I had a chance to take my family to the Opening Weekend at Conner Prairie in Fishers, IN. We’ve always enjoyed the living history museum, so I was glad I was able to get some passes to visit.
It was a clear, sunny day, and we were able to enjoy our time there. I had never been as far back as Liberty Town, so we took the tram around the back to the farthest-from-the-entrance section, and visited the Zimmerman House (most of the photos in the album are from the Zimmerman House).
We saw a lot of period furniture, toys, knickknacks, and things people used to do an enjoy back in 1886. We even visited Mrs. Zimmerman, met her 4 daughters (she also has 3 sons), including one who was chopping wood, and spent some time in her kitchen. I was captivated (yeah, I’m a geek) by her wood-burning stove. It was a thing of beauty and gave off some real heat. In fact, they heated the house with it.
We also visited Prairie Town and popped in on the village blacksmith and the one-room schoolhouse. I didn’t know it, but children from the 1800s went to school for 3 months: December, January, and February. Otherwise, they were needed at home to work on the farm.
We finally stopped in at the animal barn to visit some of the new animals. There were goats and sheep, and I got to pet my first sheep in years. It sort of made me wish I had a farm and could get a couple of sheep on it.
I took a few photos of the Conner Prairie Helium Balloon. We didn’t ride in it, but I did have a chance to ride in it last year.
I had a great time, as always, at Indiana’s historical institution. The nice thing about it is you can visit several times, and you won’t see the same thing each time, like some other museums I could name (looking at you, Antique Radio Museum!). Be sure to drop in for a visit, and see what Indiana looked like 140 years ago.
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