Wind howled around the house all night long and throughout today. Ferries were cancelled, 12,000 customers lost electricity, and it was a good day to reflect back on the summer.
After leaving Quebec, we traveled to the small village of Hartland, New Brunswick, home to the world's longest covered bridge. Built in 1901, it was first used in an emergency. An urgent need for a doctor on the opposite side of the St. John River had the construction crew lay down planks so the doctor could drive across in his horse and buggy.
The bridge is 1282 feet (390 metres) long. Our visit was on a rainy day and it was nice to walk while protected from the wet.
All of the buildings were brought here from somewhere else, and the stories presented in each building are based on the families who once lived and worked in them.
Costumed re-enactors played their parts well. They cooked, stitched, and worked as they would have done 200 years ago. It was enjoyable to interact with them and learn about the daily lives of people from a variety of walks of life.
We wandered up and down stairs, through houses, barns, churches, shops, and even a printer's establishment. There we were able to print bookmarks for ourselves.
Meticulous care was taken in moving the buildings. In case of this stone house, each stone was numbered and removed, then reassembled just as it had been originally.
In one home a gardener demonstrated saving seeds. Dried flowers were available for purchase.
Although it was a humid, sticky day, the re-enactors baked bread, made soup, and worked as their predecessors would have. Tim enjoyed seeing the carpenters work with old tools fashioning furniture, repairing windows and doors, and also blacksmithing.
I always enjoy seeing table settings and pretty china dishes.
This house had a beautiful view over the river.
What I like most about history is learning about the way people lived daily life. Throughout the centuries, we have always been concerned about shelter and food; only the methods and details have changed. People of the past felt the same emotions we do, and faced many of the same challenges.
Do you enjoy history? What about it appeals to you?
Such a beautiful and interesting post, Lorrie!
ReplyDeleteThe fascinating bridge is really special and the King's Landing site is really something to appreciate.
I prefer to live in this century, for example because of the health care we have now, but I often long for "gentler days
when things were done the proper way". The life was simpler also in a good way and people tried to create beautiful things (from houses to clothes and from tools to dishes) or this is at least how I feel. :)
Have a happy day!
That looks like a really great place to visit. Living history is the best type of history. Seeing how generations before managed with simple tools. Somehow I think their lives though hard were better. They enjoyed making their own entertainment. We have a few places like that in the uk and I love it when people are on hand to reenact life. The wield and down museum is one such place in Sussex. B x
ReplyDeleteLovely place to visit.
ReplyDeleteI'd like best to see how reenactors prepare their food, tend their gardens, and sleep. I think the beds back then are fascinating.
What a lovely area to visit. We’ve never been there.
ReplyDeleteI love history and its cyclical nature. We never seem to learn from it. I'm interested in the old homes, too and so I think I would love this spot and probably be very content to spend the day there!
ReplyDeleteKing's Landing looks like such an interesting place to tour. Fort Langley doesn't compare in size and number of buildings but it's a place we used to visit with the children and I've also found that the way food was prepared and housekeeping done back then is most interesting.
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy seeing the pretty teawares at museums too.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your memories of the east coast which took me back to many of the places we visited when we were there. Did you meet up with Pamela Gordon in NB? We toured King’s Landing with her.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been a hard job to rebuild the houses. I like museums and especially museums of traditions we visited a lot in the Netherlands.
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