Honoring family, boys remembering "the good ol' days" and village fashion...
Today I worked with Chip Leis at Asa Knight and his portrait speaks louder than words. Now that's a beard! Chip has been working at the village for many years, he's now a leader of the meeting houses and other programs at OSV. Mr. Leis shared with me a sad moment which has touched many people at the village. A young man who came to the village as a camper and later worked as an employee has passed unexpectedly this past week.
This young man was loved and remembered by everyone at the village. and Chip shared some sweet stories about his time there. He told me about a tradition observed by the villagers when someone
would pass away.
If you were a man they would ring the church bell 9 rings plus your age. So if you were 21 years of age you would get a total of 30 rings. If you were a woman they would ring it 6 times plus her age and a child would be 3 rings plus their age. Old Sturbridge village will be honoring this young man and his family with a service at the meetinghouse.
Chip Leis, Peter Oakley the shoemaker and Robert, a previous OSV employee, now magician extraordinaire shared with me many stories of OSV yesterdays. One thing is for sure, what's said at Asa Knight stays at Asa Knight, *
Monique Schlegel also came in to chat and talk to visitors about fashion in the 1830s. We talked about shoes, fabrics and fashionable women's caps. Mr. Asa Knight's fabrics made up about 40% of his inventory. Sturbridge was producing more affordable fabrics in local mills, freeing up women from this time consuming task. . Monique shared that fabrics would still be made by widows who were looking to make ends meet or women showing off their talents in agricultural fairs.
* Curious to hear these fascinating stories? Come hang out with us at the AsaK!
