so, we have been back from our trip for a couple weeks now & i still havent shared any photos [sorry, mom!]
[blake, daphne & i took an 8-day road trip across the state of minnesota. we camped each night at a different state park, ate s'mores, hiked hills and bluffs & visited a bunch of historic sites]
on day 3 of our trip, we camped at forestville state park [for the locals, its thisclose to the iowa border, on the eastern side of the state]. the park is beautiful & we spent two days hiking & exploring.
inside the state park is historic forestville ; its a minnesota history site & its SO COOL!
in the late 1800s, forestville was a real town with residents, a general store, a road, ect ect.
we are minnesota historical society members, so we get in free to all the sites around the state. this is our second year with a membership and this is by far, the coolest site i have been to.
what makes it different, is that its a living history site ; which means there are costumed actors that are living in 1899. and they DONT break character! so, everything you talk about is in regards to 1899. which means, there is no internet, women dont work outside the home OR vote and folks are living off dollars a day!
i am a total sucker for stuff like this!
what we saw :
when you walk through the gate, there is a women that talks to you in 2013, but explains when you cross the dirt road, its 1899 & the actors wont answer your 'current' questions.
so, we cross the street & start in the general store. many of the items in the store are original items that were left when the shop was boarded up in 1910.
from the store, we went into the house [in 1899, the man who owned the store lived in & owned the house] & spoke with his sister. she took us through the house & into the kitchen where we saw what she was making for lunch, where she stores all of her preserves, this sitting room where the men gathered & told us her story of riding the ferris wheel at the worlds fair in chicago!
we left the house & toured the garden with the head gardener. he let us sample some fruit & told us about his typical days work.
after the garden, we entered the small barn // tool shed where blake was able to sculpt a table leg out of a fallen tree branch. there were a dozen chickens that were roaming free & we were able to enter their coop, too. [i passed ; chickens make my skin crawl..]
finally, we entered the main barn, where the animals would have lived in 1899.
we ended the tour with a photo in a buggy ;)
you guys, this was so awesome! we had a really great time & the actors did such an awesome job!
if you are in minnesota & want to take a road trip, the southeastern part of the state is beautiful!
have you ever been to a 'living history farm' before?
