Our First Visit to a Museum

Today we took our first official tour of a museum. We walked down to the Ottis house which is about 2 blocks from our house.

http://www.historicnewengland.org/visit/homes/otis.htm

It was a lot of fun and we learned a lot about the area of Boston that we are living in as well as some of the people that helped settle the area.

I asked each of the kids to tell me one thing that they learned:

Deena - The area of Boston that we are now living in used to be part of the Ocean. They cut off the top of Beacon Hill and used the "dirt" to build up the area where we now live.

Brynn - I learned that when they built their home in the Federalist style, they liked everything to match. So if there was a window on one side of the wall, they also put one on the other. They also would put fake doors in, to match the real door on the other side.

Marissa - I learned that they would insert mirrors in their doors to reflect the candle light and help to light the rooms.

Jace - I learned that they had a decorative metal back in their fire places, so when a fire was burning, it would get hot and radiate heat into the room.

Chaz - I learned that they only bathed once a month. The parents got to go first and then the children got to bathe from oldest to youngest.