Fruitlands Museum

view of Mount Wachusett 

Teague and I took another jaunt to the Fruitlands Museum. Fruitllands was the name of a (failed) experimental Utopian society (1843) founded by Bronson Alcott (father of Louisa May Alcott) and Charles Lane. The museum was founded in 1914 by Clara Endicott Sears.

The museum is made up of small museums. A Shaker Museum which contains furniture, clothing, and items used by members of the 19th c. religious sect which believed in celibacy, communal living, and equality of the sexes. There is a Native American museum with objects from Native American tribes from New England, the Plains, Southwest, and Northwest. Outside the Native American museum, is a replica of a longhouse, dugout canoe (made by visitors to the museum with stone tools , and a garden planted with the Three Sisters (corn, beans, and squash.). The Art Museum is home to a collection of Hudson River School Landscapes. Currently on view, are also abstract landscapes by Artist-In-Residence, Richard Kattman.

Besides the buildings and artwork, the museum offers spectacular views of the Nashoba Valley, Mount Wachusett in Massachusetts and the Monadnocks in New Hampshire. There are also trails to hike. After the art and walking up and down the rolling hills, we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the outdoor cafe.