STITCH LINES...... Ramblings on life as a quilter, stitcher, traveler, photographer, gardener and lover of books, cats and fine chocolate....

Monday, October 7, 2013

Beautiful Kings Landing



I cannot believe the entire summer season has passed and I did not get in one visit to Kings Landing. Until this week! My blogger friend Pamela of Playing with my Camera and I have been trying to schedule a visit to Kings Landing together for weeks now, and between our busy schedules and the poor weather.. well, it took us until this past week!  Thursday was the day! And what a beautiful day it was - warm and sunny with a breeze off the river. We enjoyed the walking, the chatting and the beauty that is Kings Landing Historical Settlement. It is so beautiful in the fall, but the leaves do not seem to be as brilliant this year. I thought with all the rain we had this summer, and the lush foliage that has
In the Hagerman house, one of the museum houses.

resulted... well, I was expecting a spectacular fall, leaf-color-wise. Not so. There are several maples at the Landing that are always a beautiful red, but they had already dropped many of their leaves and what was left wasn't quite the rich red it usually is. Looking across the river, there didn't seem to be a lot of color either. A little disappointing... but Kings Landing certainly did not disappoint...




I never tire of visiting Kings Landing. I know the place like the back of my hand, and there is always something more to see. There actually have been some changes this year in the way things are set up. The homes are now divided into three "categories" - each one is either a museum home, a story home or a hands-on home. 










The museum homes are set up with many artifacts, info boards to explain what you are viewing and a (staff) interpreter (in period appropriate clothing, of course) to answer questions and talk about what is in the home. I was so pleased to see the addition of the info boards, I think KL should have added these a long time ago. In the "story homes", the interpreters are acting out the lives of the family of the home. We especially  enjoyed chatting with the good Doctor in the Jones house and hearing his nineteenth century views on the practice of blood-letting, and in the Perley house hearing the ongoing disagreements between Mrs. Perley and her love-sick, poetry-writing daughter Annie (below).

In the Perley House,a story home




 The hands-on homes have activities that visitors can participate in, such as cooking and/or baking on an open hearth, spinning, etc. These have been very popular with visitors this year. One home is totally dedicated to children's activities- they can dress up in period clothing and participate in a number of fun activities. Of course the trades areas continue as always- the print shop, the sash and door factory, the blacksmith shop, cooper's shop, etc.


Spinning in the Heustis house, a hands-on home

 Fields were being plowed, crops were harvested and being dried or stored... looks like preparation for winter is well in hand! We chatted with the horses, pigs, geese, chickens, sheep, turkeys and one ox. (I warned the turkeys that Thanksgiving is not far off, and they should be making themselves scarce...) Lunch, complete with live fiddle music, at the Kings Head Inn (turkey vegetable soup, brown bread and gingerbread and whipped cream...yummmm) and some great chats with staff made for a wonderful visit.

At the Joslin farm

If you haven't been to  Kings Landing this year, you still have one more week - their last day is
next Monday- Thanksgiving Day.  There are lots of special activities going on for Thanksgiving weekend, including the very popular Auction on Sunday afternoon, the Turkey Shoot, the Lumberman's Competition, the Church service and the ever popular turkey dinner at the Kings Head Inn..

And if you are local and haven't been to see Copperhead - The Movie yet, you have four more days to get yourself there! What are you waiting for? It has been held over again and plays at Empire Theatres through Thursday Oct.10.  Filmed at Kings Landing, it is an American Civil War story but there are no bloody battlescenes. It is more about the war "at home", ie how it affected the families in an upper NY state community. You can read more about it in my post here.

Pop on over to my friend Pam's blog here so you can see her photos too. 





Peace,
Linda

"If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday." ~ Pearl Buck

5 comments:

Pamela Gordon said...

Good morning Linda, you got some great shots and close ups at KL. Great post! I'm just putting mine up now. A couple of our pictures are the same and I posted one with you in it too so, I hope you don't mind. :) Nice to see a bit of rain today. Have a great day. Pam

Vee said...

Oh beautiful, Linda! I've come directly from Pam's. It's always intriguing to see how two gals see the same views. I enjoyed your view very much. If I ever get a chance to see Copperhead, I certainly will. (Have never heard of it until today.)

We are finding that the leaves are not lasting as long, but the colors are as vivid as I remember. It certainly would be nice if they'd hang much longer. Today, this torrential rain is taking them off all too fast.

Gwen Buchanan said...

Lovely to see your pics, Linda. I wonder which category the house I worked in back in the '90's, is in.. I was a costumed spinner weaver. I was in a rather humble home in the lower area. Loved that job ... especially the dinners cooked in the fireplace.
Didn't like the part when we had to walk in the rain and my dress got soaked around the bottom and we weren't allowed to lift our dresses as it might show our ankles. Poor women had to go around with soggy muddy dresses. and there was a lot of material in those dresses too and no modern washing machines. We have it so easy now. I mean, I like walking in the rain, just not getting my clothes dirty. I loved working there and playing the part, tho!!!

Judith @ Lavender Cottage said...

Thanks for sharing your photos of Kings Landing Linda. I enjoyed seeing them and hearing about all you and Pam enjoyed that day. Certainly a different way of life.
Judith

Country Gal said...

I came here via Pam's blog . Hello from southwestern Ontario . Lovely photos . You two had a great day there at Kings Landing . I said to Pam one day I we will make a trip to NB as I have always wanted to see the sights and land there in the flesh as it is soo beautiful . Wonderful blog here and I am now following and looking forward to what goes on in your neck of the woods . Thanks for sharing . Have a good day !

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