While we were staying in Fredricton we decided to run
out to a living history museum nearby called King's Landing.
Situated on rolling hills leading down to the St. John's River,
the layout was one of the best we have encountered. The
buildings, all original re-locations were spaced well apart with
an assortment of farming activities dispersed between them. There
was everything from factories, a saw mill, grist mill and a door
and sash factory, all set in the middle 1800s. Now I am partial
to the wood working part of these parks. I find fascinating, the
talent and engineering that went into making these products by
hand. The wood working shop had a foot driven
circle
saw the likes I had never seen. It was portable and could be
packed up and carted off to anywhere there was a job waiting.
Likewise, watching the craftsmen creating shovels with nothing
more than a chisel and mallet has always been enjoyable. They
take their time, look over the entire surface as if planning a
chess move, then lay the chisel down and tap-tap-tap, and out
pops a small piece of wood. The shovel doesn't look a whole lot
different, but little by little, it takes shape. It takes a lot
of standing around and watching to actually be able to see a
difference. There was a church and school and at least half a
dozen houses running from the sparse to the luxurious, all of
about the same time period. The buildings were neat and the land
beautiful, but the docents
were what made it such an experience. The
acreage is quite extensive and good walking shoes are the order
of the day. Each building has something inside to offer the
curious. On the day we attended, the crowds were light so there
was a feeling of being alone for part of the time. It was easy to
let my imagination run away for a moment and pretend that I was a
farmer or carpenter or cooper for just a few minutes. To smell
the air and listen to the sounds of nature and the countryside as
it must have been a hundred years ago. We wandered
along,
sticking our nose into this building and that, all the while
working our way down a gentle slope toward a wonderfully wooded
area along a brook and a small dam to one of my favorite museum
sights. The old saw mill, or grist mill, or whatever mill that is
driven by a large paddle wheel off some form of sluice box
supplying water. Sometimes these antique structures are newly
re-constructed look-alike, and others are the real thing. In
either case the workmanship and unique design is guarantied to
thrill the engineering
interest of those with a mechanical mind. Wood
is the dominant element in these constructions. Although the
power axle is most often steel, the wheels and supporting gears
are wood. Slow powerful turns of the giant water wheel are
converted to fast speed movement by use of gears. The saw is the
type used long before the circle saw. A large cross-cut saw is
attached to a frame and then moved up and down through a log
laying on a moving frame, also powered by the water-wheel.
Costumed to perfection complete with proper accents,
the men and women, plus the children played out their respective
parts to perfection. Sometimes with detailed explanation of the
craft they were working on, sometimes with a bit of old time
witticism, and for the old time cooper who admittedly had been
making buckets by hand for "na on to 60 years now"
without the use of glue or nails, there was some good old down to
earth psychology which seemed timeless as he explained life in
terms of making a bucket that wouldn't leak. The entire park is
locally oriented so we saw a good cross section of what makes up
New Brunswick excluding the French influence which was noticeably
lacking. If you want to see it all, plan on an all day affair. It
is difficult to walk into any of the buildings, look around and
walk out. Something always caught our eye which led to a question
or comment which led to a conversation. There is just so much to
see. The place is huge. I place it high on the "must
see" list which gets longer as we travel.
*** THE END ***