To the Editors:
Saturday, May 16, along with our daughter and three-and-one-half-year-old grandson, we participated in the Wilton Historical Society’s “Barn Raising Day.” It was an experience not to be missed.
There were many working educational exhibits that rivaled the quality seen only at places like Old Sturbridge Village. And they appealed to seniors like us as well as little children.
There was an authentic Native American woman in her wigwam who explained how her Connecticut ancestors cooked, slept, and lived as we four sat on bear, beaver, and deer skins.
We could pump water from a well and carry it in buckets across our shoulders, we could use a two-person saw to cut some tree limbs, and we could taste pease porridge cooked over an open fire as well as churn some butter. We made pegs to hold beams together; we spun some wool and wove with a shuttle and a loom; and we broke out the inner layers of flax to begin to create linen. And we tasted baked goods that were cooked with historical recipes. All these exhibits had trained and knowledgeable people dressed in period clothing to explain what they were about. And there was no charge or fee.
We are so fortunate to have the Wilton Historical Society to demonstrate what life was like long ago before air conditioning, refrigeration, electrical tools, and stoves.
John and Kathleen Kalamarides
180 Westport Road, May 17
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