Pioneer villages

Pioneer villages, open-air and living history museums are a travel topic.

Uppercanvillage1 - Upper Canada Village, Morrisburg, Ontario, Canada A pioneer village is a form of living museum in which a village-size group of historic buildings is restored to their use in an earlier time period, typically with museum guide staff in period costume carrying out the tasks of tradespeople of that perioid with traditional methods and tools, including or similar to historical re-enactment. The target eras for such historic reconstruction vary, with the "pioneer era" (widespread global colonisation by Europeans in the 1600s and 1700s, ending with adoption of steam power in the Victorian 1800s) among the most popular. Native or Viking settlements are also occasional targets for reconstruction, as a village may represent any perioid before the adoption of 20th century automation, industrialisation and mechanisation.

Although the term "pioneer village" is colonial in origins and context, comparable attractions also exist in Europe and the UK and other locations, as "living history museums" or "open-air museums". These terms do not have quite the same meaning but, given the substantial overlap, feature here.

Often and the village (or at the very least a distinct group of buildings) in such museums is assembled from authentic local historic buildings which are relocated to a common site as a means of historic preservation; this may preserve structures which otherwise would be lost due to urban development or destroyed by flooding after construction of a hydroelectric dam.

A living museum may not recreate an entire village or settlement; in some cases, just one or a handful of buildings (anything from an individual mill or blacksmith shop to a historic fortress) are restored to operation. Confusingly and the term "living museum" also is often applied to nature museums or protected areas, which are not the same concept.

By its nature, this is not a comprehensive list.

Australia

Sovereign Hill - Main Street shops 10-12 - Main Street of Sovereign Hill (Victoria)

Pioneer Village Museum, Burnie (Tasmania), covers local economic boom period from 1890-1910.

Sovereign Hill - Magpie St, Golden Point -37.575117, 143.8659 a suburb of Ballarat, Victoria - Sovereign Hill - 1851 Gold rush town with sixty historically recreated buildings, costumed staff and volunteers.

Timbertown Pioneer Village | On Oxley Highway, Wauchope (New South Wales) -31.470357, 152.713107 ☎ +61 02 6586 1940 - Timbertown - Very good old timber town of the 1880s set on acre 87}}. -

Canada

Sherbrooke Village Nova Scotia1 - Sherbrooke Village, Nova Scotia

Bar U Ranch - BarU.@ near Longview (Alberta) 50.4197, -114.233 ☎ +1 403-395-2212 +1 403-395-2331 - Bar U Ranch BarURanch-03 - Ranging life during the time period 1882-1950

Batoche (near Prince Albert, Saskatchewan), Métis settlement and site of the defeat of Louis Riel in 1885.

Black Creek Pioneer Village - 1000 Murray Ross Pkwy, Toronto/North York|North York (Ontario) 43.7738, -79.5159 ☎ +1 416 667-6295 - Black Creek Pioneer Village
Doon Heritage Village, Kitchener (Ontario), 22 buildings recreate life in rural Waterloo County in 1914.

Fanshawe Pioneer Village - 1424 Clarke Road, London (Ontario) 43.05512, -81.18104 ☎ +1 519-457-1296
Fortress of Louisbourg | 259 Park Service Road, Louisbourg (Nova Scotia) ☎ +1 902 733-2280 - Village-sized historic French military settlement, destroyed after English conquest and later reconstructed.

Heritage Park - 1900 Heritage Dr SW, Calgary (Alberta) 50.982654, -114.101411 ☎ +1 403-268-8500 +1 403-268-8501
Kawartha Settlers Village - 85 Dunn St, Bobcaygeon (Ontario) 44.5469, -78.5481 ☎ +1 705-738-6163 A collection of over 20 historic homes and buildings from 1830 – 1935.

King's Landing - near Fredericton (New Brunswick) 45.8651, -66.9692 United Empire Loyalist village.

Lang Pioneer Village - 104 Lang Road, Keene 44.2756, -78.1713 near Peterborough (Ontario) ☎ +1 705 295-6694 - Lang Pioneer Village Museum
L'Anse aux Meadows - Route 436, Great Northern Peninsula (Newfoundland and Labrador). 51.595267, -55.531222 north of St. Anthony ☎ +1 709 623-2608 (May-Oct), +1 709 458-2417 (off-season) L'Anse aux Meadows

Archaeological site with reconstructions of three Norse buildings.

Pickering Museum Village - 2365 Concession Road 6, Greenwood 43.9265, -79.0717 near Pickering (Ontario) - Depicts live pioneers in 18 legacy buildings.

Pioneer Village Museum, in Beausejour (Manitoba)
Sherbrooke Village, open-air museum in Sherbrooke (Nova Scotia)
Sainte-Marie among the Hurons, near Midland (Ontario), reconstructed Jesuit mission settlement.
Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village (Село спадщини української культури), near Elk Island National Park (Alberta), shows the lives of Ukrainian Canadian settlers from 1899 to 1930.

Upper Canada Village - 13740 Highway 2, Morrisburg (Ontario) ☎ +1 613-543-4328 +1-800-437-2233 Upper Canada Village - Pioneer 1860s village of thirty buildings staffed by skilled tradespersons in costume of the era.

Village Historique Acadien Village Historique Acadien - 5, Rue du Pont, Bertrand on Rivière-du-Nord near Caraquet (New Brunswick). ☎ +1 506 726-2600 +1-877-721-2200 +1 506 726-2601 Opening Hours: - Depicts an Acadian community between 1770 and 1939.
Village Québécois d'Antan, Drummondville (Québec)
Walter Wright Pioneer Village, Dawson Creek (British Columbia), depicts Dawson Creek before the Alaska Highway.

Japan

Boso No Mura - 千葉県立房総のむら chiba-kenritsu bōsō no mura - 1028, Ryukakuji Sakae-machi Inbagun Chiba, Narita 35.82294, 140.27285 ☎ +81 476-95-3333 - A reproduction of a samurai-era Japanese town street.

Hokkaido Pioneer Village, on the outskirts of Sapporo

Malaysia

Sarawak Cultural Village, reconstructed native settlements, Sarawak

Netherlands

Slag om Grolle 2008-1 - Linie van Staatse troepen vuurt-2 - Line of Staatse (Dutch) troops firing at the Spanish enemy at the 2008 reenactment of the Siege of Grolle.

Bourtange, a town, built entirely inside of a 16th-century pentagonal fort, which was fully restored in the 1960s to its state in the 1740s.

Nederlands Openluchtmuseum - Schelmseweg 89, Arnhem 52.009444, 5.906389 ☎ +31 26 357-6111 Netherlands Open Air Museum Nederlands Openluchtmuseum A 44-hectare-large museum that sets out to document the Netherlands' history.

Groenlo holds a bi-annual reenactment of the 1627 Siege of Grolle (Groenlo).

New Zealand

Taranaki Pioneer Village, Stratford (New Zealand)

South Africa

Pilgrim's Rest, partially-restored 1873 Gold rush town.

South Korea

Nagan Folk Village - Nagan Folk Village

Seonbichon Village (선비촌), Yeongju, living museum depicting traditional Seonbi life.

Spain

Can Ros, Santa Eulària des Riu, mountaintop village depicts historic life on the island.

Sweden

{{seealso|Vikings and the Old Norse

Foteviken Museum - Höllviken, in Vellinge municipality near Malmö 55.429281, 12.953139 - Foteviken Museum

An open-air Viking museum centered around a large Viking settlement reconstruction.

Ukraine

Open-Air Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life - Музей народної архітектури та побуту - Muzey narodnoyi arkhitektury ta pobutu | Krasnoznamennaya street, 1, Pyrohiv 50.35443, 30.51397 near Kiev ☎ +380 44 526 5765 Nineteenth-century Ukrainian life is depicted in six restored rural villages with old huts, wooden mills and churches from all over Ukraine. Description is primarily Ukrainian-language, although some guided tours in other languages are available.

United Kingdom

The lady of the house, Ulster American Folk Park - - 1303927 - Wax candles are home-made at Ulster American Folk Park

Beamish, County Durham. One of the best known 'recreation' of a "northern" village in England

Black Country Living Museum - 2 Tipton Road, Dudley (England) 52.520035, -2.075216 - Black Country Living Museum Blackcountrystreet - Outdoor recreation of the local area on acre 26, including a coal mine, canal port and rebuilt houses.

Cosmeston Medieval Village - Near Penarth|Lavernock in the Vale of Glamorgan (Wales) 51.4134, -3.1839 - Cosmeston Medieval Village Cosmeston medieval village - Re-creation of 14th century peasant life in the Late Middle Ages, groups of re-enactors camp in tents around the village outskirts and perform historical combat displays.

Living History Village of Little Woodham, seventeenth century village on ancient woodland in Rowner (on the Gosport peninsula, Hampshire). Gosport Living History Society villagers dress in costume to talk about Charles I and the impending war between the King and Parliament and their village life and day-to-day existence as if it were the summer of 1642.

Ulster American Folk Park | Castletown, County Tyrone 54.659, -7.334 near Omagh, [[Northern Ireland - Ulster American Folk Park Ulster American Folk Park - Historical lifestyle and experiences of immigrants who sailed from Ulster to America in the 18th and 19th centuries. 30 buildings, agricultural displays and animals, samples of local foods such as smoked salmon and bread, volunteers in period costume demonstrate bread making, cooking, arts and crafts, embroidery, spinning and printing.

Blists Hill, Iornbridge, reconstruction of a partial 19th-century town complete with some shops, a bank and other buildings.

Skye Musuem of Rural Life - Kilmuir, By Portree, Isle of Skye, IV51 9UE 57.660257, -6.3689 ☎ +44 1470 552 206 - £3 Skye Museum of Island Life TheSkyeMuseumOfIslandLife - A semi-recreation of a pre-modern Highland village, consisting of single storey cottages and crofts..

United States

also|Early United States history|Old West}} SturbridgeCoveredBridgeWithHorses - Covered bridge at Old Sturbridge, Massachusetts

Caesar's Creek Pioneer Village, Waynesville (Ohio) | Waynesville (Ohio), 19 original Quaker buildings from the 1700s and early 1800s.
Cass County Pioneer Village, Ayr (near Fargo, North Dakota), old barber shop, school, ice cream parlor, bank, gas station, depot and cook shack.
Colonial Williamsburg, historic area re-creates 18th-century Williamsburg (Virginia) before and during the American Revolution.
Divide County Museum and Pioneer Village, Crosby (North Dakota), 25 pioneer buildings including a bank, printing press, general store and dwelling shacks.

Harold Warp Pioneer Village - 138 E US Highway 6, Minden (Nebraska) 40.504722, -98.950556 ☎ +1 308 832-1181 +1 800 445-4447 Pioneer Village (Nebraska) - 28 buildings on acre 12, with 12 of those around a green

Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village - 3200 Indian Village Road, Mitchell (South Dakota) 43.7410, -98.0330 ☎ +1 605 996-5473 - An archeological site with reconstructed native lodge.

Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge (Massachusetts) re-creates life in rural New England during the 1830s.
Pioneer Village, Salem (Massachusetts), acre 3 re-creation of a Puritan village.
Prairie Village, Madison (South Dakota)