Arms at 'Old Sturbridge Village', Massachusetts ! -- myArmoury.com

Thomas McDonald · myArmoury Alumni

This past weekend I took an hours drive out to Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, Massachusetts, to meet up with my wife (who was down there for a work convention thing) and spend the weekend !

Since I had never actually visited the old village before, wife Margery figured I’d find it pretty interesting, as well as a good excuse to avoid staying home and working on the house ;-)

Long story short .....
The place was pretty neat, quite educational, and well worth the cost of admission !

I of course spent a lot of time in the Firearms building, which had a surprisingly nice collection of guns, edged weapons, & accoutrements !
I threw together a couple of albums of the pictures I took , utilizing my wife’s little digital camera, (teach me to leave home without my good camera ;-) which should give everyone a fairly good idea of the arms on hand at OSV !
You can find the two albums on my PictureTrail site, sum 107 images, at this link : http://www.picturetrail.com/mactom

Here’s a few to get ya started .... Cheers, folks (and Go Red Sox) Mac

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Danny Grigg · Posted: Thu 29 Sep, 2005 6:16 am Post subject:

Nice pics Thomas.

I found the attached pic in your 2nd picturetrail album. Do you know if this an example of an all Iron Halberd Axe? Was there any information about this item?

Were there any other axes (tomahawks / belt axes / halberd axes etc) at Old Sturbridge Village?

Thanks

Danny

Sean Flynt · Posted: Thu 29 Sep, 2005 6:53 am Post subject:

That's a tanged American halberd head, if I recall correctly (see Swords and Blades of the American Revolution). It would have been fitted into the the end of a wooden haft. As there are no holes in the tang, I assume the barbs were intended to keep the head in place.

Thomas McDonald · myArmoury Alumni

Hi Danny

As Sean mentioned, there are numerous examples of these American halberd's, as well as varied styles (like halberd tomahawk's, "Trade", etc!), in George Neumann's book !
The tang would be inserted like a nail into the pole, usually with an iron band around the end to help prevent the pole from splitting !
Other examples could have the extra securing method of iron straps, or a hole in the tang / with a nail passing thru it, etc !

I don't believe that card you see in the photo was for that piece, as I'm pretty sure it was for the halberd above it !

There is a belt axe in one of the photos I put up ..... but I'm pretty sure that was the only halberd of that perticular style there, or at least displayed !

Mac

Danny Grigg · Posted: Thu 29 Sep, 2005 10:36 pm Post subject:

So this Halberd head wasn't intended to be used on its own as a Tomahawk or a throwing weapon?

It looks very similar to the all iron halberd axes on the page below -

http://members.tripod.com/tomahawks-r-tatca/id5.htm

How can you tell that its purely a halberd head which would have been inserted in a wooden haft instead of used on its own as a weapon?

Thanks

Danny

Thomas McDonald · myArmoury Alumni

Felix Wang · Posted: Fri 30 Sep, 2005 2:58 pm Post subject:

Mac,

Sturbridge Village is a lot of fun, isn't it? It's not as well known as Willimasburg, but covers a very different era and is a heck of a lot closer to where you are. You took some pretty fine pictures with whatever camera you were using - thanks for the albums!

Steve Grisetti · Posted: Fri 30 Sep, 2005 6:28 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the post, Mac. It brought back a lot of memories, some good and some bad. I spent many a night in Sturbridge, while working on a project in Charlton, just east of there. I have been to Old Sturbridge Village many a time, and always enjoyed the experience, and learned something new.

Thomas McDonald · myArmoury Alumni

Thanks, Felix, and Steve .... glad you enjoyed the pics !

Aye, OSV is a alot of fun, and a neat way to learn about this community's slice of 19th century life !

Their Halloween "Things That Go Bump in the Night" looks like it would be a good take, too :-) Mac

Chris Lampe · Posted: Sat 01 Oct, 2005 5:15 am Post subject:

Great pictures! Thanks for making them available!

We have a local museum dedicated to the 45th Infantry Division and although it's mainly firearms there are some edged weapons. The most interesting one I saw was a cutlass mounted as a bayonet!

Thomas McDonald · myArmoury Alumni

Chris Lampe · Posted: Sun 02 Oct, 2005 12:02 pm Post subject:

Michael G. Myers · Posted: Sun 09 Oct, 2005 9:27 pm Post subject:

Mac,

Mac, I've done some looking and can't find anything relating to the piece with the rotating block setup, above the underhammers. Would you recall anything about this piece?

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And if this is an example of poor photography, then I must either have a really cheap camera ( I do) or some undiagnosed trembling ailment. And, behind glass no less. Great photos!

Michael

Thomas McDonald · myArmoury Alumni

Hi Michael

Thanks !

Yes, that was an interesting piece for sure .....
In the album there are more photos of it, and its information card (attached).

Perhaps a search on Charles Hyde would turn up more ?
Not sure if any of those sketches, in the background, on this piece would reveal anything ..... I'll try and find the original large files (if my wife did not delete them from her camera) and check !

Mac

Michael G. Myers · Posted: Mon 10 Oct, 2005 7:35 am Post subject:

D'oh! I had scoured your albums for more on this piece when you first posted. I missed seeing the card plate or wandered off to another distraction in the albums. The maker and rough era was what I was most curious about, Mac, and you've answered that end! The bayonet--a shot I apparently had also overlooked--was gravy, BTW.

My genuine thanks,

Mike