There is a heritage museum in our area that has items and buildings of the past from around the area to show us all how "they" used to live. As a final activity for school we went and learned. We hadn't been there in a couple years and the kids had a better appreciation this time. We ran out of time to see it all but the people there offered us passes to come back this summer and finish the tour.


We were all surprised at the size of the homestead cabins. They were tiny! This one room cabin housed a family of 9.

J-Bell is standing in the middle of it. To save some room the boys slept in the attic. To get there, they went outsice and up the ladder on the side of the house. I have heard that WI winters were worse than they are now. I can't imagine sending the boys out in the snow to sleep in the attic.

The kids also learned what a chamber pot was. They were not impressed and really grossed out with the idea of someone having to clean it. Even potty training, we put the kid seat on the toilet so no one had to clean out the potty chair.

They also were not impressed with the bathtubs.

The highlight was the jail and the stocks. The kids love being locked up in jail and then having their picture taken while in the stocks. Am I raising little convicts????