Guests Invited To Learn How Early Hingham Settlers Spent Their Winters

The Hingham Historical Society will hold their annual Candlelight Overcoat Tours this month at the Old Ordinary House Museum on Lincoln Street.

The Tours will run Fridays and Saturdays, November 9, 10 and 16, 17 at 6:30pm and 7:30pm.

The family oriented event is designed to take guests on a nighttime journey through the 1600s.  Families will be given the privilege to tour the 1688 building and explore how Colonial New Englanders survived the wintertime in days before thermostats and electricity.  Participants will get a look at the foot warmers , fireplaces, and candlesticks used to keep warm.

“Each room in the tour covers a different aspect of survival and comfort, from stocking up winter food without a refrigerator to keeping the mice from eating the candles,”  HHS director Suzanne Buchanan said in an email.

As a special feature this year, the 40 minute tour will highlight the many ways apples became a mainstay of the New England diet throughout the first three centuries of English settlement. 

Participants will learn the drying, baking, pressing apples became part of the harvest time duties that helped a family prepare for the lean days of winter.

“After their tour, participants can visit the Annex behind the Old Ordinary to try out  some of the activities that kept cold fingers busy during winter’s long nights,” Buchanan said.

According to Buchanan, nearly  every household in New England had an orchard by 1700, and a single large family could put up as much as 1,000 gallons of cider for the winter.

After the tours, Colonial Style apple pie, hot chocolate, hard and non-alcoholic cider will also be available for visitors to sample.

Tours are $10 for Society members, $12 for non-members, and $5 for children twelve and under. Reservations are required for the tours. To reserve a tour time, send your check payable to the Hingham Historical Society at P.O. Box 434, Hingham, MA 02043, or make a reservation by credit card at 781-749-7721.