Weathervane Wednesday ~ The Symbol of a Living History Museum

I post another in a series of weather vane photographs every Wednesday.  This started with images of weathervanes from the Londonderry, New Hampshire area, but now I've found interesting weather vanes all across New England and across the globe.  Sometimes my weather vanes are whimsical, or historical, but all are interesting.  Often my readers tip me off to some very unique or unusual weathervanes, too!  If you know a great weather vane near you, let me know if you'd like to have it featured on this blog.

Today's weather vane was photographed in Massachusetts.

Do you know the location of weathervane post #354?  Scroll down to find the answer.

This grasshopper weathervane was photographed inside the visitor center gallery at the Old Sturbridge Village museum in Sturbridge, Massachusetts.  According to a sign next to the weathervane "The grasshopper has been the symbol of Old Sturbridge Village for many years, signifying being 'sprung from the soil' and in a broad sense 'native'... the museum's founders and early staff felt that the grasshopper was indeed an appropriate symbol for the institution."

This old weathervane on display inside dates from about 1830 by an unknown maker.  It is a beautiful copper three dimensional weathervane.  A copy of this weathervane was made up in two dimensions and now sits on the roof of the Oliver Wright Tavern.  This tavern is the first building you pass by upon entering the museum, on your way to the visitor center and ticket counter.  From far away it looks like the old weathervane, but as you can see in the close up photograph, it isn't really nearly as nice.

The most famous grasshopper weathervane in New England is the one above Faneuil Hall in Boston, Massachusetts originally created by Shem Drowne.  You can read more about that weathervane at this link:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/06/weathervane-wednesday-genealogical.html

P.S. Shem Drown is my first cousin 8 generations removed. 

Old Sturbridge Village website -   https://www.osv.org/  

Click here to see the entire collection of Weathervane Wednesday posts!

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday ~ The Symbol of a Living History Museum", Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 14, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/03/weathervane-wednesday-symbol-of-living.html : accessed [access date]).