Fruitlands Hosting Free Fun Friday

Friday, August 10, 2012

Jeffrey Starr, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

Admission will be free to Fruitlands Museum in Harvard this Friday as the part of the Free Fun Fridays Program sponsored by the Highland Street Foundation.

Fruitlands is a museum dedicated to the rich natural and cultural history of New England, showcasing the unique contributions, especially those concerning art and architecture, of the various groups of people that have existed in the area the museum now inhabits. According to Mary Delaney, Marketing Coordinator for Fruitlands, the ultimate goal of the museum is to “educate through the heritage, nature and art of New England.”

Many different family friendly activities will take place in the various buildings on the grounds. The fun will include arts and crafts, an activity sheet for the art gallery, and the chance to get a book signed by one of the visiting children’s book authors.

The museum consists of multiple buildings all dedicated to those peoples and individuals that showed a special spiritual connection to the land and expressed such a connection through their cultural achievements. A number of Native American and Shaker exhibits can be viewed, as well as galleries dedicated to 19th century artists.

In addition, there is the famous Fruitlands Farmhouse, once known as the Alcott house, where Bronson Alcott and his followers theorized the precepts that would become the central tenants of Transcendentalism, a philosophy that emphasized the divine essence of nature. A visitor will come to understand why such a philosophy grew out of this area when they experience the breathtaking 210 acre landscape.

“The Free Fun Friday is the perfect opportunity for the museum to showcase itself,” according to Delaney. Thanks to the Highland Street Foundation’s Free Fun Friday program, “more people are provided the opportunity to find out what’s out there, to see something they haven’t.”

Indeed this is the purpose of the Highland Street’s Foundations program, to give people who may not normally get it, especially due to financial concerns, the opportunity to visit important historical and cultural attractions across the state. Another museum in Central Mass that recently had free admission on Friday was the Higgins Armory in Worcester.

In addition, free admission will be offered at Old Sturbridge Village on August 24 and the Ecotarium on August 31st.

For more information on Fruitlands Museum, click http://www.fruitlands.org" target="_blank">here. For information on the Highland Street Foundation and Free Fun Fridays, click here.