A Step Back in Time

Dear Diary,

Yesterday I spent at the Norlands Living History Museum in Livermore, Maine.  I was able to experience a Maine winter of 1853.  That was the year my great grandmother was born.

We made butter, huddled by the wood stove to warm up and I even attended school and practiced my penmanship with quill and ink.  But I think what really brought this experience home for me was my trip to the privy.  The temperature was a balmy 16 F but the windchill was below zero.  The snow had blown in through the cracks.  I did not tarry I can tell you!

Norlands offers a live in experience as well where I would get to stay over night and help with the chores on the farm.  I might try that this summer.  Getting to understand my great grandmothers life hands on would be wonderful I think but even this brief encounter with 1853 was eye opening.