We spent most of the day at Dakota City Village located on the fairgrounds in Famington. Each year they open up the old buildings, dress in clothing from that period of time and provide activities around ever corner. In the old home that was donated, you can see what a typical house would look like back in the early 1900s. What a one cell jail looked like, how the fire department would hook up their horses to pull necessary equipment to help put out fires, what old schools looked like including desks, chalk boards, coat room and so forth. Before entering each building, we have the kids read the plaque out front. "What did this building used to be used for?", "What year was it built?", "Does this look the same as today?"
In the firehouse, the kids made candy canes out of pipe cleaners and another candy cane out of beads.
In the old house, they watched two women bake cookies on the very old wood burning stove.
In the print building, they saw how newspapers used to be made. One letter at a time, slid into a line.
In the blacksmith building, they watched men heat the iron, then hit it with hammers to shape it into its final product.
In the church we sang carols.In the general store we learned about how farmers would bring their grain to the store to trade for other items, how the farmer's wife would knit and sew items to sell to the store in exchange for other items.
In the library, we met Mrs. Claus and wrote a letter to Santa Claus.
In the train depot, we spoke with Santa.
Horse drawn carriage rides were offered around the village for convenience. Had there been snow on the ground, it would have been a sleigh. It didn't matter to the kids, as long as there were horses.
Mike and I went to this the last year that we were there and had a great time. It so neat that they put it on and that you took the family to it! Good times!
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