Worth The Detour: Open-Air Folk Museums
Traveling back in time to appreciate the mad skills of legions of then-and-now brickworkers, basketmakers, woodcarvers, weavers, fabric dyers, rosemalers, and metalsmithers
This newsletter was inevitable. If you’ve been reading In Hand regularly, or even haphazardly, for any considerable length of time, you most certainly know by now how much we love sussing out traditional craft while traveling. Part of our mission is to shine a light on all the people and places around the world still holding fast to the old ways and making things by hand. But you know what? There isn’t exactly a superabundance of traditional dala horse carvers or rosemaling painters toiling away in the middle of downtown Oslo and Stockholm.
In the spirit of recognizing the reality of our modern times, we offer a brilliant hack that lives deep inside the humble open-air folk museum. Perfect for summer travels, these outdoor time capsules—often in the shape of a charming thatched-roof historic village—offer the chance to view and interact with vernacular architecture, in-situ handicraft demonstrations and the preservation of longstanding, incredibly vulnerable traditional techniques. More often than not, the folks working away at the looms or in the cooper shop—in period costume, no less!—are highly skilled, passionate craftspeople who are positively delighted to show off and talk at great length about their process. Lucky us! Here, a mix of open-air favorites, from all-encompassing cultural institutions so sweeping in size and breadth, they call for repeat visits, to small, out-of-the-way niche spots tucked into the rural backroads—blink, and you’ll miss it.
Skansen // SWEDEN
Unfurling over 75 scenic acres on Stockholm’s Djurgarden Island, Skansen is the world’s oldest open-air museum (since 1891), a seductive and utterly inspirational mini kingdom that zooms you headlong into the handcrafted past. We dedicated an entire post to Skansen awhile back, chronicling our obsession in great detail: A medieval stilt house, a grass-roofed cottage, a bohemian art studio, and 147 more reasons to visit this amusement park for design aficionados.
Norskfolkemuseum // NORWAY
A short hop by ferry or bus from downtown Oslo, The Norwegian Museum of Cultural History features 160 authentic buildings spanning the 15th-20th century taken from all over Norway. Charming rural farmhouses, a magnificent stave church, even a chic 19th century apartment directly inspired by Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House.” The summer programs are extensive, with live music and folk-dancing, demonstrations in carpentry, blacksmithing, and how to bake Norway’s famous lefse bread, an Old Town with potters, silversmiths and weavers producing and selling crafts, and hosts in traditional costume.
Ecomuseum Alsace // FRANCE
The biggest open-air museum in France. Organized like an early 20th century rural Alsantian village, more than 80 traditional buildings include old timber houses straight out of a fairytale, hand-painted furniture, village shops, mills, churches, an old forge with ironwork on display. Every October the Arts of Fire festival celebrates the glassblowers, blacksmiths, potters, and all the other craftspeople who work with fire.
Netherlands Open Air Museum // NETHERLANDS
Spread out over 44 hectares of forests and rolling fields, The Dutch Open Air Museum in Arnhem is the oldest (since 1912) and biggest open air museum in the Netherlands. Ride the historic tram or stroll through villages arranged chronologically by time period; visit old windmills, cottages, farmhouses, and small traditional shops producing and selling artisanal craft wares. An emphasis on culture and craft means you can try out 19th century toys in the town square, ride an old “velocipede” bicycle, watch traditional poffertjes (tiny fluffy pancakes) being made, and climb an old windmill for a panoramic view. There are also extensive gardens featuring heritage medicinal plants, forgotten vegetables, and old cultivars — a mini-history of Holland in itself.
Beamish // ENGLAND
Discover what life was like during Georgian, Victorian, and Edwardian times at this massive 350-acre outdoor living museum in County Durham in northern England. Follow marked footpaths and time-travel through British history — visit 1820s Pockerley with its Georgian gardens, medieval church, and Joe the quilter’s cottage. Stroll the 1900s town’s high street and buy heritage sweets, shop at the chemists, drapers and dry goods shops filled with period wares. Traditional quilting, rug-making and cookery demonstrations are on display, and the by-appointment regional craft museum holds a core collection of quilts, rugs, folk art, pottery, and ephemera.
Frilandsmuseet // DENMARK
A fave among a certain IG interior design crowd, the Frilandsmuseet has an aesthetic design purity to it that puts it top on our list to visit next. Located in the scenic Maribo lakes nature park just outside Copenhagen, it features over 150 authentic Danish structures from the 15th to 19th centuries that feel completely untouched by time. From cottages thatched with seaweed and heather to painstakingly reassembled timbered farmhouses, each dwelling is fully furnished with traditional handcrafted furniture, heritage paint colors, hand-printed wallpaper, and timeless domestic objects that would be right at home in the latest issue of World of Interiors. Try your hand at weaving, pottery and blacksmithing while smoke rises from a nearby chimney, bread bakes in the oven, and a heartfelt simplicity suffuses it all. Free admission for all under 18.
Hessenpark Open Air Museum // GERMANY
Dedicated to all things from Hesse, a historic region encompassing Frankfurt, this German open air museum showcases over 100 half-timbered traditional houses, farmsteads, and workshops grouped into ensemble villages. Craft workshops are a major part of the draw here: you can peek over the shoulders of brickworkers, basketmakers, weavers, fabric dyers, and metalsmithers as they demonstrate traditional methods of craftsmanship, many still using original tools and equipment.
Sverresborg Trøndelag Folk Museum // NORWAY
Located way up in the tippy-top of northern Norway, this outdoor folk museum (the third largest in the country) is all about the preservation of Norwegian folk architecture through the ages: wooden cottages with sod roofs, intricately carved doors and painted walls, wooden stave churches, and sami huts. With colorful hand-woven rag rugs and sleigh beds, the interiors are everything you imagine, and a handful of craft workshops—cobbler, spinning and weaving, rosemaling—are an extra-special reminder that everything you see was once made by hand. If the photo of the Detli house above looks familiar, a replica was built at Disneyworld as the Royal Sommerhus of Frozen’s Queen Elsa and Princess Anna.
ASTRA Museum // ROMANIA
One could argue that there’s no burning need to go to a living history museum in Romania, because, well, with rural village life alive and well, and hand-built thatched roofs still an architectural norm, much of the country already resembles a living history museum. But with 400 preserved/restored buildings and a collection of more than 200,000 ethnographic objects, the ASTRA is the largest open-air museum in Europe and a real showstopper. Expect traditional festivals and handicraft demonstrations; cottages dressed up in traditional wooden chairs, woven tapestries and textiles, hanging ceramic plates and folk paintings; various old mills (referred to as folk technology); and very, very old buildings, like the wooden Church of Dretea dating back to 1672 and considered the Sistine Chapel of Romania, thanks to its trapezoidal-shaped tower and staggeringly beautiful interior with biblical scenes painted across the wooden nave.
US-BASED FAVORITES //
Shaker Village // KENTUCKY
Hands down, most aesthetically pleasing outdoor living museum in the United States. I’ve been a few times, and I’m gobsmacked every time. Across 70 idyllic acres, beautifully preserved original buildings in the simple Shaker style—some of which you can sleep in. Trust me, you’ll want to stay the night. Messy with the business of creating—fabric scraps, spools of colorful thread, baskets spilling wool— the workshops are best testament to their credo, “Beauty is in utility.” The East Family Sisters Shop is dedicated to preparing wool, spinning yarn and working on some of the earliest American looms, while the men’s workshop turns out handmade brooms of endless variety: large brooms, buddy brooms, whisk brooms, pot scrubbers, tailor’s brushes, and cake testers. To this day, they’re still one of the largest producers of handmade brooms in the country.
Old Salem // NORTH CAROLINA
What you need to know about Old Salem Museums & Gardens—besides that it tells the stories of the people of the American South, including Moravian, Black, and Indigenous peoples—is that it houses an INCREDIBLE collection of decorative arts (considered one of the best in the country), featuring furniture, ceramics, metalwork, glass, needlework, architecture, and a variety of other decorative arts. If you plan it right, you can stay overnight in Zeverly Inn (the only overnight located in the historic district), and attend one of Old Salem’s traditional craft workshops, like the marble paper-making class next week.
Old York, MAINE
I am emotionally obligated to include Old York in this list, because I grew up spending summers in Maine, and my dad, a former sailor and consummate maritime historian, always took us to Old York. In fact, a few times, we stayed right around the corner. With a collection of 1700s houses and buildings in the Maine vernacular (beautiful enough to make your heart beat faster), it's one of the earliest English settlements in the country and a center for maritime commerce. One of the standout examples: The Elizabeth Perkins House, formerly a home to ferrymen and sea captains, is now a rambling gabled house museum full of colonial interiors, storied objects and personal possessions. At the Remick Gallery, a permanent exhibition presents more than 70 objects made or used between 1690 and 1850 in Southern Maine and the Piscataqua Region of New Hampshire, including the exceptional Bulman bed hangings, worked in wool on hand-woven linen by Mary Swett Bulman of York in the 1730s (pictured above).
LARC’s Acadian Village // LOUISIANNA
About an hour and a half from New Orleans, and worth a detour if you are interested in the great tradition of French Acadians / 19th-century Cajun bayou community in the region. It’s not as big as many of the others (you won’t need more than an hour or two, tops), but the history of how they arrived from Nova Scotia and learned to use natural materials from the surrounding land to make things by hand is a study in simplicity and resourcefulness. Dampened corn shucks braided into rope and used for caning chairs; palmetto leaves woven into baskets and bags; combs made from cow horns; fabric scraps for rag rugs and quilts. Once you’ve visited the modest cypress and bousillage homes, make sure to leave a few minutes for a quick ride on the hand-pulled ferry.
BOOKS TO READ
—Craeft by Alexander Langlands (and this very readable piece in The Atlantic about it)
—Shaker: Function, Purity, Perfection with an introduction by Terence Conran
—Some other craft-related books we love, not necessarily related to folk traditions or thatched village life.
RELATED PAST POSTS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED
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Where to Stay: Three Hotels for Time-Traveling
Worth the Detour: Pottery Villages
Deep Dive: Craft in Sicily
—MM + LBG
Awesome. Very interesting.. Love reading this every Wednesday !!!