Back Where I Come From

I have mentioned the Genesee Country Village and Museum several times in this blog and coming soon the Burns family will be living there! For those of you who don’t know, the Museum is a 19th-century living history museum covering more than 600 acres in Mumford, NY (a few miles from our hometown). Our family has always been close to the Museum since the first building donated there, the Pioneer Cabin, came from Burns family property. When I was little, it was my dream to live in the Village and over the last couple of years the Museum has started a program that brings my dreams to life!

Last spring I discovered that they offer the Pioneer House Experience where you can experience what life was really like for a pioneer family in the Genesee Country during the early 1800s. After getting all of my family on board, we sent in our application and were accepted for the weekend of September 9-11. Last weekend we all headed up for our outfitting and training. The first stop was the tailor’s where we all got to try on our garb. I brought my camera (but conveniently forgot the battery) so alas I can’t provide pictures. The boys looked dapper in their white pants and suspenders and Mom and I were the quintessential housewives with mismatching skirts and jackets. Dad however got the biggest laugh because not only did his pants have some weird trap door on the front but they were several sizes too big and the seat of them drooped down practically to his knees! It was hysterical to see.

Then we headed over to learn how to rope our own beds. It was actually a pretty neat process. Among other things, we are responsible for filling our own straw ticks and roping the bed. I have a feeling us children will be on the floor though since the trundle bed is only about 4 foot long! We then sat with “Aunt Marie” who will be our guide for the weekend and went over all that we will be encountering and they made it very clear that this is hard work and definitely not a vacation. I was already looking forward to this experience but hearing about all the stuff we get to do made me even more energized. We were raised in a more… rugged manner I guess you could say but being thrust back into the 19^th century will definitely present some challenges. However, I am confident in us Burns’. We’re going to make our ancestral home proud!