Thanksgiving Afternoon At King’s Landing
FREDERICTON – Every Thanksgiving weekend, living history museum, King’s Landing, hosts activities for the whole family to come and enjoy.
King’s Landing is located in Prince William, New Brunswick. Roughly 40 km west of Fredericton. The museum village is set in the 19th Century and has a whole staff of characters that brings the history to life. The location has original salvaged or recreated buildings that were built between 1820-1920. While the village was never a real village, New Brunswick and especially Prince William, was predominately settled by Anglo-American Loyalists. King’s Landing is a depiction of what rural N.B. was like in the 19th C.
The staff at King’s Landing have profound knowledge about their characters and the culture from the 19th C. All are dressed in costumes that fit their character and never do they lose touch with who they are interpreting. The village itself has many different locations to visit. There are over 12 houses that guests can walk in and explore. Staff who are assigned to work in the houses play the role of mother’s doing chores, cooking or doing crafts. Guests visiting can help pitch in and lend a helping hand.
Aside from houses, they are also a number of other buildings throughout the village. Many of these buildings include historical places of work. These jobs consisted of trades that the men within the village would work. Although, most of these trades needed the men to have an apprenticeship or training beforehand. Some of these trades around the village include the Blacksmith, Printshop, and the Carpenter.
“The blacksmith is kind of important to the village because you need tools, hardware, utensils, parts for wagons, horseshoeing and auctions. Just about anything out of metal you might need – we can do it for you,” said Thomas Hoyt, Blacksmith at King’s Landing. These trades are important because if the village needs something – someone has to build it themselves,
For Thanksgiving, events are hosted all weekend for families to come and enjoy. A traditional Thanksgiving dinner was served the Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday afternoon, the annual Thanksgiving auction took place at the King’s Head. This is their biggest day of the year and sends a farewell to the end of the season. Guests who wanted to bid in the auction had to sign in first and receive a bidding number. It started at 1 P.M. and two villagers stood on the stage and begun the auction.
The auction had 58 items to sell and all were handmade in the village. These items included brooms, handiwork crafts, jams, fresh hot baked goods, fresh vegetables, and much more!
“My favourite part of the auction is just seeing everybody here and having a good time. The other fact too is that the other people who live in the village, it’s nice to see them get out and have a good day also,” said Alexander Kelly, villager at King’s Landing.
To end off the day, guests can hop on a horse carriage and ride back up to the entrance – while taking in the scenery of the village and admiring the culture.
