What are the best living history museums?

September 20, 2009 5:48 PM

I love living history museums- especially the ones with actors. I am lucky to be close to Old Sturbridge Village and Plimoth Plantation. What other ones are great???

This past weekend I went to "King Richard's Fair" in Carver which is a Renaissance fair. It's great fun historically accurate it's not. I'd like to visit more and not only in the US. What living history museums are the best in the world??
Amazing AND amazingly historically accurate. I'm interested in just about any period in history.

posted by beccaj to sports, hobbies, & recreation (22 comments total)

Colonial Williamsburg has a great setup. Look around, also, for Civil War re-enactments in your area, or consider making the trip to Gettysburg for one of the big ones there.
posted by jquinby at 5:51 PM on September 20

Greenfield Village in Detroit might be of interest to you....
posted by HuronBob at 5:57 PM on September 20

Hancock Shaker Village

Old Bethpage Village Restoration
posted by Morrigan at 6:02 PM on September 20

The Fortress of Louisbourg in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. It cost so much to build in the early 18th century that Louis XV is said to have remarked that he expected to be able to see the fortress from his windows in Versailles. During the reconstruction in the 1960s, some Canadian politician made the remark that the project cost so much he expected to see the fortress from his office on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

Truly world class.
posted by angiep at 6:11 PM on September 20

Yay, living history is what I do for a living! I love it too!

For first-person living history (i.e. staff portraying characters from the past), it's hard to beat Plimouth Plantation. But there are a number of other fantastic living history programs out there:

The Henry Ford (aka Greenfield Village) outside of Detroit, MI. Firestone Farm is one of the best living history programs in the country, but it is a third person program (as opposed to first person, which sounds like what you're interested in). In the name of full disclosure, I do work at THF.

Conner Prairie in Indiana does fantastic first person living history, particularly their 1836 Prairietown.

Lower East Side Tenement Museum in NYC is an awesome museum in general, but their Victoria Confino first person program is very cool.
posted by Tall Telephone Pea at 6:16 PM on September 20 [1 favorite has favorites]

Fort Stanwix, especially so during some of the special events with encampments and re-enactors.
posted by stefnet at 6:17 PM on September 20

The concept dates back to things such as Marie Antoinette's farmette at the Trianon, Hameau de la reine (the Queen's Hamlet^), which is more like a whimsical interpretation and perhaps more akin to e.g. Neuschwanstein)
but reached its modern form with Skansen^. In the Midwest we have Old World Wisconsin (which includes structures my dad helped save) near Eagle, Wisconsin and Living History Farms near Des Moines, Iowa.
posted by dhartung at 6:17 PM on September 20 [1 favorite has favorites]

See also: Mystic Seaport in Connecticut.
posted by carmicha at 6:21 PM on September 20

The Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton (pronounced Stanton) VA in the Shenandoah Valley has colonial buildings representing the British, Scotch/Irish, and German immigrants who settled in the area. Bonus: each culture not only has its own types of buildings with period actors etc., but each culture has a working farm as part of the exhibit.
posted by headnsouth at 6:43 PM on September 20 [1 favorite has favorites]

Waterloo Village in NJ
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 6:51 PM on September 20

You are probably not too far from Strawbery Banke in Portsmouth, NH.
posted by cushie at 7:49 PM on September 20

I love these kind of living history museums as well. My favorite is Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky. Jamestown Settlement (though not quite up to Colonial Williamsburg standards) is worth a visit.
posted by apartment dweller at 7:51 PM on September 20

like jquinby said, come to Colonial Williamsburg. I live about 1000 feet from the visitors' center. Shoot me a MeMail if you make it down this way, and i'll set you up with the one of the best colonial historians in the country to guide you around (thanks to the College of William & Mary).
posted by cmchap at 7:52 PM on September 20

Plimouth Plantation and Old Sturbridge Village are both in MA.
posted by rmd1023 at 8:07 PM on September 20

I'll second the suggestion for Connor Prairie. I think every kid who grew up in Indiana went there on a field trip at some point. I was one of the weirdoes who actually *liked* watching candlemakers and blacksmiths.
posted by web-goddess at 8:54 PM on September 20

The Fortress of Louisbourg in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada.

This is a fabulous place to go, and I cannot recommend it enough. It is really fun, and the interpreters are excellent.

However, it isn't as rigorous about historical accuracy as Old Sturbridge Village and Plimouth Plantation, so put your "fun trip back in time" hat on, not your "buildings made with hand-forged iron tools to original specifications" hat on.

For a wonderfully historically accurate Canadian site with great interpreters, I recommend Sherbrooke Village.
posted by Sidhedevil at 9:29 PM on September 20

Pioneer village in Salem, MA The Habitation at Port Royal, Nova Scotia
posted by Gungho at 6:14 AM on September 21

I'm really not sure how it compares, as it's the only one I've been to and the last time I was there was likely about thirteen years ago, but the Genesee Country Village always seemed cool as a kid.
posted by agentmunroe at 8:09 AM on September 21

If you ever get to Florida, I recommend St. Augustine. They have a living history tour in a restored (not replica) part of the old town.
posted by lazydog at 10:05 AM on September 21

Living History Farms. Urbandale, Iowa. Plus there's a kick ass restaurant next to it.
posted by ducktape at 10:46 AM on September 21

The Fort at Number 4 in New Hampshire, located at a lovely spot along the Connecticut River.
posted by MasonDixon at 12:53 PM on September 21

A friend used to work at the Noah Webster House which may be kind of local for you.
posted by mearls at 4:43 PM on September 21