Valentine's Day with John and Abigail Adams

I had the opportunity this past Saturday to go to a very interesting event at Old Sturbridge Village.  They had an event in honor of Valentine's Day called Sweet Romance: An Evening with John and Abigail Adams.  Instantly I was intrigued by the title alone and brought my obliging boyfriend with me.

We were treated to about an hour long re-enactment/reading of several letters between John and Abigail Adams from the early days of their courtship up until approximately the 1790's when he was returning from the Continental Congress to home.  This fit perfectly into the time period that Old Sturbridge Village represents.  The two re-enactors were dressed up to look like John and Abigail and they played off of each other well in reading their letters.  They even answered questions in character.

It was very cool getting to hear their letters read aloud - I have read through many of them in the past months for my research project I was working on.  They are full of wit, teasing, and love.  After the reading we walked over the tavern and saw old fashioned chocolate making demonstrations, tasted some hot chocolate (which I really didn't like) and had a chocolate and cheese pairing tasting.  All in all it was an enjoyable evening.

I wanted to share a few of the letters with you.  John and Abigail wrote many, many, many letters to each other throughout their lifetime.  Here is an excerpt from a letter from John to Abigail.

I recorded a clip of the letter reading from the event on Saturday.  Here is one comical letter between John and Abigail where he responds to her request of a list of her faults.  You might have to turn your volume way up and listen closely, we were not too close to the front and there is audience noise.  You can take a look at what this actual letter looks like at the Massachusetts Historical Society page and then clicking on the images there.

Hope you enjoyed this little Valentine's Day break.






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