Time stopped in 1832 just south of the intersection at I-90 and I-84 in western Massachusetts. Here is a living history museum, a re-created version of a New England colonial town. For the price of admission ($20 per adult; $7 per child), one can attend a colonial school lesson, watch pottery being made, take a horse-drawn carriage around the town, and listen to the cooper tell you about barrel-making. The inhabitants of OSV walk the walk and talk the talk and dress as if 1832 was the Year of High Fashion.
Now, anyone who grew up in New England or eastern New York has been to Old Sturbridge Village (OSV) on a fourth-grade field trip. I’m a case in point. As part of Ms. Record’s history/geography class, we piled onto a bus and endured an eternal bus ride (about 90 minutes) to the place where time stood still. Once there we went from meeting house to schoohouse to mill to shop, hearing stories from OSV’s inhabitants about what they ate, how they slept, and how they earned a living. I remember eating a soggy peanut butter jelly sandwich that day and trudging along within our group as only a fourth-grader can.
But, on my second visit, over 25 years later, I partook in what is perhaps the coolest part of Old Sturbridge Village: the games. One can, as one is casually strolling along the horse paths, pause between the meeting house and the church or the shop and get in touch with one’s inner colonial child.
Most of the games from that era have two essential elements: a stick and a hoop, both of which are made out of wood.
My nine year-old niece and I were skipping along by the Friends Meetinghouse when we happened upon our first game: trundling. Trundling involves a large wooden hoop that is about an inch thick and has a diameter of a few feet. It looks like a hula-hoop. To trundle, you take the hoop and roll it in front of you and roll the hoop forward by batting it with a stick. First one to the other side wins. It’s clearly a game of skill, as one must keep the hoop upright with just the amount of force applied by the stick. This action is called “trundling the hoop” and, if you think about it, resembles other field sports that involve a foreign object and a race to the other side. Sorry girls of 1832, this one’s for the boys.
Trundling is also aerobically challenging, even though the playing field could be measured in dozens of yards. So off we went.
At the tavern, the rest of my family played board games, checkers and cribbagge, while I read the railroad flyers on the wall.
Tucked away on the other side of the village, across from the Hands-On Craft Center (where one can fashion a candleholder out of tin, if one so desires – cost $5) is game central. Here one can play Les Graces, a game that involves two people, two sticks per person and one shared hoop. The sticks are about twice the size of chopsticks and the hoop is about a foot in diameter. Ribbon is tied to the hoop, indicating this was a girl’s game. You’re basically playing catch with the hoop and using your overblown chopsticks to do so. The trick is to throw the hoop with sticks crossed into an “x” pattern and catch the hoop with sticks parallel. The learning curve on this one is steep, but once you catch on, you catch. Hand-eye coordination is essential here, but aerobic fitness is not. By far my favorite game of the day.
The last game we played that day was Quoits. Quoits resembles horseshoes, with, you guessed it, hoops instead of shoes. The diameter of the hoop was awfully close to the diameter of the stick it was supposed to go around (you’ve played a version of this game at the carnival so you know what I’m talking about), and I met with zero success. Ringers are worth two points, and in the absence of a ringer, the closest hoop earned one point. I am very bad at horseshoes and surprisingly, even worse at quoits. I yearned for Les Graces, just a few wistful feet away.
Because I spent so much time catching the ribboned hoop, I missed my opportunity to join a 19th-century baseball game at the Center Meetinghouse.
Next time.
Old Sturbridge Village is open year-round except winter Mondays. It’s worth the twenty bucks.
Tracey McCormick is Managing Editor at GreatHistory.com.
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Sticks and Hoops at Old Sturbridge Village « SheSpoke. Find out what she said said:
[...] best part of the day? Playing games with my family. [...]
July 16th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
Shelly Lane said:
OSV is always worth the trip – the games are great, as is the horse ride, the boat ride around the lake, and checking out how the blacksmith makes nails. Great times!
October 26th, 2009 at 12:40 pm