After visiting Saint-Gaudens we drove north-west to Woodstock, Vermont to visit a couple sites in close proximity. I'd had Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park on our list when I discovered that across the road was the Billings Farm and Museum, a historic property that used to be owned by the family that owned the land that became part of the National Park. While both sites are literally across the road and share a visitor center I'll be dealing with them in three posts. First I'll write about the museum exhibits at the Billings Farm and Museum.
The Billings Farm & Museum’s Farm Life Exhibits are housed in four original historic barns. The displays depict the seasonal round of activities on a typical Vermont hill farm of a century ago, and feature historic hand tools, farm equipment, family possessions, and oral histories.
Glimpse inside a country store, traditional farmhouse, and farm workshop, and learn about town meetings, one-room schoolhouses, and the daily chores of a typical Vermont farm family. Discover what it took to prepare the soil, plant and harvest the crops, and feed the livestock.
These engaging exhibits help tell the story of rural life in Vermont at the turn of the century, and the men and women whose lives were rooted in the rocks, forests, and fields of the Green Mountain State.
--from
Billings Farm & Museum website
Looking over a model of the farm as it used to look was very useful in understanding the layout. Essentially the house and woods have been preserved by the National Park Service while the farm side of the property is operated as the Billings Farm & Museum.
A detailed timeline presented the history of the property and its various owners.
The last private owners of the property were Mary French Rockefeller (a descendant of the Billings Family) and Laurance Spelman Rockefeller, the son of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. When we were out west in 2012 we visited the
Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve, which is a part of Grand Tetons National Park made up of land donated by the Rockefellers.
For a time the farm's dairy was well known and won awards.
The farm was first owned by Charles Marsh, the father of George Perkins Marsh.
They had some books that the kids enjoyed looking through.
After leaving behind the first exhibit area we walked into a much larger area that featured even more and larger artifacts as well as reproductions of earlier buildings and landscapes.
Seeing old agricultural implements reminds me of my Dad since he grew up on a farm many years ago and so is familiar with quite a bit of the machines and tools.
Before I saw this exhibit I had never heard of using a horse treadmill to provide power to equipment.
The kids really liked looking at this lunch-time display. The sign explained that this meal was often eaten out in the fields so that everyone could keep working and maximize their usage of daylight hours.
The exhibit explained that since most Vermont farms had only a few milking cows they continued milking by hand since it wasn't economical to invest in automatic milking machines.
This exhibit showed how important buttermaking was to Vermont farms. It was an early cash crop sold to make money for farmers before operations became large enough that it was outsourced to creameries.
Cheesemaking was also something originally done locally by farmers. Today it is something Vermont is still famous for.
Here you can see ways to supply animals with salt and water, both essential for their nutrition and survival. The salting log and fee trough were used to supply salt while the water tub and heater could keep water unfrozen in the winter.
Here are a sample of various root and vine foods that might be grown on farms and stored for long periods of time in root cellars.
Stone walls were very popular to separate farms and fields due to the ubiquity of building material in the state's rocky terrain.
I'm sure many farmers had to be jacks-of-all-trades by necessity as they worked to repair their various tools and buildings, so of course they would have had very functional workshops.
The great thing about firewood, a Vermont farmer said, is it warms you twice: once when you cut it and again when you burn it.
--from exhibit signage
After the farm exhibits was an area covering the home on the farm.
Various rooms were visible on different levels to show all aspects of life in the farm house.
Of course schooling was not neglected by the exhibit designers.
Nor was the church left out.
The general store exhibit was chock full of artifacts and signage explained more about this staple of the community.
During the early 20th century, the general store played a vital role in the life of a rural community. Basic kitchen commodities were sold in bulk and included flour, molasses, cornmeal, sugar, vinegar; plus salt pork, pickles, crackers, and candy. Here too, harnesses, feed grain, hardware, fabric and shoes, patent medicines, and an array of specialty items could be bought. The store also served as a showcase for new farm and household inventions. Townspeople usually bartered farm produce, wood, and other services for their purchases.
The store was also a social center and a gathering place for the community.
Another important part of farm life that was unique to the north was sugaring.
Here you can see a gathering tub, which would collect sap from the buckets hung on the trees, and then be hauled off to be processed into sugar.
Kettles would often be hung over open fires to start the sugarmaking process as until 1870 almost all of the boiling of sap was done outside.
Ice cutting was something else quite popular in the north as these blocks of frozen water would provide refrigeration through the hot summers when preserved in ice houses under piles of insulating sawdust.
You can view all of the photos from this post as well as a number more
in this album. I hope you've enjoyed this tour through the museum. The next post will cover out trip through the National Park site and then we'll visit the farm area.
~Matt
