Girl tried to cut me in line at the candle-​making station. Apparently she’d called «fives» to the rest of her fifth grade class. I didn’t hear her and it only counts if everyone hears. Decided to call BS on this girl and that’s where my day went south. I guess my money didn’t matter to them. They had me escorted off the «grounds» (side-​note the pics make this place look way bigger) I didn’t think I was being unreasonable and no one cared that I was crying too. On top of all of this, the security guards are dressed like regular policemen. Way to take me out of it. Never have this problem at Medieval Times.

Great place to visit! I haven’t been there since 5^th grade. It is well staffed. They are military friendly offering great discounts. We made sure to eat at the tavern and pick up some gifts on the way out. We will be back in the fall again.

Loved it. Too much to see in one day, and went there twice a day. Lots of cool stuff to see, and it really takes you back to the past. The people there are very friendly and there are a lot of cute animals to see :-)

OSV is a special place. I grew up visiting often and attended the summer camps. I loved it, and have no doubt it helped develop a lifelong love and interest in history.
Fast forward 20 years. I now have a very active three year old of my own, and while we do not live locally, I make it a point to visit OSV whenever we are in town. Our most recent visit was in mid-​December, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a hands-​on kids play space within the visitors center. The play area is perfect for preschool age children, and has a 1830-​style kitchen, barn, store, and farmyard for kids to explore, no matter what the weather.
My daughter also enjoyed going from house to house within the village. The friendly staff and the wagon ride were particularly good. An outing to OSV is a great way to get kids outdoors and provide a hands-​on historical experience.

Visited Sturbridge village last weekend. You get to visit here twice for 24 dollars. This place was absolutely worth a visit. Very informative for kids. The villagers are performers but they do know a lot about their role. They clear all questions that you may have. The black Smith s shop was very interesting. They showed us how they shaped the metal by heating it on fire. They have demonstration like printing and also guided tours. There is also a horse ride and crafts for kids on different location s. We will surely appreciate the things we take for granted once we pay a visit here.
Food can be bought inside the village. Make sure to wear comfortable shoes as there is a lot of walking to do.

It pains me to be giving OSV only three stars. I don’t know whether that’s high because I practically grew up here, or low because I’m holding them to a higher standard.
Background: I went to the elementary school across the street, so we came here at least three times per year from kindergarten through 6^th grade. It was a 25 cent bus ride, which lasted maybe all of three minutes, of which 2:30 was spent waiting at the light. Entrance was (and still is) free for Sturbridge residents, so I came here plenty of other times with my parents. I knew half the people who worked here either outside of work, or because I was there so often. At the local supermarket I cashiered at they came through my line in full dress. My mom would drive me here on weekends, so I could see all the licence plates from far away (back when I’d never been further away from home than New Jersey). I remember seeing sheep born, growing up, and disappearing. I remember how big a deal it was to see the bulls defending the newborn calf. I *lived* here.
And I think that’s the problem. I took my girlfriend here after having been talking the place up for weeks. I went there, and saw no bulls. I saw some sheep. Half the buildings were empty, instead of growing up they were cooking in there, and you could sometimes get samples of their food. It really felt like you were walking into a living, breathing community from the 1800s. Now, it feels a bit more like a museum. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still fun, but it’s really a different feel. You can buy candied apples in the town common. There seems to be more restaurants than I remember. There’s a whole new addition. It just doesn’t feel quite as immersive.
It’s still totally worth a drive here, but I can’t help but feel like an integral part of my childhood has been changed.

Sheep running through the streets beside you. 19^th century towns. Fall leaves. Good food. Friendly staff. $ 25 a person! Moo’ing cows. Oink’ing pigs. Arts and craft classes. It’s pretty perfect for any age!

It pains me a terrible amount to give OSV a 2 star rating.
I need to give my background with the village first and foremost. I come from a family that upon our first time here somewhere around 1993, held season passes until I was in middle school (1999). Sturbridge villages a was a fairly frequent Sunday destination for our family growing up. After my sister, mother and myself fell in love the first time we visited, my father did something he never does, threw down cash to ensure we could visit as much as he could stand driving there a season. Back then, every single building was occupied with OSV employees, while the village encouraged their interpreters to be in historic character, it was never required. I think as a child this helped, that when it was a building that had a truly historic event going on the person was in character, but at others they were able to chat with you about how the and now compare. Once the banker asked if my sister and i were willing to sell our teenage mutant ninja turtle bandanas to him, as they would be a nice treat for his son (we declined but this still sticks out in my mind so much that we talked about those things and that he was still able to give us historical facts)
Nowadays many of the buildings are vacant, they have displays but do no have anyone in them to explain or reenact unless it is a specific time of day. I like seeing the village in action, not what happened upon my most recent visit, which was walking around and reminiscing to my (now ex) boyfriend about what used to be in the different houses and the families that the village had concocted to live in the houses.
I noted there were more areas one could get food there now, and that they have the hiking trails through the woods and through some farmland to pass from one side of the village to the other.

Nice historical village that shows how people in 1830 Colonial America lived.
The spoke people do a great job immersing themselves in the period and would say things like… Canning has not been invented… Cheetos? do you mean cheese… etc. Very amusing and interesting.
Lots of building show the furniture, style and crafts of the period. We enjoyed the shoe shop, tin shop, blacksmith the best.
About $ 24 to get in… depending on how much reading you want to do (plaques)…it should take 3 – 5 hours.
A few eating places provide grub.

Though this place is a fun place to go on an Autumn New England day, I was a little disappointed once we actually made it out.
Some of the buildings didn’t have a person on staff/​were just empty. The grounds are also not as expansive as one would think, which makes the whole «village» part more like «patch of greenery».
If you plan on making the trek out from Boston (its took us more than an hour) and are ok with paying $ 24 per person to wander around a patch of woods with some houses, just keep in mind that its not as mind-​blowing as advertised.

This was a nice museum, although I wish there were more demonstrations. I was expecting to see more people in character. Pricey, no student discounts, but we managed to get half off at 3:15 which was nice. The fudge in the gift shop was smooth and delicious. The river ride was beautiful, the water was like glass.

This review is only for the Village as a wedding venue. I have no comments on overall visitor experience or the exhibits. So this is for anyone considering getting married here.
Our friends were married here. The couple was wonderful, the ceremony splendid and the facilities were overall nice, but the venue failed in other aspects.
They had horse-​drawn carts that went from the main center to the ceremony which was a very nice touch.
However, the service at the wedding was simply not good. They had one bar for cocktail hour outside staffed by 1.5 people — only one person could make mixed drinks and the other was a very young girl that could only pour things like wine. Guests stood inline forever. Most ended up being served only 1 drink in the full hour because they simply could not handle the line. On top of it there was a rude lady walking around threatening that everyone would be carded at the bar, though most people were not.
The service for drinks inside the venue was a bit better but still not by much… much waiting was involved.
Furthermore, they did not bring out the food until well after the speeches. Not even bread rolls were placed on the tables. Guests had no food until an hour or so into the reception if not more and have been drinking. The food itself was fine — I’ve had worse and better at weddings, not bad but nothing spectacular as is common at these things.
The facility itself was fine — spacious and a good dance floor.
Anyway, just something to consider.

My wife grew up in Massachusetts and has been to this village numerous times. It’s a very large village with historic buildings and live reenactments. Many of the buildings have been brought to Sturbridge to set up this town. Some of the buildings are original to Sturbridge. They also have onsite museums, such as the rifle museum.
This place gets 4 stars simply because of my wife’s fond memories (apparently she took all of her ex bfs here lmao) of it and also because of the sheer size of it. It’s nice that you can go into most of the buildings and that the actors dress up.
However, one thing that was upsetting is the fact that their website stated that they close later than they did. They were forcing people out around 4, when the hours online stated that they were open until 5. Since we planned our trip around this and came up all the way from NJ, this was very inconvenient. We didn’t get to see the whole place.
I just looked at their website again, and they must have received so many complaints that they changed their hours on their website. My wife overheard someone in the store b*tching out the gift shop employee because of the discrepancy in the time versus the website.
Overall, this is a nice place to go.

Not only is this place helpful for children, I found it unbelievably enlightening for me as well! I can see many ways that they could market this place as well. However it is under the best orientation that it could be; for the kids…
This village represents how people lived between the Revolution and the Civil War in the New England area. The attire, skills, and area are all set up for these days gone by. The staff have the tools and skills from that time period and are able to express that in an easy to understand method for the children and adults who come to visit in droves.
Pro Tip: Arrive early in the morning with lots of sunscreen on!
The normal cost can be a bit a steep. However they have a number of deals here and there that can alleviate a lot of those charges. For example when the munchkin and I were there today, she was free as all kids 17 and under are free during the month of August 2013! In addition to that it was a sponsored day by a local bank that made the pricing for all adults only $ 5.00! Consequently between the two of us we saved over $ 30!!! woo woo!!!
Pro Tip #2: Bring a lunch. The lines are ridiculously long and pricy. They follow the theater pricing options. AKA its ridiculous!
Make sure you wear sturdy good shoes as you will be doing a lot of walking. I would also suggest that they are not the newest pair of kicks you have as they will get very dirty traipsing around dirt trails. Some of those trails are simply hardpacked dirt while others have a layer of silt up to an inch deep in places. Also dont forget beware the cowpies and horse apples laying all over the roads!
Pro Tip #3: Free parking!
Overall we learned a ton. I bet a bunch of survivalists would love to come here to learn many special talents and skills. I know I would have enjoyed more time with several of the exhibits and with Q&A stuff from several different «villagers».
I highly recommend this place to anyone with kids or anyone who is simply curious about what happened in that time period. I would love to return myself…