Join us for Craft Weekend, highlighting a variety of New England crafts and trades from the early 19th century.  The Village’s craftspeople will showcase their skills by crafting more complicated or unique items that are not usually displayed at the Village. We’ll also be firing our kiln this weekend!

See special demonstrations* like:

• Basket weaving
• Making lady’s fancy slippers
• Forging a blowhorn stake anvil (Saturday only)
• Violin re-hairing
• Firing a barrel
• Windsor chair making
• Lace making with special guests from the New England Lace Group

*Demonstrations and schedules are subject to change without notice

One of the highlights of the coming weekend is our annual kiln firing. Firing the kiln at Old Sturbridge Village is no simple task. It must be heated to a whopping 1900 degrees Fahrenheit over the course of more than 24 hours. This can take about three cords of wood!

Did You Know?

The kiln at the Village is a replica based on archaeological research at the original site of Hervey Brooks’ Pottery Shop and kiln in Goshen, CT and pictures of similar kilns from the early 1800s. It stands 24 feet tall and contains approximately 15,000 bricks.

Firing the kiln is a lot of work and requires a lot of wood. It must be heated to 1900 degrees Fahrenheit over the course of more than 24 hours. Hervey Brooks, who owned and operated the Pottery Shop now at Old Sturbridge Village, burned his last kiln in 1864 at 85 years old.