Day Trip Idea #1

Looking for a fun, inexpensive day trip/field trip for your family/children? Then look here, at the Farmers Museum!

"Rediscover the innocent beauty, the intricate wisdom and the enduring charm of our rural past.

Imagine turning the latch, opening the door and stepping over the threshold into another century. At The Farmers' Museum, every visit is a new adventure, determined by the path you choose - through the gallery in the museum's glorious Main Barn, where you can marvel over the history of ice cream from the Egyptians to American suburbia in the new exhibit, Ice Cream: Our Cool Obsession.

Cross the Creamery Green where The Empire State Carousel swirls joyously, past the Country Fair. You may linger among the authentic architecture of the 1840s village, examine a rare find in one of many historic gardens, or hurry on to milk the cow at the Lippitt Farmstead. Around every corner are opportunities to reconnect with a richly colorful and ingenious rural culture that can still surprise and enchant more than 150 years later." (this quote is taken from the website for the Farmers Museum, Cooperstown, NY)

The village has a real schoolhouse that orginally was located in the southern part of NYS, near the Finger Lakes region. Claire had loads of fun painting with the watercolors that the "headmaster" let her explore. He even told her he would keep an eye on her painting while we explored the rest of the village. In reality, the man acting the part of the headmaster, is a retired junior high math teacher! There were authentic primers and spelling books to look at. Claire learned that in the late 1800's, the village library was located in a tiny room at the back of the school. It was about the size of my master bedroom closet. It had one bookcase of books and a little table with a checkerboard on it. She spent 35 minutes just in the Schoolhouse portion of the village!

One of the village houses had a woman dressed as the wife of the owner and her main job was to work the loom. She allowed Claire to work each step of the loom after explaining the hows and whys of the whole process. Claire loved this! She was able to spend about 20 minutes with this kind lady as there were no other tourists waiting for a turn. I think Claire was secretly glad that mom shops at a mall! She discovered that working the loom is much work and very laborious. It was such a fun, hands-on experience though and it was a thrill to watch my baby working a loom!

On the main green of the "village" there was a Victorian era Village Fair set up. Each summer the Farmers Museum has different exhibits set up on the main green. The actual village is there all year round. On the day Claire and I were there (last week of July, 2007), the Fair was going on. There were all kinds of old-fashioned toys and things to do. Claire loved taking a turn with the hoop. I took a turn, too and had a blast! All the toys and activities were ones that children would have played with in the early part of the 20th century. Ah...simple toys from a simple time....so refreshing to learn about, and play with, these items.

We ended the day with 2 rides on the Empire State Carousel. The animals are all hand-carved. Hanging on the walls of the carousel building are hand-made quilts that are about 8x10 inches or larger of scenes depicting each county in NYS. Some of the quilts featured items/events that are known in NYS such as apple trees, Adirondack mountains, Statue of Liberty, etc. Things that are significant to NY. The ride was alot of fun for Claire because in order to ride you must purchase a token (only $.25) at the village General Store, which is set up as a real general store from the 1840's. It was a blast to look at all the little gadgets and candy. We also bought a couple of little souvenirs and some real maple candy!

I anticipated just spending about 2 hours at this museum/village and then heading back east to our home for a light dinner. However, Claire totally surprised me by loving this place so much and wanting to do and see every single thing that we ended up eating lunch there, getting a snack in the 1840's style saloon and by the time we were done with everything including the gift shop, we had spent a total of 6 hours there!

So....if you are looking for a fun day trip and you are from the Albany area, this is a place you can get to in just a little over an hour. It is located in Cooperstown, NY which is in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains, just south of the Mohawk Valley. It is a beautiful drive and if you are a AAA member, they will give you a discount. Admission prices are reasonable and children under age 6 are free. I highly recommend this for children ages 3-14. Even teens who have never been to a place like this or Plimoth Plantation in MA would probably like this as a day trip.

TIPS: bring your own picnic lunch....their cafe is very limited in good, nutritious food and the prices are a bit high for the quality of food. I didn't know you could bring a picnic, otherwise I would have! The cold drinks in the "saloon" are much nicer and more affordable. However, they do not serve food there.

If you have any specific questions, please feel free to email me.