Knitted Presidents Exhibit at Sauder Village

Sauder Village will be hosting a special traveling exhibit of knitted Presidents in the Museum Building this season. The exhibit includes all forty-three men who have been President of the United States. These three-dimensional figures are surprisingly life-like with period clothing and include unique elements that represent their work, hobbies, events and activities.

Created by the Knotty Knitters Club of California, this exhibit has won first prize at the California State Fair and had numerous television appearances. Most recently the Knitted Presidents Exhibit has been on display in Chicago.

Be sure to stop by the Museum Building this season to see this creative exhibit and learn more about our the forty-three men who have been President of the United States!  

 

Sauder Village Events - Win Symphony Tickets!

With Spring just around the corner, we are anxiously awaiting the opening of the Historic Village. Opening Day also means the start of a season filled with great events. Special events have been a cornerstone of the Sauder Village experience for many years. From craft events like quilting and rug hooking to concerts, base ball tournaments and family activities - Sauder Village offers something for everyone! Click here for more details about all the events planned for 2013!

An always-popular special event is the annual Toledo Symphony Concert. This is the 24th year this highly respected orchestra has performed in beautiful Founder’s Hall. This year’s concert will be held on Thursday, March 14 at 7:30 p.m.  The program includes a wonderful mix of classical music, “Americana” waltzes, jazz and other traditional American music. Some highlights of the Archbold program include Symphony No. 32 by Mozart, Roses From the South Waltz by Strauss, Three Spirituals by Hailstork and The Girl I Left Behind Me arranged by Anderson. Purchase your tickets by calling 800.590.9755 or stop by the Welcome Center at Sauder Village. General admission tickets are $15 in advance and $18 at the door.

Enter our contest to  win two free tickets to this evening concert!
To enter the contest just log in below with your e-mail address or via Facebook. We will contact the winner via e-mail. Thanks for entering and good luck!

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Homemade Noodles . . . Give it a Try!

Have you ever watched our costumed guides making noodles in the Eicher Cabin or Witmer-Roth home and said, "I should really try that sometime!" Well perhaps this short blog post will inspire you!  Winter is a great time to make homemade noodles that you can use in a pot of soup on a cold, snowy day! Almost every farm woman had her own recipe for making noodles. This is one often used at Sauder Village.

HOMEMADE NOODLES

Ingredients: 

3/4 cup flour     pinch of salt

1 egg              water

   

Put ¾ cup flour and a pinch of salt (optional) in a container and make a well in the center of the mixture. Place 1 whole beaten egg OR 1 egg yolk beaten with ½ egg shell of water (about 1 T) in the well.

 Mix and add more flour as needed to form a dough ball that is not sticky.

Knead the dough for 5-7 minutes adding flour as needed to keep from sticking to surface. Cover with cloth and let dough rest for 20-30 minutes.

Divide dough in half and roll each half into a circle as large and thin as possible. Let the two circles dry, but not too dry as to crack.

You may cut the circles into quarters, stack them to make shorter noodles or roll like jellyrolls for longer ones. Using a sharp knife, cut the noodles to the desired width.

Spread noodles on towel to dry. It may take one day or longer to be dry to touch. (Noodles can be frozen after drying). Makes approximately ½ pound of noodles.

2013 Blog Updates . . . Teach, Inspire & Connect!

We have plans to use our Sauder Village blog to share even more valuable content throughout 2013. We hope to teach you something new, inspire you with stories about interesting people and get you excited about planning a visit and staying connected to all that is happening at Sauder Village.

Stay tuned! Our first “how-to” story with photos will be online soon!

Rug Hooking History

As we welcome rug hookers from across the country to our nationally-recognized Rug Hooking event this week, we realize there are still many people who don’t know much about this traditional art form. Here is just a bit of history to help you better understand this beautiful craft . . .

Rug hooking started in the mid 1800s in the Eastern United States. Like many crafts, rug hooking was started out of necessity. Colonial women used rags to make hand-hooked rugs to use on their floors in the summer and on beds in the winter.

The base of the rugs was made from the burlap sacks that the livestock feed came in and the fabric was any material that could be found including worn clothing, rags, old wool blankets or spun wool. Women hooked rugs in their homes to help pass the time during the hard cold winters.

To hook a rug, the rug hooker, with her right hand above the pattern and the cloth strips in her left hand underneath, pushes the hook down through the burlap. The hook catches the cloth strip and the rug hooker draws it back up to form a loop on the top of the burlap. Loops about half an inch long (length can vary) are formed to create the rug.

People eventually began selling hand-hooked rugs and cottage industries sprang up across the country. By the 1940s rug hooking had become a well-established hobby in the United States and Canada and its popularity continues to grow today. Hand-hooked rugs can be found in art galleries and museums throughout the world.

Again this year, rug hookers from across the country are gathering at Sauder Village to celebrate this traditional craft. This spectacular event includes workshops, lectures, vendors, demonstrations and a breath-taking exhibit in Founder’s Hall. We hope you'll visit the exhibit to see what all the excitement is about!

More detail about this special event can be found online at:
http://www.saudervillage.org/Creativity/rughooking.asp

School Days

It's hard to believe that school will soon be back in session for students throughout the region. Parents will be shopping for notebooks, pencils and new school clothes in preparation for another school year.

Have you ever wondered how our classrooms of today differ from those of 100 years ago? If so, we hope you'll take time to visit our District 16 School! Have a seat in desks, complete with ink wells, just as students did in their new school building in 1898.  Discover how the lives of today’s students and teachers differ from those of children years ago.  And, maybe you’ll learn of some aspects of one-room schools that still continue today.

The school that we call District 16 was originally called District #3, or Maple Grove School, in Chesterfield Township of Fulton County, Ohio.  The Maple Grove School was actually moved to Sauder Village from an area near the Ohio-Michigan border, north of the town of Wauseon.  It was used from 1898 to 1916. The first four buildings built in the Maple Grove District were log buildings much like the Log Schoolhouse in the Historic Village.  Our “District 16” schoolhouse was the seventh building built in that district.  After being used for 18 years, a new centralized school was built in 1916, and the time of one-room schoolhouses in Fulton County came to an end.

Interesting Facts About our Schools at Sauder Village (Log School and District 16 School):
In the 1830s, children attended school for short periods of time, sometimes for as little as 3 months during the winter!

In schools like our Log Schoolhouse, greased or oiled paper was often used over window openings due to the great expense of glass panes

One-room schools housed all the children in a district, often ranging from 6 to 20 years of age!

Our District 16 School was built in 1898 at a cost of $687.00.

Before being located by Erie Sauder, and restored at the Historic Village, the District 16 building was being used as a granary.

You will find 2 entry doors on the front of the District 16 School. It was specifically designed that way, with one entry for the girls to use, and one for the boys.

Food Preservation - Not Just for Grandma Anymore!

With grocery stores offering a variety of foods throughout the year and refrigerators and freezers in our homes - it might seem that canning and preserving foods would be a thing of the past. However, it seems food preservation is actually the new trend in homes across the country. Canning and preserving is not just for grandma anymore! In fact, some professionals in the canning business estimate that more than half of the canning population is under the age of 45!

Throughout the season guests visiting Historic Sauder Village can often see an assortment of vegetables being harvested from our gardens. Our costumed guides demonstrate a variety of food preservation techniques including drying, pickling, canning and even smoking meats. These demonstrations give our guests a unique look at the food preservation efforts of days gone by. The demonstrations vary with the season and time period in the Historic Village and recipes are often available for guests to take home.

Interested in giving food preservation a try but not sure where to start? Visit our website for some recipes and links to valuable food preservation resources!

http://www.saudervillage.org/historic_recipes/food_preservation.asp

The Erie Express Chugs Along…

Thanks to a group of friends, the Erie Express train will stay on track!

The Erie Express is a replica of an 1863 steam engine which played an important part in building America’s first transcontinental railroad.  Guests of all ages enjoy traveling back in time by riding the Erie Express through the historic timeline at Sauder Village, including Natives and Newcomers, Pioneer Settlement, and the 1910 Homestead area. 

Keeping the train running safely is a big task and our maintenance staff makes this a priority.  However, servicing the train is difficult and time-consuming.  Access to the underside of the train is necessary to maintain the equipment, requiring the over three-ton train to be lifted off the track. 

Unfortunately, this has caused our guests to experience interruptions in service.  No more!

Now, this disruption will be minimal as friends of Sauder Village contributed funds needed to build an underground service area that will enable our train to be inspected and serviced more efficiently. 

The underground service area will be built by the end of this season!  Thank you to everyone who has helped keep the Erie Express on track!

Even some of our youngest members made a donation
to this special project! Gifts to support the Erie Express
are still welcome. We are grateful to everyone who
has helped make this project possible!

Dean Spangler Elected Chairman at Sauder Village

The Board of Trustees of Sauder Village recently selected Dean Spangler as the organization’s first ‘non-family’ chairman. Dean follows Maynard Sauder who will continue to serve as a member of the board of trustees and as ‘Chairman Emeritus’ at Sauder Village reflecting his long service to the living-history museum founded  through the vision of his father, Erie Sauder in 1976.

Mr. Sauder noted that he and his wife, Carolyn, Executive Director Emeritus, were so pleased with Dean’s enthusiasm to serve. “Dean Spangler has a lot of energy and passion for Sauder Village and has already made a difference in its operations and plans. Our family is excited that another ‘family business’ leader that shares and understands Erie’s vision is willing to participate in leadership.”

Mr. Spangler stepped down from the CEO position at Spangler Candy Company in July 2011, where he continues to serve as Chairman. “To be asked by the Sauder family to serve as Sauder Village Chairman is the pinnacle of my career and my greatest honor,” Dean shared. “The village was created by the Sauder family’s amazing philanthropy over the past 35 years.  Today it belongs to all of us in Northwestern Ohio and is our collective responsibility to help sustain it for generations to come.”

Dean added, “I believe that Sauder Village is an extremely important cultural and economic asset of Northwest Ohio.  Erie Sauder wanted to make sure that all of us understood and remembered the hard work of our ancestors who settled this part of Ohio in the 1830s, drained the Great Black Swamp and established the foundation of one of the greatest agricultural economic systems in our nation’s history.  Erie believed that history was best learned by experiencing it and that is what a living history village like Sauder Village is all about.”                           

Debbie Sauder David, Sauder Village Executive Director, is also looking forward to Dean’s increased involvement at Sauder Village. “Dean brings a wealth of experience in business development, strategic planning and leadership to our Sauder Village Board,” Debbie shared. “Even more important, however, is Dean’s passion for our mission.”

Other members of the Sauder Village Board of Trustees include Dick Anderson, The Andersons, Inc.; Julie Brotje Higgins, Ph.D., CFA, The Trust Company of Toledo; Marcia Sloan Latta, DePauw University; Ed Nofziger, Haas Door Company; Harold Plassman, Plassman, Rupp, Short & Hagans; Carolyn Sauder, Executive Director Emeritus, Sauder Village; Myrl Sauder, Chairman, Sauder Woodworking Co.; Maynard Sauder, Chairman Emeritus, Sauder Woodworking Co. and Sauder Village; Shirley Short, Founding Board Member and Rick Yocum, Yocum Consulting Associates, Inc.

Board members also elected to serve in leadership roles for 2012 include Myrl Sauder as Vice-Chair, Rick Yocum as Treasurer and Harold Plassman as Secretary.

The Sauder Village mission is to provide guests with experiences rich in history, hospitality, creativity, and fun.  Since opening in 1976, Sauder Village has grown to a 235-acre complex with more than 450 employees and 400 adult and 200 youth volunteers.  As Ohio’s largest living history destination, Sauder Village includes the award winning Historic Village, the 98-room Sauder Heritage Inn, a 48-site campground, the 350-seat Barn Restaurant, the Doughbox Bakery, and banquet seating for 750 in Founders Hall.  The Historic Village preserves more than 75 historic structures and nearly 50,000 artifacts where history is brought to life through the stories, demonstrations, and programs that impact nearly 100,000 guests of all ages each season.  Proceeds from the retail and hospitality areas, along with admissions, memberships, and donations, contribute to the financial support for this 501(c)(3) organization.

Buttercup's New Calves!

This week we were pleased to welcome two new calves to our Sauder Village barnyard! Our Milking Shorthorn cow, Buttercup, gave birth to a set of twins Tuesday evening. Both calves (a heifer and a bull) and their momma are doing just fine!

Experiencing life on the farm is a favorite part of the Sauder Village experience for many of our guests. They love meeting the oxen, watching our historic farmer use horses to work in the fields and seeing the baby chicks, lambs and calves grow up throughout the season.

Providing quality care for our animals is quite an expense for our non-profit organization. Sauder Village will invest a minimum of $1,750 in the coming year to raise a baby calf (and now that dollar amount is doubled with a surprise set of twins!). We’ll have feed, hay and water to buy as well as vaccinations to keep our new calves healthy. We’ll also have labor expenses for our historic farmer to help care for these new additions to our barnyard.

Don’t these new baby calves just make you smile? If so, we’re hoping you’ll consider supporting our historic farming program at Sauder Village. Why not make a donation today to help with the on-going care of our new baby calves? Whether you donate $25 or $250 . . . . your support will help care for this adorable set of twins!

Click here to help support Buttercup and her calves! Make your donation today and be sure to stay tuned for more updates on our calves and other new deliveries expected this spring! We hope you’ll visit often this season to watch as our calves grow. Thank you for your support!