BEHOLD! New Lebanon, the living museum of contemporary rural American life, has announced its Rural Guide schedule for Saturday, July 25, the third week of its inaugural summer programming. The new museum without walls celebrates the rich historical and cultural heritage of New Lebanon.
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Unlike any other museum in the country, BEHOLD! New Lebanon offers a variety of tours by locals –Rural Guides, not costumed docents. These guides welcome visitors to their places of work, avocation, or enjoyment, introducing museum goers to their own roles in today’s rural America.
The July 25 programs include:
Hand Hollow Nature Walk, 10 to 11:30 am
Fun-loving naturalist Bonner McAllester takes visitors on a leisurely walk in Hand Hollow, the Columbia Land Conservancy’s magnificent property. Amble through meadows and forests, along streams and ponds with beaver dams in this home to hundreds of birds, including a heron nesting ground. Shuttle bus boards at 9:30 am at the Behold! Station and General Store, 438 Rte. 20, New Lebanon.
http://www.beholdnewlebanon.org/event/hand-hollow-nature-walk/
Stuffed: Making Sausage With
Phoebe Young, 1:30 to 3 pm
What goes into a good sausage? Join Phoebe Young in a hands-on demonstration of fresh sausage making, including tips, technique, references, and recipes; those on this tour get to take home a half pound of sausage for their work.Phoebe Young shares the secrets of her delicious New Lebanon Baloney, a hand-crafted all beef sausage fermented and cold-smoked with love in New Lebanon. Shuttle bus boards at 1:15 pm at the Behold! Station and General Store, 438 Rte. 20, New Lebanon.
http://www.beholdnewlebanon.org/event/make-sausage-with-phoebe/
Hands To Work; Hearts To God:
The North Family Shakers. 2 to3:30pm
Mount Lebanon was the leading Shaker Society in America, from its founding in 1787 through its closing in 1947; the North Family was its face to the wider World, composed of some of the most progressive and public Shakers in history. The Shakers’ quest for perfection was expressed in many ways, including the way they organized and ruled themselves, and the creation of magnificent furniture and architecture. At the place they established as their 18th century headquarters, visitors will see the miraculous community they built as an homage to the divine, and hear the tale of their founder’s persecution. Shuttle bus boards at 1:45 pm at the Behold! Station and General Store, 438 Rte. 20, New Lebanon.
http://www.beholdnewlebanon.org/event/hands-to-work-and-hearts-to-god/
Working Dogs. 4:30 to 5:30 pm
Witness the Johnson Family Border Collies at work. Often called in to help rid ponds and farms of geese in a humane way, the Johnson family will demonstrate their technique. Using poultry and sheep, they will show how they train the dogs to herd all kinds of animals. If you have a herding or stockdog breed pet, Eric Johnson promises “you’ll find your dog’s inner stock dog.” Shuttle bus boards at 4:15 pm at the Behold! Station and General Store, 438 Rte. 20, New Lebanon.
http://www.beholdnewlebanon.org/event/working-dogs-4/
With 60 different tour programs over the course of the summer, Rural Guides greet visitors at their farms, studios and workspaces, where they practice cooking, farming, cattle raising, automobile racing and mechanics, wood-working, foraging and much more. Tour shuttle buses depart from the new Behold! Station and General Store, which serves as a gateway and launch spot for museum tours and other activities, in a picturesque Victorian house located at 438 State Rte. 20.
Advance ticket purchase is recommended for all programs. More information, including full descriptions of all programs and the online box office can be found at www.beholdnewlebanon.org, 518-720-7265, or by emailing info@beholdnewlebanon.org.[/private]