Who Is Cutting The Grass In The 19th Century?

Pioneer Farmstead

As it turns out, hardly anyone.

Recently we were sent a comment regarding the upkeep around some of the village properties that we thought deserved a detailed explanation regarding our vision for the grounds of the museum.

This year, in order to provide a more accurate and educational representation of 19th century life, we have altered the way in which the grounds are taken care of around many of the village buildings.

The pioneer farmstead has the least manicured lawn, in fact, it is interpreted to have a yard rather than a lawn as a pioneer would not typically have "planted" anything like lawn and would not have had the time or the inclination to cut, weed and water it.

Field For Haying

The space between the Pioneer Farmstead and Kieffer's Place has been left uncut deliberately as we will be haying this for our animals, as would have been done in the 19th century.

The Jones Farm has a more of a lawn would have been part of a more established farm. Even though the grass has been cut more than at the Pioneer Farmstead, you might see growth around fences as a 19th century farmer would still have been very busy and not likely to do yardwork as we do today.

Jones Farm Fence Post

Contrast this with the manicured lawns & gardens of The Hyde House, The Hamilton House and The Livingston-Backus House and you can see the difference in styles of gardens at the time as well as the difference that money and leisure time have on upkeep of grounds and gardens.

Formal Garden At Livingston-Backus

We hope that this change in direction is one that provides yet another layer of understanding of 19th century life for our visitors.

Midwifery at The Museum

We are excited to announce that our Midwifery program at Kieffer's Place begins this week!

Rules for Midwives

Adapted from From: A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Midwifery, by W. Smellie, M. D., 1766
To become a midwife, one must be:

• Sensible
• Decent
• Of middle age
• Able to bear fatigue
• Knowledgeable of the basic anatomy of the organs involved and how they change during pregnancy and childbirth.
• Skilled in examining and understanding the differences in labors.
• Able to live in friendship with other midwives, competing only in knowledge, sobriety, diligence and patience.

She must avoid all reflections (criticism) of male practitioners, and candidly seek their help when at a loss. When he comes, he is to understand that she is just a woman (Understand that what that phrase means is a woman is not possessing the mental capacity to deal with important matters), and quietly fix her mistakes. This will keep the patient from becoming upset, but will also silently rebuke the midwife. Since no male practitioner is completely perfect all the time, and may sometime also make a mistake, he will be glad he treated her nicely in such circumstances and expect her to treat him kindly in return.
To learn more about Midwifery (Midwives did much more than just deliver babies!) in the 19th century please visit our new midwives at Kieffer's place. Our midwives will be avaliable to discuss whatever ails you Thursday through Saturday, weekly.

We will occasionally cook period German food there as well as create authentic "Cures" from plants in our midwife's garden and from around the village.

Changes at Kieffer's Place

In anticipation of our new Midwifery program we revamped Kieffer's place for the experience.

The walls were whitewashed which give the space an authentic and much brighter look inside. The interior doors (which, along with the hardware, are original to the house) were painted a brilliant blue. This blue, was one of the original paint colors as determined by our resident historic paint expert Steve Jordan. The kitchen area was outfitted with a new kettle from Colonial Williamsburgh that our blacksmith forged a handle for and the pantry was stocked with pottery, brooms and a churn from our village artisans.

The ropes were taken down from the front rooms so visitors may now explore the entire first floor.

Outside, a garden was planted on the right side of the house which includes herbs that a midwife would have used in her practice.

Now all we need are patients! Any takers?

*Note-Broom making, which had been taking place in the building, has been moved to the Shaker's Trustee building.

Getting Ready For Opening Day!

Don't forget, opening day is this coming weekend May 15th, 2010.

In preparation for Saturday we have been grooming the village, cleaning the buildings and costuming and training our interpreting staff (The costumed staff around the village) for months now.

Each and every display piece has been cleaned and new exhibits have been installed.

Pioneer Homestead Fence

Trees around the houses have been trimmed, and in some cases, removed as they were causing damage to the buildings. Volunteers and staff have participated in spring cleanup efforts in our many historic gardens. The McArthur garden was removed as the building is currently closed to the public and a midwife's garden was planted at Kieffer's place.

Fences and gates were worked on at the Pioneer Homestead and Jones Farm by many of the the Civil War reenactors who will be staying in village dwellings during Civil War Weekend in May.

New Roofs were put on the pioneer log barn, hop house, and the nature center.

Hyde House Garden After Spring Clean Up

Volunteers from Paychex, also came out for a day of cleanup! They removed pails of litter from along a 500-foot long stone fence, raked leaves, picked up fallen branches, thoroughly cleaned four museum vehicles inside and out, collected six pick-up loads of gardening debris and fruit tree prunings, and raked and removed two full ton pick-up loads of leaves from around fences in the Historic Village buildings.

In short, everything is in tip top condition for this coming weekend! Check back tomorrow for things to see on opening day! We are looking forward to a wonderful 2010 season and we hope you are too!

Midwifery in the 19th Century at Kieffer's Place

New this year at Kieffer's Place will be the introduction of a program on midwifery and home health care in the early 19th century. Unbeknown to many people, midwives provided care for more than just the events surrounding childbirth. They also administered treatments for general illness and ministered to entire families. They were the first line of treatment, often called before a physician.

Our interpreters will provide lively discussion on what home health care would have looked like at this time in history. During the first half of the season, we will be discussing, among other things, a malady know specifically to this area as Genesee Fever, also know as Auge or Fever and Auge. (Malaria)

Physically, the building is being re-outfitted to reflect this program change. The inside is being whitewashed and repainted while a new garden has been installed that features medicinal herbs that a midwife would have employed in her practice as well as early medical tools that a midwife would have used.

Broom making, which had been housed in Kieffer's Place has been relocated to the Shaker's Trustee Building.

Recommended Reading
For those who want to learn even more, A Midwife's Tale, The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary 1775-1812, by Laurel Thacher Ulrich, is a nice complement to this program. It provides an in depth and fascinating look at the life and role of a midwife during the early 19th century.

Publish Post

Welcome to the Genesee Country Village & Museum Blog

Welcome to The Official Blog of the Genesee Country Village & Museum, Life in a 19th Century Village.

Opening day is May 15th and we have much in store for you this year with new programs in the Foster-Tufts House, Kieffer's Place, the Romulus Female Seminary, the Davis Opera House & the W. Grieve Brewery where we will be brewing beer for the first time ever!


Please join us on this blog daily to learn about museum programs, features and little known facts as well as an exploration of life in the 19th century.

In addition to that, you can also follow us on Facebook.

We invite you to read and participate in the conversation with us. Please make comments! If you have specific questions related to the museum or 19th century life please feel free to contact us via email on the right hand side. We will be compiling interesting questions into a monthly Q& A column.