Willowbrook Museum Village, Open-air museum in Newfield, United States.
Willowbrook Museum Village is an open-air museum in Newfield comprising 34 historic buildings arranged around a pond created by damming Chellis Brook. The layout demonstrates how a historical settlement was organized, with different buildings serving various functions for the community.
The site functioned as Newfield's town center until 1947, when a major wildfire swept through the area and damaged many buildings. This disaster marked a turning point that eventually led to the structures being restored and preserved as a museum complex.
The location once served as the heart of the community and showcased working crafts like blacksmithing, knife making, and woodworking that visitors could watch and learn from. These skills remain central to understanding how people in this region lived and earned their living generations ago.
The museum is an outdoor experience, so visitors should wear comfortable shoes and be ready to move between indoor and outdoor spaces. Allow plenty of time to walk among the buildings and take in the full layout of the historic settlement.
The complex houses an 1894 carousel preserved in a round barn that operated at public gatherings throughout the region from 1896 to 1922. This working piece of entertainment equipment offers a rare glimpse into how communities celebrated and gathered in the early 1900s.
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