Brandon Shedder

Review of Old Sturbridge Village

Oh, Old Sturbridge Village, you living museum you!...

Oh, Old Sturbridge Village, you living museum you! Your concept is a great one, which is a small New England town from the late 1700s to the 1800s that includes everything from animals, authentic looking people from that era, completely real buildings some of which are brought in from nearby towns and amazing scenery. It reminds me of the Shire from the Lord of the Rings movies.
The sheep here are adorable but quite dirty. Maybe someone should clean and sheer them. They were all gathering in the shade panting. They were very cute but I felt bad for them as well as the rest of my family. Perhaps they should be kept inside on hot days like the adorable baby cows and their parents. On the subject of animals, the squirrels and chipmunks here as well as the geese do not appear to be afraid of humans, and allow for you to venture close. Whether this is good or bad I'm not sure but maybe it's like Disney and all the animals are robotic! Totally, that's the answer. Illuminati confirmed.
I have to say that one of the best employees here is a farmer from Freeman Farm. He was extremely knowledgable, very authentic, and kind. I will look forward to seeing him again during my next visit. I believe his name may be Eddie. So here's lookin' at you, brah.
From what I've been told, the food at Oliver Wright Tavern is very good, despite what OTHER people have said here on Google reviews. If you don't like this tavern's food, however, there's another restaraunt you can go to.
Also, I love the sight of horse drawn carriages riding around here. But, don't touch the horses or you may receive a stern scolding from the carriage driver. This happened to my friend many years ago, but it may still happen to visitors today. There's no harm is petting the horses. What's the deal? Oh, I also love the Bulls they have. Super cute!
Something else I enjoy is that OSV is open year round. They used to have a great fireworks display every Fourth of July but for the past couple of years they haven't done this. I loved going and am disappointed by this. Guess it was just too expensive for them.
In my opinion, OSV is a tad boring at times. Those who love history will adore this place for all of its monotous, slightly boring historical elements. They'll also like how accurate and colorful this place is. But to the average visitor they may find this aspect of OSV to be slow and tedious. On another note, I've been told employees at this location aren't allowed to talk about slavery due to there being none in this part of the country during this time period. I feel like this does take away a bit of the historical accuracy of OSV but I understand their reasoning for not wanting to talk about such a sensitive topic.
If OSV is open all year long, what do they do during the winter? With most of their animals unable to be out during this season, their crops fallen, and many of their buildings lacking electric heat, how do they continue to stay open? Speaking of the winter, I do like how this museum holds music concerts. I've never been during the Christmas season but I imagine it's very nice to visit during that time.
It's interesting to me that so many people come from all over the country to visit this location. Old Sturbridge Village is not an enormous place armpit but it does have some value. However, my family and I have lived in Sturbridge for over a decade and have only visited OSV about four times. That's how little we truly like this place. Nevertheless, it's a good place to visit, especially if you don't have a lot to do. It's also nice that we don't have to pay since we're residents, which is an offer available to all of the people who live in Sturbridge/Fiskdale. The front desk people are also nice. But, there once was an old fry named Caroo Mickinstroo, whose name I've altered slightly for privacy, who worked at the local elementary school, Burgess, who worked here at OSV for a while. It made the experience...less pleasant and strange due to the fact that this woman was slow as Franklin's grandmother and kinda mean.
It's a cool place!