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Free Mother’s Day Admission for Moms at Old Sturbridge Village May 11

(STURBRIDGE, MA) - Moms get in free on Mother's Day at Old Sturbridge Village Sunday May 11, and family events are planned throughout the entire Mother's Day weekend. Children can enjoy indoor and outdoor activities including a scavenger hunt and make-a-gift workshops. Moms can learn tips on raising children and running a frugal household from OSV's costumed interpreters and from a portrayal of 19th century author Lydia Maria Child who wrote The Mother's Book and the famous poem that begins "Over the river, and through the woods, to Grandfather's house we go..." For times and details: www.osv.org or call 1-800-733-1830.

"Being a mom in the 1830s was a very rigorous job," notes Deb Friedman, head of interpretation at Old Sturbridge Village. "Women typically had five or six children and they worked straight through their pregnancies - handling all the endless chores necessary in running a household.

Unlike today, early New England mothers had no pieces of manufactured "baby equipment" to make childcare easier. "There were no ready-made strollers, swings, porta-cribs and playpens," Friedman says. "Moms made do with what they had. For baby walkers, they simply placed ladder-backed chairs flat on the floor so babies could push the chair and toddle behind. Antique chairs were often worn flat on the back from generations of children learning to walk."

With so much cooking done at hearthside, fire was the number one danger for children in early New England households. "No doubt one of the earliest words children learned was ‘Hot!' " Friedman says.

Although Mother's Day is a modern invention, OSV historians note that by the 1830s, a "cult of domesticity" began to glorify the home and women's role in it. Home was viewed as a sanctuary and refuge from the increasingly bustling and depersonalized outside world.

In 1872, Julia Ward Howe, who wrote "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," suggested that "Mothers' Friendship Days" be celebrated to honor peace and America's mothers, and to help heal the emotional wounds of the Civil War.

In 1907, Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia convinced her late mother's church in Grafton, West Virginia to hold a memorial service for mothers and campaigned to have a Mother's Day accepted nationally. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared Mother's Day a national holiday.

Old Sturbridge Village celebrates New England life in the 1830s and is open daily 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. seven days a week. Admission: $20; seniors $18; children 3-17, $6; children under 3, free. For information: www.osv.org or call 1-800-733-1830.