My Backyard - Museum of Work & Culture - Woonsocket, RI

"Embracing the Past to Inspire the Future"

Nestled in the center of this once bustling industrial city is a cultural gem. Housed in a former dye mill is the Museum of Work and Culture. The focus of the Museum is to present the story of Woonsocket's history, specifically the sacrifices and struggles of the immigrants who flocked to the city by the river and enabled it to grow from rural farmland to a thriving industrial region at the turn of the 20th century. 

 

I began the tour on the first floor where I learned of the origins of the first Canadian settlers who emigrated from the Quebec area to Woonsocket in the late 1800's. Interactive displays illustrated the rural life that the immigrants left behind to journey to an unknown promise of a better life in the United States. As I moved further into the Museum I found replicas of the spinning machines found in the textile mills where the immigrants toiled for long hours for meager pay in harsh, dirty, loud working conditions. I learned that Woonsocket once had many such mills, some were dye houses and others manufactured cotton fabric and woolen goods. Most of the city's population, including children, were mill workers.

Wordless Wednesday - The Big Bang Theory

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Laughter is good for the soul.

So, on this Wordless Wednesday, have a good chuckle instead.

And to guarantee a good rib-tickling chortle hee-haw snicker, watch this amazingly funny show .....

If It's May, It Must Be Time For An Update.....

May. Such a special month. It ushers in images of flowers and feelings of warmth. Winter is a just a lonely cold figure in the rear-view mirror. Sunny days and beach outings are up ahead, around the bend.

Normally, it's a time when my mood is lifted. Life is good.

Normally.

But things aren't so normal anymore.